Outreachy/2015/December to March: Difference between revisions

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* Work through our [http://fjord.readthedocs.org/en/latest/getting_started.html Getting started] guide which will walk you through setting up a Fjord development environment for Input development
* Work through our [http://fjord.readthedocs.org/en/latest/getting_started.html Getting started] guide which will walk you through setting up a Fjord development environment for Input development
* Pick a bug that you think you can do from the list on the bottom of our [https://wiki.mozilla.org/Webdev/GetInvolved/input.mozilla.org GetInvolved page] and ask in the comments to have it be assigned to you
* Pick a bug that you think you can do from the list on the bottom of our [https://wiki.mozilla.org/Webdev/GetInvolved/input.mozilla.org GetInvolved page] and ask in the comments to have it be assigned to you
=== Kinto — Make instances discoverable ===
Mentor: [https://mozillians.org/en-US/u/alexis/ Alexis Métaireau]
==== Details ====
The [https://kinto.readthedocs.org Kinto project] aims to bring storage instances to everyone, attached to their [https://accounts.firefox.com Firefox Accounts]. It actually supports multiple authentication schemes, but FxA is integrated with it, and that is part of the solution we want to deliver.
Currently, Kinto is thought as a centralized server: there is one instance, and everyone authenticates on this instance. Items are shared between users of a same instance.
This doesn't resonates well with multiple goals we have: scalability is harder when there is one endpoint, and it's also not interoperable.
For instance, imagine Alice and Bob. Bob is using Mozilla's servers to store his data, whereas Alice deployed her own Kinto instance.
There are different use cases:
* Alice wants to use [https://github.com/leplatrem/routina Routina], an application that stores its data inside a Kinto instance. As such, Routina needs a way to discover where it should store its data, and send the requests to this server;
* Bob and Alice want to collaborate on a set of data (think about a shared expense webapp). There should be a way for Alice to host everything and grant access to Bob to her data. The webapp should be able to use the correct server.
Here are the different steps that could allow these scenarios:
* At the moment they authenticate, the client detects the email address used, and relies on the domain part to do a [https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7033 Web Finger] request on the domain (*) and for the specified user.
* In case the identified server doesn't support WebFinger, it uses a central repository to lookup where the Kinto server is located.
* Once the Kinto server located, all requests should be issued against this server.
(*) It is also possible to use the same mechanism to discover the FxA endpoints. But as FxA isn't a federated protocol, users from one FxA realm would need to be accepted explicitely by the Kinto server, in its configuration.
In terms of code changes, here is what it looks like (rough step by step):
* Update the [https://github.com/kinto/kinto.js Kinto.js client] to find the server location. It should first rely on WebFinger;
* Create a central repository of server locations. This could be contained in the FxA profile server or in a central Kinto collection;
* Update the Kinto.js client to fall-back to this central repository in case no Web Finger exists;
* Investigate on ways to store this information directly in the web browser. It could also be configurable by the JavaScript client (with
an UX that looks like [https://remotestorage.io/ what Remote Storage proposes]).
* Work on the first user experience: how can client learn they can chose which server to use?
* Ship it!
To get started on Kinto:
* Read [https://kinto.readthedocs.org the kinto documentation], especially tutorials
* Join us! Work through our [http://kinto.readthedocs.org/en/latest/contributing.html#communication-channels communication channels] chapter which includes joining the [https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/kinto Kinto development mailing list] and joining the #storage channel on irc.mozilla.org
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