open-dmcn

README

open-dmcn

The open core of the DMCN Protocol (DMCNP) — the protocol spoken by DMCN, the Decentralized Mesh Communication Network: a peer-to-peer, end-to-end-encrypted store-and-forward mail network where cryptographic identity replaces SMTP-style trust. DMCN names the network; DMCNP names the protocol specified here.

This repository is the canonical home of the core protocol schema: everything an independent implementation needs to interoperate — resolve addresses, verify identities, send and receive mail. It deliberately contains no product machinery: operator fleet administration, hosting permits, provisioning, entitlements and client-convenience surfaces are extensions maintained elsewhere (they ride their own libp2p protocols and a generic, signature-covered extension surface — see SPEC.md §8).

Layout

proto/
  identity.proto   dmcn.identity — identity records, credentials, domain authority,
                   blocklists, removals, fleet rosters, relay descriptors
  message.proto    dmcn.message  — the three-layer message model + encrypted envelope
  relay.proto      dmcn.relay    — the /dmcn/relay/1.0.0 wire protocol (mail interop)
  bridge.proto     dmcn.bridge   — OPTIONAL capability: SMTP-bridge attestation payloads
dmcnpb/            generated Go (committed; import github.com/mertenvg/open-dmcn/dmcnpb)
SPEC.md            the protocol reference (a snapshot of the reference implementation)

bridge.proto is an optional capability like onion routing: a conforming implementation need not run an SMTP bridge, but if it does, these are the attestation formats (they are end-to-end-sealed message payloads, not wire ops).

Schema rules

• Never reuse a reserved field or arm number. Vacated numbers carry reserved + gravestone comments; they are part of the protocol's history.
• Breaking checks are PACKAGE-level (buf breaking); the proto package names (dmcn.identity, …) are load-bearing for reflection-based consumers and never change.
• Extensions attach through the designed extension points (IdentityRecord. operator_credentials, ext.-prefixed Credential.attributes keys, separate libp2p protocol IDs) — never through new core fields.

Regenerate

buf lint && buf generate   # emits dmcnpb/ (requires buf + protoc-gen-go)

Status

A reference snapshot, not a frozen specification: the schema is versioned with the reference implementation, which remains authoritative where they disagree. The single-domain self-host server is planned to live here.

License

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 — see LICENSE and NOTICE. The license includes an express patent grant with defensive termination: you may implement this protocol without fear of patent assertion by its authors, and that grant terminates for anyone who initiates patent litigation over it.

Trademarks

Two names, two meanings: "DMCN" identifies the network — the Decentralized Mesh Communication Network of interoperating deployments — and "DMCN Protocol" / "DMCNP" identifies the protocol specified in this repository. The Apache License covers the code and schema here; it does not grant rights to either name or any associated logos.

You are free to implement the protocol under any name of your own. Describing an implementation or service as speaking the "DMCN Protocol" (or "DMCNP", or confusingly similar) requires that it genuinely conform to the protocol specified here; describing it as part of "DMCN" additionally means it actually interoperates with the network. Names implying endorsement by or affiliation with the DMCN project require permission. This keeps both names meaning what users think they mean: DMCNP is the protocol, and DMCN is the network of things that truly speak it.