deps: Inline pkarr by rklaehn · Pull Request #4026 · n0-computer/iroh

rklaehn · 2026-03-18T11:30:04Z

Description

On main we use the pkarr dependency, which comes with an entire tree of dependencies and is not under our control. But we do not use the reqwest based client at all in the dns discovery, instead we have our own. So what we use is just the encoding and decoding of DNS records.

It seems less than optimal to have a big dependency for just that. So this PR removes the pkarr dependency, inlines the DNS record encoding with the help of simple-dns, and implements the dht part manually, directly using the mainline crate.

Note for reviewers: just do cargo doc -p iroh_dns --open to see the API of the new crate. Almost everything is just copied, with the exception of using mainline directly to publish to the DHT.

(In a subsequent PR I might also try to get rid of the mainline dep)

Breaking Changes

A lot of stuff moves into iroh-dns

Notes & open questions

Note: I am using simple-dns for en/decoding. We could even inline this, but it is very lightweight compared to hickory or even hickory-proto. I was originally planning to use hickory-proto, but it has a lot of deps even with default features disabled. Simple-dns is not a new dependency - we used to have it via pkarr.

Note: this adds a dep to iroh-relay to iroh-dns-server, just for the pkarr SignedPacket impl. We could alternatively let iroh-relay-server depend on pkarr (it's not so critical regarding deps), or have a tiny iroh-pkarr crate.

Note: we are no longer using pkarr client (which has relay and dht built in) for the dht lookup. So there is a functionality change: the dht lookup can now only look up via the DHT. Before you could configure it with relays.

But I think that is fine, we already have a way to look up via relays.

Note: I also added a few comments and tests regarding storage on iroh-dns-server. These are unrelated but should do no harm.

Change checklist

we use mainline directly for the optional address-lookup-pkarr-dht feature.

And some more simplifications

github-actions · 2026-03-18T12:03:19Z

Documentation for this PR has been generated and is available at: https://n0-computer.github.io/iroh/pr/4026/docs/iroh/

Last updated: 2026-04-10T07:00:23Z

github-actions · 2026-03-18T12:43:45Z

Netsim report & logs for this PR have been generated and is available at: LOGS
This report will remain available for 3 days.

Last updated for commit: 33f2804

iroh-relay/src/pkarr.rs

This allows us to not depend on iroh-relay in iroh-dns-server

## Description This allows us to not depend on iroh-relay in iroh-dns-server ## Breaking Changes  ## Notes & open questions  ## Change checklist  - [ ] Self-review. - [ ] Documentation updates following the [style guide](https://rust-lang.github.io/rfcs/1574-more-api-documentation-conventions.html#appendix-a-full-conventions-text), if relevant. - [ ] Tests if relevant. - [ ] All breaking changes documented. - [ ] List all breaking changes in the above "Breaking Changes" section. - [ ] Open an issue or PR on any number0 repos that are affected by this breaking change. Give guidance on how the updates should be handled or do the actual updates themselves. The major ones are: - [ ] [`quic-rpc`](https://github.com/n0-computer/quic-rpc) - [ ] [`iroh-gossip`](https://github.com/n0-computer/iroh-gossip) - [ ] [`iroh-blobs`](https://github.com/n0-computer/iroh-blobs) - [ ] [`dumbpipe`](https://github.com/n0-computer/dumbpipe) - [ ] [`sendme`](https://github.com/n0-computer/sendme)

iroh-relay/src/endpoint_info.rs

iroh-relay/src/pkarr.rs

iroh-dns-server/benches/write.rs

iroh-dns-server/src/http.rs

… clock skew

and remove the reexport.

Frando · 2026-04-09T11:23:51Z

I would suggest to move the entire iroh_relay::dns module into the new iroh_dns crate. The whole module only lives in iroh-relay because that is the lowest in our dependency graph. It would be cleaner for that to move to iroh-dns IMO.

rklaehn · 2026-04-09T11:36:00Z

I would suggest to move the entire iroh_relay::dns module into the new iroh_dns crate. The whole module only lives in iroh-relay because that is the lowest in our dependency graph. It would be cleaner for that to move to iroh-dns IMO.

Good idea. That would make the crate a little less lightweight.

This is a major change though.

Edit: I think it would be best to do this in a separate PR. See #4094

dignifiedquire · 2026-04-11T09:50:55Z

iroh-dns/Cargo.toml

@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+[package]


please make sure to add a readme file, and anything else we might have in other crates for this one

dignifiedquire · 2026-04-11T09:51:25Z

iroh-dns/src/pkarr.rs

+    }
+}
+
+impl Debug for SignedPacket {


why not derive-more?

dignifiedquire · 2026-04-11T09:52:38Z

iroh-dns/src/pkarr.rs

+        // Ensure strictly monotonic: if the clock went backward or two calls
+        // land in the same microsecond, we increment from the last value.
+        let mut last = LAST_TIMESTAMP.load(Ordering::Relaxed);
+        loop {


this makes me a bit uneasy, do we really have to do this?

dignifiedquire · 2026-04-11T09:52:51Z

iroh-dns/src/pkarr.rs

+    }
+}
+
+impl fmt::Debug for Timestamp {


why not derive-more?

dignifiedquire · 2026-04-11T09:53:09Z

iroh-dns/src/pkarr.rs

+    DnsError(String),
+}
+
+impl fmt::Display for SignedPacketBuildError {


can we use n0-error for this error type?

