Correct philosophy document

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Silas Brack 2026-03-07 16:05:15 +01:00
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@ -15,9 +15,8 @@
possible. A handler should read like a sequence of steps: look up the
record, pick a volume, build the response.
4. **Minimize shared state** — pass values explicitly. The handler reads the
healthy volume set as a snapshot, then works with that snapshot. Don't hold
locks across IO. Don't reach into globals.
4. **Minimize shared state** — pass values explicitly. Don't hold locks across
IO. Don't reach into globals.
5. **Minimize indirection** — don't hide logic behind abstractions that exist
"in case we need to swap the implementation later." We won't. A three-line
@ -39,14 +38,12 @@ reads the decision and carries it out. It's tested with integration tests.
### Already pure
**`hasher.rs`** — the entire module is pure. `Ring` is a data structure.
`get_volumes` and `key_path` are deterministic functions of their inputs. No
IO, no state mutation beyond construction. This is the gold standard for the
project.
**`hasher.rs`** — the entire module is pure. `volumes_for_key` is a
deterministic function of its inputs. No IO, no state mutation. This is the
gold standard for the project.
**`db.rs` query functions** — `get`, `list_keys`, `all_records` take a
`&Connection` and return data. The connection is injected, not owned. The
functions don't decide what to do with the data — they just retrieve it.
**`rebalance.rs::plan_rebalance`** — takes a slice of records and returns a
list of moves. Pure decision logic, tested with unit tests.
**`db.rs` encode/parse** — `parse_volumes` and `encode_volumes` are pure
transformations between JSON strings and `Vec<String>`.
@ -55,65 +52,22 @@ transformations between JSON strings and `Vec<String>`.
**`server.rs::put_key`** — this handler does three things in one function:
1. *Decide* which volumes to write to (pure — ring lookup)
1. *Decide* which volumes to write to (pure — `volumes_for_key`)
2. *Execute* fan-out PUTs to nginx (IO)
3. *Decide* whether to rollback based on results (pure — check which succeeded)
4. *Execute* rollback DELETEs and/or index write (IO)
Steps 1 and 3 could be extracted as pure functions:
```rust
// Pure: given a key and ring, compute the placement plan
struct PutPlan {
path: String,
target_volumes: Vec<String>,
}
fn plan_put(ring: &Ring, key: &str, replication: usize) -> Result<PutPlan, AppError> {
let path = Ring::key_path(key);
let target_volumes = ring.get_volumes(key, replication);
if target_volumes.len() < replication {
return Err(AppError::VolumeError(...));
}
Ok(PutPlan { path, target_volumes })
}
// Pure: given fan-out results, decide what to do next
enum PutOutcome {
AllSucceeded { volumes: Vec<String> },
NeedsRollback { succeeded: Vec<String> },
}
fn evaluate_put_results(results: &[(String, Result<(), String>)]) -> PutOutcome { ... }
```
**`server.rs::get_key`** — the "pick a healthy volume" logic is a pure
function hiding inside an async handler:
```rust
// Pure: given a record's volumes and the healthy set, pick one
fn pick_healthy_volume<'a>(
record_volumes: &'a [String],
healthy: &HashSet<String>,
) -> Option<&'a str> {
record_volumes.iter().find(|v| healthy.contains(*v)).map(|v| v.as_str())
}
```
Steps 1 and 3 could be extracted as pure functions if they grow more complex.
### Intentionally impure
**`volume.rs`** — this is an IO boundary. It wraps `reqwest` and talks to
nginx. There's no decision logic here to extract; it's a thin adapter. Testing
it means mocking HTTP. That's fine.
**`rebuild.rs`** — walks nginx autoindex and bulk-inserts into SQLite. The IO
is the whole point; there's no decision logic worth extracting.
**`health.rs`** — a side-effecting loop. It polls volumes and mutates shared
state. No pure core to extract. Keep it simple.
**`db.rs` writer thread** — the batch-and-commit loop is inherently stateful.
The `execute_cmd` function is close to pure (it takes a connection and a
command, returns a result), but it mutates the database. The batching logic
(drain channel, group into transaction) is a state machine. Not worth
abstracting further.
**`db.rs`** — wraps SQLite behind `Arc<Mutex<Connection>>` with
`spawn_blocking` to avoid blocking the tokio runtime. The mutex serializes all
access; `SQLITE_OPEN_NO_MUTEX` disables SQLite's internal locking since the
application mutex handles it.
## Guidelines
@ -123,20 +77,15 @@ abstracting further.
2. **If a handler has an `if` or `match` that decides between outcomes, that
decision can probably be a pure function.** Extract it. Name it. Test it.
3. **IO boundaries should be thin.** `volume.rs` is a good example: format URL,
make request, check status, return bytes. No business logic.
3. **IO boundaries should be thin.** Format URL, make request, check status,
return bytes. No business logic.
4. **Don't over-abstract.** A three-line pure function inline in a handler is
fine. Extract it when it gets complex enough to need its own tests, or when
the same decision appears in multiple places (e.g., rebuild and rebalance
both need "compute desired placement").
both use `volumes_for_key`).
5. **Shared state should be read-only snapshots when possible.** The handler
reads `healthy_volumes` and `ring` under a read lock, then releases it
before doing IO. This keeps the critical section small and makes the
decision logic operate on a snapshot, not live-mutating state.
6. **Errors are data.** `AppError` is a value, not an exception. Functions
5. **Errors are data.** `AppError` is a value, not an exception. Functions
return `Result`, handlers pattern-match on it. The `IntoResponse` impl is
the only place where errors become HTTP responses — one place, one mapping.
@ -145,13 +94,9 @@ abstracting further.
- **God handler** — a 100-line async fn that reads the DB, calls volumes, makes
decisions, handles errors, and formats the response. Break it up.
- **Stringly-typed errors in business logic**`volume.rs` uses `String` errors
because it's an IO boundary and the strings are for logging. Decision
functions should use typed errors.
- **Hidden state reads** — if a function needs the healthy volume set, pass it
in. Don't reach into a global or lock a mutex inside a "pure" function.
- **Hidden state reads** — if a function needs data, pass it in. Don't reach
into a global or lock a mutex inside a "pure" function.
- **Testing IO to test logic** — if you need a Docker container running to test
whether "pick a healthy volume" works correctly, the logic isn't separated
from the IO.
whether volume selection works correctly, the logic isn't separated from the
IO.