Review of the three new crates (alknet-tls, alknet-endpoint, alknet-client)
+ revised core found compile-blocking inconsistencies, stale claims, and
dep-graph contradictions. All resolved:
Critical:
- C1: CallClient::connect / ChannelClient::connect_quic REMOVED (not
delegated) — keeping them as thin wrappers over AlknetClient::dial_quic
would make protocol crates depend on alknet-client, contradicting the
dep graph. Callers compose dial + take-over (2 lines).
- C2: alknet-client feature gates now pull alknet-core/quinn +
alknet-core/iroh (for Connection::from_quinn_with_alpn / from_iroh).
- C3: rustls-native-certs + webpki-roots added to alknet-tls deps
(always-present, not feature-gated — CA-verify path is transport-agnostic).
Warning:
- W1: CallCredentials/RemoteIdentity moved to alknet-core (from
alknet-call) — the dial must not depend on the call protocol; not a
two-way-door, it determines the dep graph.
- W2: webpki-roots fallback implemented in spec (ADR-088 §5 added) —
the code claimed a fallback that never existed; now the store is never
empty, NoRootAnchors unreachable, containerized deployments work.
- W3: EndpointError removed entirely (BindFailed + HandlerNotFound both
vestigial after ADR-083); shutdown() is now infallible.
- W4: FingerprintPinVerifier moved to alknet-tls (from alknet-call) —
alknet-call sheds quinn/rustls/rustls-pemfile/rustls-native-certs
entirely; CallClient becomes a pure protocol crate.
Plus: ClientError removed (only produced by removed connect); S1
(CallCredentials → ClientVerifierContext mapping + auth_token stripped
at TLS boundary documented); amendment notes on ADR-017, ADR-069,
ADR-080, ADR-082, ADR-087, ADR-090; overview crate graph + README index
updated.
29 files, consistency-reviewed.
Grounded in the actual error-producing call sites (endpoint.rs server
side, call_client.rs client side) and the dependency-crate sources read
from the cargo cache (rustls 0.23.41, rustls-pemfile 2.2.0, rcgen 0.13.2,
quinn-proto 0.11.15, rustls-acme 0.12.1).
Decision: single #[non_exhaustive] enum, one variant per failure
category, owned by alknet-tls (not re-exported from core). Six variants:
CertLoad(io::Error), SelfSigned(rcgen::Error), Rustls(rustls::Error),
VerifierBuild(VerifierBuilderError), QuinnWrap(NoInitialCipherSuite)
[quinn-gated], AcmeConfig(String).
Three findings drove single-enum over thin wrapper: (1) for_quinn()
fails with NoInitialCipherSuite, not rustls::Error — a rustls::Error
wrapper cannot represent the for_quinn() failure; (2) rustls_pemfile::Error
is not a std::error::Error (no Display, no Error impl) so #[from] would
not compile — pemfile BufRead APIs return io::Error; (3)
WebPkiServerVerifier::build() returns VerifierBuilderError, not
rustls::Error — a thin wrapper cannot represent empty-CA-root-store as
a first-class failure.
Deliberately NOT variants: ACME EventError/OrderError (stream events,
logged not returned from new); unknown-raw-key fail-closed (handshake-
time rejection at dial time, not a config-construction error —
corrects OQ-63's original framing); provider init (infallible); resolver
construction (infallible).
Address the root cause of rework-causing hedging: the architect was
put in a logical bind where it couldn't express justified uncertainty
('the pieces exist but the shape isn't clear yet'). The only options
were 'decide now' (premature) or 'deferred(scope)' (false — the
information isn't missing, it's un-synthesized). The agent picked
deferred(scope) with a circular blocking condition (OQ-64 blocked on
OQ-55, OQ-55 needs OQ-64) because there was no honest way to say 'I
can see the pieces but I can't see the shape.'
Changes to the architect role spec:
- Add deferred(unclear) state: the pieces exist but the composition
isn't clear; resolution requires investigation (work through
examples, POC), not waiting. Has an investigation target and an
impacts field.
- Add 'Impacts' field to the OQ format: what does this block
downstream? Be specific ('blocks the first hub deployment because
the hub dials workers' not 'blocks the hub crate'). The triage
signal that makes deferral urgency visible — the field that would
have made the AlknetClient circular hedge visible.
- Add circular-reasoning guard to self-review: 'check that your
blocking condition isn't a prerequisite of the thing you're
deferring.'
- Trim anti-patterns #9-#11 (hedging synonyms catalog, ~40 lines):
detection belongs in the reviewer, not the architect's self-review.
The architect is too close to its own reasoning to see its own
circular hedges.
- Trim door-types section (30→10 lines): keep the one-paragraph
summary, cut the elaboration.
Changes to the architecture-reviewer role spec:
- Add Decision Quality (F) category: false-deferral check
distinguishing three cases — (1) hedging on a resolved decision, (2)
false deferral / circular hedge (the blocking condition is a
prerequisite of the thing being deferred), (3) legitimate deferral.
- Add Impacts Field Coverage (G) category: check that unresolved OQs
have specific impacts fields.
- Note: the Decision Quality category is often the highest-value
check on poorly-defined projects — the architect cannot self-review
it (circular reasoning is invisible from inside the circle).
Retrofit existing OQs:
- Add Impacts field to all 16 unresolved OQs (10 deferred, 6 open).
- Update OQ-63 (TlsError shape) to reflect ADR-087's client-side
addition — the error type now covers both server and client
variants.
- Move OQ-65 (WebSocket carrying channels) to alknet-http theme
(done in prior commit; this commit adds its impacts field).
- Verified: no circular reasoning found in existing deferrals. The
AlknetClient hedge (OQ-64) was the circular one; it's already
resolved by ADR-087.
ADR-085 records the actual workspace scope: the mono-repo is the core
networking toolkit (substrate: core, tls, call, channels; deployment
shapes: hub, worker; foundational handlers: tty, http, ssh, tunnel,
socks5, fs, sftp; vault). Consumer repos (docker, agent) are separate
repos depending on the published core crates. The overview's crate
graph had been describing the wrong scope since ADR-003 — a flat
~12-crate workspace including DNS/messaging/NAPI while omitting
channels, hub, worker, and tls. This stale scope was a causal factor
in the 'assembly layer' hedging pattern: when the overview implies
everything lives in one repo but the architecture needs a hub/worker
composition layer not in the graph, the gap gets filled with
'assembly layer' as an escape hatch. The overview is rewritten to
match the real boundary.
TLS spec review fixes (from architecture review):
- C3: hub/worker/hub-worker terminology pointers (tls README + endpoint.md)
- W1: server-only statement + OQ-64 (client-side TLS helper, deferred)
- W2: ACME task lifecycle semantics (returns immediately, no first-cert await)
- W3: remove stale EndpointError::TlsConfig variant
- W4: update stale ALPN section for two-config hub
- W5: add alknet-tls to hub dep graph (assembly-layer dep)
- W6: trim inline rationale -> point to ADR-084
- W7: ADR-084 status dependency note
New open questions:
- OQ-62: ALPN list sharing for two-config hub (open, high)
- OQ-63: TlsError shape (open, high)
- OQ-64: client-side TLS helper (deferred, blocked on OQ-55)