This commit: + Adds support for a protocol which enables inter-op between concrete, tfhe-rs and potentially other contributors to the fhe ecosystem. + Gets rid of hand-made serialization in the compiler, and client/server libs. + Refactors client/server libs to allow more pre/post processing of circuit inputs/outputs. The protocol is supported by a definition in the shape of a capnp file, which defines different types of objects among which: + ProgramInfo object, which is a precise description of a set of fhe circuit coming from the same compilation (understand function type information), and the associated key set. + *Key objects, which represent secret/public keys used to encrypt/execute fhe circuits. + Value object, which represent values that can be transferred between client and server to support calls to fhe circuits. The hand-rolled serialization that was previously used is completely dropped in favor of capnp in the whole codebase. The client/server libs, are refactored to introduce a modular design for pre-post processing. Reading the ProgramInfo file associated with a compilation, the client and server libs assemble a pipeline of transformers (functions) for pre and post processing of values coming in and out of a circuit. This design properly decouples various aspects of the processing, and allows these capabilities to be safely extended. In practice this commit includes the following: + Defines the specification in a concreteprotocol package + Integrate the compilation of this package as a compiler dependency via cmake + Modify the compiler to use the Encodings objects defined in the protocol + Modify the compiler to emit ProgramInfo files as compilation artifact, and gets rid of the bloated ClientParameters. + Introduces a new Common library containing the functionalities shared between the compiler and the client/server libs. + Introduces a functional pre-post processing pipeline to this common library + Modify the client/server libs to support loading ProgramInfo objects, and calling circuits using Value messages. + Drops support of JIT. + Drops support of C-api. + Drops support of Rust bindings. Co-authored-by: Nikita Frolov <nf@mkmks.org>
What is Concrete?
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Concrete is an open source framework which simplifies the use of Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE).
FHE is a powerful cryptographic tool, allowing computation to be performed directly on encrypted data without needing to decrypt it. With FHE, you can build services that preserve privacy for all users. FHE also offers ideal protection against data breaches as everything is done on encrypted data. Even if the server is compromised, no sensitive data is leaked.
Since writing FHE programs is a difficult task, Concrete framework contains a TFHE Compiler based on LLVM to make this process easier for developers.
Organization of this documentation
This documentation is split into several sections:
- Getting Started gives you the basics,
- Tutorials provides essential examples on various features of the library,
- How to helps you perform specific tasks,
- Developer explains the inner workings of the library and everything related to contributing to the project.
Looking for support? Ask our team!
- Support forum: https://community.zama.ai (we answer in less than 24 hours).
- Live discussion on the FHE.org discord server: https://discord.fhe.org (inside the #concrete channel).
- Do you have a question about Zama? Write us on Twitter or send us an email at: hello@zama.ai
How is Concrete different from Concrete Numpy?
Concrete Numpy was the former name of the Python frontend of the Concrete Compiler. Concrete Compiler is now open source, and the package name is updated from concrete-numpy to concrete-python (as concrete is already booked for a non FHE-related project).
Users from Concrete Numpy can safely update to Concrete, with a few required changes, as explained in the upgrading document.
How is it different from the previous version of Concrete?
Before v1.0, Concrete was a set of Rust libraries implementing Zama's variant of TFHE. Starting with v1, Concrete is now Zama's TFHE Compiler framework only. The Rust library is now called TFHE-rs.