ADR-0001: SIP strategy — native Rust core behind Kamailio + rtpengine

Record the SIP edge decision and align the docs:
- docs/adr/0001-sip-strategy.md: layered strategy (own Rust parser, rent the
  interop tail via a Kamailio + rtpengine SBC, grow native core behind the shield);
  pjproject FFI explicitly rejected for breaking the memory-safety thesis at the
  most exposed seam.
- PORT_PLAN §1 + open decisions: SIP row updated to the decided strategy.
- ARCHITECTURE: "biggest technical risk" now points at ADR-0001.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01C2bfD7MkqEdfnMXxXBu456
This commit is contained in:
adlee-was-taken
2026-06-26 21:49:36 -04:00
parent d3bd621aa0
commit 0370347642
3 changed files with 85 additions and 5 deletions

View File

@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
# ADR-0001 — SIP strategy: native Rust core behind a Kamailio + rtpengine edge
- **Status:** Accepted
- **Date:** 2026-06
- **Supersedes:** the `🔌 Edge/FFI (pjproject)` disposition in PORT_PLAN.md §1
## Context
SIP is rutster's highest-risk subsystem. Three forces pull against each other:
1. **The security thesis.** rutster's headline is "memory-safe by construction, fuzzed
parsers, no buffer-overflow/RCE class." The SIP parser is the *first* thing hostile
internet packets touch — the most exposed surface in the whole system.
2. **The interop tail.** The hard, *unbounded* part of SIP isn't RFC 3261 — it's 20 years
of device/carrier/NAT quirks. Owning that tail forever is what killed `chan_sip` and
drove Asterisk to retreat to pjproject. It is a permanent tax, not a one-time cost.
3. **Time-to-first-call.** We want interoperable SIP trunking early, without blocking on
a young stack maturing.
These don't resolve as a single build-vs-buy call, because they live at *different
layers* of SIP:
| Layer | CVE-class risk | Interop-tail cost | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parser (bytes off the wire) | **Highest** | Low | **Own in Rust** — cheap, and the thesis depends on it |
| Transaction / dialog / timers | Medium | Medium (bounded by RFCs) | Own over time; sans-IO Rust fits |
| Interop tail (UA quirks, NAT, carrier glare) | Low | **Unbounded, forever** | **Rent** — this is what a mature edge is for |
Pure FFI to pjproject was rejected: it pays the interop cost *and* puts C at the most
exposed seam, gutting the memory-safety headline at the one place it matters most. It is
the right default for a generic PBX and the wrong one for a security-first platform.
## Decision
A **layered** strategy:
1. **Own the SIP parser in Rust, from day one.** Build on `rsip` (message types/parsing)
and the `ezk-sip` family (sans-IO transaction/dialog core). No hostile bytes ever hit
a C parser. This is non-negotiable — the security story requires it.
2. **Front the public SIP edge with Kamailio + rtpengine.** Kamailio handles signaling
(proxy, registrar, TLS termination, topology hiding, rate-limiting, anti-scan);
**rtpengine** handles the media leg (kernel-forwarded RTP relay, SRTP/DTLS-SRTP
bridging, ICE, NAT). This is the most-proven, most-scaled FOSS SIP edge — carrier-grade
on the open internet. It absorbs the interop tail and gives us a hardened edge in weeks.
3. **Grow the native Rust transaction/dialog core *behind* that shield.** It matures in
production where its early bugs aren't customer-facing outages. As it hardens,
Kamailio's role shrinks from "does all the SIP" → "just the public edge" → optionally
nothing.
**Chosen edge: Kamailio + rtpengine** (over OpenSIPS and drachtio). Rationale: largest
proven deployment pedigree and max-scale proxy track record; rtpengine is the canonical
media companion. OpenSIPS and drachtio remain valid alternatives (drachtio noted for a
future *programmable* edge once rutster's API model is solid).
## Topology
```
hostile internet trusted core
───────────────► Kamailio ──signaling──► rutster control plane
(SIP trunks, + rtpengine ──media─────► rutster media plane
far-end UAs) (edge SBC) (native Rust SIP core
grows here, behind the shield)
```
WebRTC ingress is unaffected and ships *first* (WebRTC signaling is app-defined, not SIP),
so first-call does not block on any of this.
## Consequences
- **Positive:** security headline holds (Rust parser at the edge of *our* trust boundary);
interoperable SIP trunking available early; native stack de-risked by maturing behind a
proven shield; no pjproject license/threading/`unsafe` entanglement.
- **Negative / costs:** an operational dependency on Kamailio + rtpengine (config,
deployment, expertise) for the foreseeable future; two media-handling points during the
shield phase (rtpengine at the edge, rutster media plane inside) to reason about.
- **Open follow-ups:** Kamailio↔rutster control-plane integration (KEMI vs. dispatcher vs.
a custom control channel); how far inward rtpengine relays vs. rutster terminating media
directly; the graduation criteria for retiring the shield.