dignifiedquire · 2026-04-11T09:53:20Z

iroh-dns/src/pkarr.rs

+/// Error verifying a signed packet.
+#[derive(Debug)]
+#[allow(missing_docs)]
+pub enum SignedPacketVerifyError {


same, lets use n0-error

dignifiedquire · 2026-04-11T09:54:44Z

iroh/examples/dht_address_lookup.rs

-}
-
-#[derive(Debug, Clone)]
-enum PkarrRelay {


are all these options gone now or why did you remove them?

dignifiedquire · 2026-04-11T09:56:03Z

iroh/src/address_lookup/pkarr/dht.rs

+            let res = this
                .0
-                .pkarr
-                .resolve_most_recent(&public_key)


so this is not needed anymore?

dignifiedquire · 2026-04-11T09:58:38Z

iroh/src/address_lookup/pkarr.rs

-        // We map the error to string, as in browsers the error is !Send
-        let public_key = pkarr::PublicKey::try_from(endpoint_id.as_bytes())
-            .map_err(|err| e!(PkarrError::PublicKey, err))?;
+        let public_key = endpoint_id;


seems pointless?

rklaehn added 5 commits March 18, 2026 12:57

Remove pkarr dep from iroh and iroh-relay

aa46222

we use mainline directly for the optional address-lookup-pkarr-dht feature.

Remove final pkarr dep.

c416183

Remove z32 crate dep

ad2577e

And some more simplifications

Move the z32 fns to EndpointId

0a763fd

fmt and clippy

61b9ada

rklaehn force-pushed the inline-pkarr branch from 456da73 to 61b9ada Compare March 18, 2026 11:43

rklaehn force-pushed the inline-pkarr branch 2 times, most recently from d4fbe07 to 6929e64 Compare March 18, 2026 12:06

n0bot bot added this to iroh Mar 18, 2026

github-project-automation bot moved this to 🚑 Needs Triage in iroh Mar 18, 2026

rklaehn force-pushed the inline-pkarr branch from 6929e64 to 3a04c5c Compare March 18, 2026 12:30

Bring back EndpointIdExt

7c323d1

rklaehn force-pushed the inline-pkarr branch from 3a04c5c to 7c323d1 Compare March 18, 2026 12:37

rklaehn added 4 commits March 18, 2026 14:56

Use n0 time to make it work in wasm

8841d34

Use EndpointIdExt everywhere

bb2fc7f

Remove serialize and deserialize from SignedPacket

e6e5542

Move z32 stuff to endpoint_info

ee7aa90

rklaehn force-pushed the inline-pkarr branch from 3e7a4b1 to ee7aa90 Compare March 18, 2026 14:10

matheus23 reviewed Mar 19, 2026

View reviewed changes

iroh-relay/src/pkarr.rs Show resolved Hide resolved

rklaehn added 2 commits March 20, 2026 11:37

Move SignedPacket into a new crate iroh-dns

ae674b7

This allows us to not depend on iroh-relay in iroh-dns-server

Merge branch 'main' into inline-pkarr

4c0d374

dignifiedquire moved this from 🚑 Needs Triage to 👍 Ready in iroh Apr 7, 2026

rklaehn added 2 commits April 8, 2026 12:28

Merge branch 'main' into inline-pkarr

ebbeadd

dignifiedquire reviewed Apr 8, 2026

View reviewed changes

iroh-relay/src/endpoint_info.rs Show resolved Hide resolved

dignifiedquire reviewed Apr 8, 2026

View reviewed changes

iroh-relay/src/pkarr.rs Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

dignifiedquire reviewed Apr 8, 2026

View reviewed changes

iroh-dns-server/benches/write.rs Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

dignifiedquire reviewed Apr 8, 2026

View reviewed changes

iroh-dns-server/src/http.rs Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

rklaehn force-pushed the inline-pkarr branch from 654a0b6 to 1ebec48 Compare April 8, 2026 12:27

rklaehn added 3 commits April 8, 2026 17:38

DRY mutable_item_to_signed_packet by extracting common code.

efc99f1

Add Timestamp newtype

a0dc065

Merge branch 'main' into inline-pkarr

29baf8e

rklaehn force-pushed the inline-pkarr branch from 0de2088 to 29baf8e Compare April 9, 2026 07:40

rklaehn added 9 commits April 9, 2026 10:49

Make the timestamp now actually monotonic to protect against negative…

7ce1d98

… clock skew

Use Timestamp in iroh-dns-server persistence again as well

5a2edac

Be paranoid about subtraction overflow

215fdfa

Add database serialization roundtrip tests

7618e7e

imports

7f6f85e

Clarify guarantees of PublicKeyBytes

fe50a5c

Fix doc link errors

4eb4fc0

Use a direct dep on iroh_dns from iroh

7ff32a9

and remove the reexport.

Short imports in example

d4bb64b

rklaehn marked this pull request as ready for review April 9, 2026 09:08

fmt

c0ebcb2

rklaehn requested a review from dignifiedquire April 9, 2026 09:09

Merge branch 'main' into inline-pkarr

963fd89

rklaehn mentioned this pull request Apr 10, 2026

wip: Move EndpointInfo and friends to iroh-dns #4094

Draft

11 tasks

dignifiedquire reviewed Apr 11, 2026

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iroh-dns/src/pkarr.rs

}

}

impl Debug for SignedPacket {

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why not derive-more?

dignifiedquire reviewed Apr 11, 2026

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iroh-dns/src/pkarr.rs

}

}

impl fmt::Debug for Timestamp {

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why not derive-more?

dignifiedquire reviewed Apr 11, 2026

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Description

Breaking Changes

Notes & open questions

Change checklist

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