CapsicumVideoCodecs [FreeBSD WIKI]

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  * Student: [[/DanielPeyrolon|Daniel Peyrolón]] (dpl@freebsd.org)
  * Mentor: [[/BrooksDavis|Brooks Davis]] (brooks@freebsd.org)

===== Project description =====

During this project I will port the following to Capsicum:
  * bzip2
  * xz
  * zip
  * libavcodec

In the process some libcapsicum refinements will be done. This way I can make as easy a possible the process of porting applications to Capsicum.

Finally, I will write some documentation on how to port applications to Capsicum, trying to expand the part on that same topic in the [[http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/security/capsicum/papers/2010usenix-security-capsicum-website.pdf|Capsicum paper]].

===== Approach to solving the problem =====

I will do the project working in HEAD, using the latest Capsicum interface.

The aproach is fairly simple:
  * Look for all the files opened during the program execution, and limit them.
  * Search for the earliest moment in the program execution where we can enter capability mode, and enter it.

Of course, it's not that simple. Sometimes I will have to write some kind of wrapper around the file descriptors, or do some architectural changes to make the program run stably using Capsicum.

===== Milestones =====

  * Community bonding: I will learn the different strategies for porting applications to Capsicum, by reviewing the diffs or the ported code.
  * June 17: Start of coding.
  * July 1:  Port bzip2 to use Capsicum. ✔
  * July 15: Port xz. ✔
  * July 29: Port zlib.
  * July 29-August 2: Mid-term Evaluations 
  * August 5: Learn about libavcodec's structure.
  * August 26: Port libavcode, which could then be used transparently.
  * September 9: Here, I could do two things:
    * Update the Capsicum-powered Chromium. {*}
    * Search some library used by many applications, and port it.
  * September 16: Performance testing and if the Capsicum-powered libavcodec should be on the %%FreeBSD%% ports, write some patches for that.
  * September 16: End of coding (soft) 
  * September 23: Write documentation/recomendations on how to port software to Capsicum.
  * September 23: End of coding (hard) 

===== Test Plan =====

  * Test code with its test suite. If not found, I will edit its Makefiles to test the programs. Every test suite has to:
    * Check correct working of program.
    * Check that all the program options work as intended.
  * Check that capsicum works as intended with them (for instance, doing forbidden operations with the ported code).
  * Finally, I will also do a performance comparison with every application (that will come after September 9). 

If they seem good enough, they can be used in the base system, since they will be much securer.

===== Links =====

==== Code of the project ====

*[[https://svnweb.freebsd.org/socsvn/soc2013/dpl/|svn rep]]
*[[http://gsoccapsicum2013.blogspot.com/|Blog]]

==== Capsicum ====
Links to the manuals are from %%FreeBSD%% 9-CURRENT
*[[http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/security/capsicum/|Capsicum official webpage]]
*[[https://lists.cam.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/cl-capsicum-discuss|Capsicum mailing list]]
*[[http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=capsicum&apropos=0&sektion=0&manpath=FreeBSD+9-current&arch=default&format=html|capsicum(4)]]

==== Software ====
*[[http://bzip.org/|bzip2]]
*[[http://tukaani.org/xz/|xz]]
*[[http://zlib.net/|zlib]]
*[[https://www.libav.org/|libav]]