tursodatabase / tursodatabase/libsql

Verify bottomless WAL checksumming algorithm

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Description

Description of the original SQLite WAL checksumming algorithm: https://www.sqlite.org/fileformat.html#checksum_algorithm

Now, our checksumming implementation is here: https://github.com/tursodatabase/libsql/blob/508ee178007106f9862172ba894500b476b6da85/bottomless/src/wal.rs#L244

Two things I find confusing:

  1. The original algorithm computes the checksum either in little-endian or big-endian, depending on a value from the WAL header. I don't see any such distinction in our implementation, so maybe we have an assumption that doesn't always hold?
  2. The function above is named checksum_be, but I don't see how it uses big-endian and not just host endianness. Can somebody clarify?

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Read the SQLite checksum algorithm specification and compare it with bottomless/src/wal.rs around line 244, focusing on the WAL-header endianness choice and the checksum_be function. Done means establishing whether the implementation matches the specified algorithm and documenting or addressing any discrepancy found.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
databases
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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