dimgigov
570d53f391
- Replaced SQLite with BaraDB via TCP wire protocol - Added baradb_client.nim and baradb_sqlite.nim adapter - Renamed SQL keywords: status->usrStatus, key->sessionKey, like->postLike - Added NOW() support for datetime defaults - Switched Jester to asynchttpserver (-d:useStdLib) to avoid thread/GC issues - Frontend built and favicon added
116 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
116 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
# nimforum
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NimForum is a light-weight forum implementation with many similarities to Discourse. It is implemented in the [Nim](https://nim-lang.org) programming language.
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**This fork uses [BaraDB](https://github.com/yourusername/baradb) instead of SQLite.** BaraDB is a custom database engine that communicates via a TCP wire protocol. The forum connects to a running BaraDB server instead of opening a local SQLite file.
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## Architecture
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```
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┌─────────────┐ HTTP ┌─────────────┐ TCP ┌─────────────┐
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│ Browser │ ◄─────────────► │ nimforum │ ◄────────────► │ BaraDB │
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│ │ │ (Jester) │ (wire proto) │ Server │
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└─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘
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│
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▼
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┌─────────────┐
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│ public/ │
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│ (JS, CSS) │
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└─────────────┘
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```
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## Why BaraDB?
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This project was created to test and validate BaraDB's SQL compatibility and wire protocol. Running a real-world application like NimForum against BaraDB surfaced many practical issues (reserved keywords, type conversions, async protocol safety) that unit tests alone would not catch.
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## Changes from upstream
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| Area | Upstream | This fork |
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|------|----------|-----------|
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| Database | SQLite (file) | BaraDB (TCP server) |
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| DB driver | `db_connector/db_sqlite` | `baradb_sqlite.nim` (drop-in adapter) |
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| Keywords | `status`, `key`, `like` | Renamed to `usrStatus`, `sessionKey`, `postLike` |
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| Date/time | `DATETIME('now')` | `NOW()` |
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| FTS search | SQLite FTS4 | Disabled (returns empty) |
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| HTTP backend | httpbeast (multi-threaded) | asynchttpserver (single-threaded)* |
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\* *Switched to `asynchttpserver` via `-d:useStdLib` because httpbeast's worker threads share the global `db` ref, causing GC corruption and segfaults at startup.*
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## Requirements
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* Nim >= 2.0
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* Nimble
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* libsass / libsass-dev (for SCSS compilation)
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* A running BaraDB server (see below)
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## Quick start
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### 1. Start BaraDB
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```bash
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cd ../Baradb
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BARADB_JWT_SECRET=test nimble build_debug
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BARADB_JWT_SECRET=test ./build/baradadb
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```
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The server listens on `127.0.0.1:9472` by default.
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### 2. Build and run the forum
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```bash
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cd nimforum
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git submodule update --init --recursive
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# Build CSS and frontend JS
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nimble frontend
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# Create development database (admin/admin)
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nimble devdb
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# Compile and run backend
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nimble backend
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```
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The forum will be available at `http://localhost:5000`.
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### Build tasks
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```bash
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nimble backend # Compile & run the forum backend
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nimble runbackend # Run the compiled backend
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nimble frontend # Build CSS + JS frontend assets
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nimble devdb # Create a dev database with seed data
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nimble testdb # Create a test database
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nimble blankdb # Create an empty database
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```
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## Project layout
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```
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nimforum/
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├── src/
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│ ├── forum.nim # Main Jester backend
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│ ├── baradb_client.nim # BaraDB wire-protocol client
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│ ├── baradb_sqlite.nim # Drop-in db_sqlite adapter
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│ ├── setup_nimforum.nim # DB initialization script
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│ └── frontend/ # Karax SPA sources
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├── public/
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│ ├── js/forum.js # Compiled frontend (generated)
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│ ├── css/ # Compiled SASS + Spectre
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│ └── images/
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├── Baradb/ # BaraDB source (sibling directory)
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└── nimforum.nimble
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```
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## Known issues / limitations
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* **FTS search disabled** — BaraDB does not support SQLite FTS4 virtual tables. The search endpoint returns empty results.
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* **No `COLLATE NOCASE`** — Some string comparisons may be case-sensitive where the original was not.
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* **Manual `nextId()`** — Auto-increment is simulated with `SELECT COALESCE(MAX(id),0)+1`, which is not atomic under high concurrency.
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* **Single-threaded HTTP** — Due to the global `db` ref holding async TCP state, the forum runs on a single async thread. For a busy site you would need per-request DB connections or a connection pool.
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## License
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MIT — see upstream [nimforum](https://github.com/nim-lang/nimforum) for original copyright.
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