1. Dependencies =================

Debian

• g++ 4.8 or 4.9
• GNU make
• libboost-filesystem-dev
• p≡p Engine (which needs gpgme-thread, a patched libetpan, libboost-system-dev)

It comes with libevent 2.20, that needs GNU autohell to build. :-/ Maybe Debian Jessie's version 2.0 also works well, I never tried.

2. Build ==========

• build p≡p Engine

• first build libevent, see libevent-2.0.22-stable/README (a user-install in $HOME/local/ is fine)

• edit the library and include paths server/Makefile so p≡p & libevent will be found

• run "make" in the server/ path

3. Running ============

• run ./pep-json-server

• it creates a file, readable only by the current user, /tmp/pEp-json-token-${USER} that contains the address and port the JSON adapter is listening on, normally 127.0.0.1:4223 and a "security-token" that must be given in each function call to authenticate you as the valid user.

• visit that address (normally http://127.0.0.1:4223/) in your javascript-enabled web browser to see the test JavaScript client

• call some functions ("version()" or "get_gpg_path()" should work just fine), Don't forget to call them with the right security token!

4. Extending / Customizing ============================

• The 'FunctionMap function' in mt-server.cc defines which functions are callable via the JSON-RPC interface. The existing entries show the syntax of that map.

• At the moment only functions with a non-void return type ere supported. It is possible to extend the FunctionMap to support also void-returning functions if desired, but it would require more template specializations in function_map.hh etc. The alternative is a helper function that calls the void function and just returns a dummy value.

• The current implementation supports input and output parameters, no "inout".

• For each type there must exist specializations of the template classes "In" (for input parameters) and "Out" (for output parameters). The linker will tell you, which specializations are needed. ;-)

• The specializations for "generic types" are in function_map.cc

• The specializations for "p≡p-specific types" are in pep-types.cc

5. TODO =========

• Windows build:

  • implement get_token_filename() for MS Windows (security-token.cc line 43
  • do the windows-specific stuff to build the software on Windows

• Add unit tests (I'd suggest GoogleTest/gtest? Any complaints?)

• Fix the bugs that are found by the Unit tests, if any.

• Let's generate all the tedious boiler plate code

  • the content of pep-types.cc
  • perhaps the FunctionMap 'function' in mt-server.cc
  • perhaps the JavaScript side of the HTML test page to ensure to be consistent with the server side in pep-types.cc

• Adapt the "p≡p Transport API", when it is final. (either manually or by code generator, if ready)