4 ms·

Fractalide: Simple Rust Microservices

76 points by dmmalam 10y ago

akubera 10y ago
Most documentation is in the form of README files within the subdirectories; here is the code auto-docs: https://docs.rs/fractalide https://docs.rs/fractalide Looks like knowledge of the nix distribution system is required to use. I don't know how hard it would be, but a neat auxiliary project would be a cargo plugin that supports fetching packages though nix. The "net/http" fractal definition [0] references the repository https://github.com/fractalide/fractal_net_http https://github.com/fractalide/fractal_net_http, which is where the rust microservice code actualy lives. There is an example TODO app in the https://github.com/fractalide https://github.com/fractalide root dir (split between fractal_app_todo_{,model,controller}). Upon further inspection, this seems to be "simple nix microservices" that happen to be implemented in rust. One of the goals is to "remove cargo", and they use `nix-build` over `cargo build`. Also, a lot of implementation is in their 'flowscript' language within a lot of *.nix files [1] [2]. Interesting project nonetheless. Good luck to them! [0]: https://gitlab.com/fractalide/fractalide/blob/master/fractals/net/http/default.nix https://gitlab.com/fractalide/fractalide/blob/master/fractal... [1]: https://github.com/fractalide/fractal_app_todo/blob/master/components/todo/patch/default.nix https://github.com/fractalide/fractal_app_todo/blob/master/c... [2]: https://github.com/fractalide/fractal_app_todo/blob/master/contracts/todo/default.nix https://github.com/fractalide/fractal_app_todo/blob/master/c...
setori88 10y ago
An author here: we're working on the nixcrates project to remove cargo and allow for closer integration between nix and crates.io, so far you can check out the project at https://github.com/nixcloud/nixcrates https://github.com/nixcloud/nixcrates (joachim and paul are super people, hit them up if you're interested in contracting them) the net/http stuff is currently incompatible with the most recent changeset, I'll get working on it tomorrow morning HKT to make it work, I have to refactor it to suit the new stabilized API. Anyway, this attention was a bit earlier than expected, still have a couple of weeks to go before stabilizing. I hope you guys can kick the tires, tell us what you don't understand and please comment on the API because we want something sensible. We're using the late Pieter Hintjens' C4 so please hop on board and collaborate!
- setori88 10y ago
  We have the early stages of a tutorial here: https://gitlab.com/dmichiels/dochttp/blob/master/http_todo.md https://gitlab.com/dmichiels/dochttp/blob/master/http_todo.m... , it still has to be converted into a decent HOWTO. Hopefully this will give insight into designing applications using Fractalide.
- equalunique 10y ago
  Nix is very cool tech. Thanks for sharing this exciting news!
- brohee 10y ago
  Why do you have "remove cargo" in your roadmap?
  - setori88 10y ago
    There is too much cognitive dissonance between nix and cargo. It might be better to get nix, a package manager, to do the job of cargo, a package manager.
buckhx 10y ago
Not to discount any of the work being done here, but I'd love to see a stable rust grpc implementation.
- eclark 10y ago
  Same. Right now rust feels pretty isolated on the network. There's no great RPC support. No thrift, grpc, etc. The http libraries are good for low level, unsecured, stateless services. However they lack lots of more complex features.
  - steveklabnik 10y ago
    What do you think of Capn' proto?
    - jupp0r 10y ago
      It's very different to grpc, lacking streaming semantics but offering capabilities, which are certaintly nice.
      - dwrensha 10y ago
        True, streaming is not a baked-in feature of Cap'n Proto. Streaming can, however, be implemented on top of capabilities, as with this ByteStream interface: https://github.com/sandstorm-io/sandstorm/blob/v0.197/src/sandstorm/util.capnp#L69-L117 https://github.com/sandstorm-io/sandstorm/blob/v0.197/src/sa...
vegabook 10y ago
Looks incredible. I for one cannot encourage enough, dataflow competitors to the current JVM lockdown on this space. A few questions: a) will Fractalide support dynamic dataflow graph change at runtime? b) For reasons of clarifying your objectives further, could you elaborate on your target market's current occupants? Is this Kafka / Flink for Rust? c) What is your estimated timeframe for a feature-credible, testable release, even if beta?
- setori88 10y ago
  a) yes it will, we'll have to do some design on the `fvm` to make it hotswap. It won't be ready for this stabilization release. The functionality is already there it just needs b) I'm not really focusing on other market occupants. We need this system to solve some pretty hairy problems 100TB problems. c) 'feature-credible, testable release' primarily this is dependent on `nixcrates`, documentation and maybe getting a few more services examples. I'd say a couple of weeks.

76 points by dmmalam 10y ago

Most documentation is in the form of README files within the subdirectories; here is the code auto-docs: https://docs.rs/fractalide https://docs.rs/fractalide Looks like knowledge of the nix distribution system is required to use. I don't know how hard it would be, but a neat auxiliary project would be a cargo plugin that supports fetching packages though nix. The "net/http" fractal definition [0] references the repository https://github.com/fractalide/fractal_net_http https://github.com/fractalide/fractal_net_http, which is where the rust microservice code actualy lives. There is an example TODO app in the https://github.com/fractalide https://github.com/fractalide root dir (split between fractal_app_todo_{,model,controller}). Upon further inspection, this seems to be "simple nix microservices" that happen to be implemented in rust. One of the goals is to "remove cargo", and they use `nix-build` over `cargo build`. Also, a lot of implementation is in their 'flowscript' language within a lot of *.nix files [1] [2]. Interesting project nonetheless. Good luck to them! [0]: https://gitlab.com/fractalide/fractalide/blob/master/fractals/net/http/default.nix https://gitlab.com/fractalide/fractalide/blob/master/fractal... [1]: https://github.com/fractalide/fractal_app_todo/blob/master/components/todo/patch/default.nix https://github.com/fractalide/fractal_app_todo/blob/master/c... [2]: https://github.com/fractalide/fractal_app_todo/blob/master/contracts/todo/default.nix https://github.com/fractalide/fractal_app_todo/blob/master/c...

setori88 10y ago

An author here: we're working on the nixcrates project to remove cargo and allow for closer integration between nix and crates.io, so far you can check out the project at https://github.com/nixcloud/nixcrates https://github.com/nixcloud/nixcrates (joachim and paul are super people, hit them up if you're interested in contracting them) the net/http stuff is currently incompatible with the most recent changeset, I'll get working on it tomorrow morning HKT to make it work, I have to refactor it to suit the new stabilized API. Anyway, this attention was a bit earlier than expected, still have a couple of weeks to go before stabilizing. I hope you guys can kick the tires, tell us what you don't understand and please comment on the API because we want something sensible. We're using the late Pieter Hintjens' C4 so please hop on board and collaborate!

setori88 10y ago
We have the early stages of a tutorial here: https://gitlab.com/dmichiels/dochttp/blob/master/http_todo.md https://gitlab.com/dmichiels/dochttp/blob/master/http_todo.m... , it still has to be converted into a decent HOWTO. Hopefully this will give insight into designing applications using Fractalide.
equalunique 10y ago
Nix is very cool tech. Thanks for sharing this exciting news!
brohee 10y ago
Why do you have "remove cargo" in your roadmap?
- setori88 10y ago
  There is too much cognitive dissonance between nix and cargo. It might be better to get nix, a package manager, to do the job of cargo, a package manager.

buckhx 10y ago

Not to discount any of the work being done here, but I'd love to see a stable rust grpc implementation.

eclark 10y ago
Same. Right now rust feels pretty isolated on the network. There's no great RPC support. No thrift, grpc, etc. The http libraries are good for low level, unsecured, stateless services. However they lack lots of more complex features.
- steveklabnik 10y ago
  What do you think of Capn' proto?
  - jupp0r 10y ago
    It's very different to grpc, lacking streaming semantics but offering capabilities, which are certaintly nice.
    - dwrensha 10y ago
      True, streaming is not a baked-in feature of Cap'n Proto. Streaming can, however, be implemented on top of capabilities, as with this ByteStream interface: https://github.com/sandstorm-io/sandstorm/blob/v0.197/src/sandstorm/util.capnp#L69-L117 https://github.com/sandstorm-io/sandstorm/blob/v0.197/src/sa...

vegabook 10y ago

Looks incredible. I for one cannot encourage enough, dataflow competitors to the current JVM lockdown on this space. A few questions: a) will Fractalide support dynamic dataflow graph change at runtime? b) For reasons of clarifying your objectives further, could you elaborate on your target market's current occupants? Is this Kafka / Flink for Rust? c) What is your estimated timeframe for a feature-credible, testable release, even if beta?

setori88 10y ago
a) yes it will, we'll have to do some design on the `fvm` to make it hotswap. It won't be ready for this stabilization release. The functionality is already there it just needs b) I'm not really focusing on other market occupants. We need this system to solve some pretty hairy problems 100TB problems. c) 'feature-credible, testable release' primarily this is dependent on `nixcrates`, documentation and maybe getting a few more services examples. I'd say a couple of weeks.