[feat] use txzmq in backend

Before this commit, the backend used plain pyzmq bindings for communicating
with the frontend. This implements the txzmq twisted-powered bindings instead.

Closes: #6360

6 files changed, 205 insertions, 169 deletions

diff --git a/changes/feature_6360_use-txzmq-in-backend b/changes/feature_6360_use-txzmq-in-backend
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6703f02b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/feature_6360_use-txzmq-in-backend
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+- Use txzmq in backend (closes #6360).
diff --git a/pkg/requirements.pip b/pkg/requirements.pip
index 37cc18a3..13d4da14 100644
--- a/pkg/requirements.pip
+++ b/pkg/requirements.pip
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ argparse
 requests>=1.1.0
 srp>=1.0.2
 pyopenssl
+coloredlogs
 
 # This won't be needed after we refactor leap.common.events to use zmq.
 python-dateutil
@@ -24,6 +25,7 @@ zope.proxy
 # You will want to install this bundled if you don't have sodium in your system:
 # pip install pyzmq --install-option="--zmq=bundled"
 pyzmq
+txzmq
 
 leap.common>=0.3.7
 leap.soledad.client>=0.6.0
diff --git a/src/leap/bitmask/backend/backend.py b/src/leap/bitmask/backend/backend.py
index cff731ba..fcbb19dc 100644
--- a/src/leap/bitmask/backend/backend.py
+++ b/src/leap/bitmask/backend/backend.py
@@ -17,17 +17,16 @@
 
 # FIXME this is missing module documentation. It would be fine to say a couple
 # of lines about the whole backend architecture.
-# TODO use txzmq bindings instead.
 
 import json
 import os
-import threading
 import time
 
 import psutil
 
-from twisted.internet import defer, reactor, threads
+from twisted.internet import defer, reactor, threads, task
 
+import txzmq
 import zmq
 try:
     from zmq.auth.thread import ThreadAuthenticator
@@ -43,43 +42,42 @@ import logging
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
-class Backend(object):
+class TxZmqREPConnection(object):
     """
-    Backend server.
-    Receives signals from backend_proxy and emit signals if needed.
+    A twisted based zmq rep connection.
     """
-    # XXX we might want to make this configurable per-platform,
-    # and use the most performant socket type on each one.
-    if flags.ZMQ_HAS_CURVE:
-        # XXX this should not be hardcoded. Make it configurable.
-        PORT = '5556'
-        BIND_ADDR = "tcp://127.0.0.1:%s" % PORT
-    else:
-        SOCKET_FILE = "/tmp/bitmask.socket.0"
-        BIND_ADDR = "ipc://%s" % SOCKET_FILE
 
-    PING_INTERVAL = 2  # secs
-
-    def __init__(self, frontend_pid=None):
+    def __init__(self, server_address, process_request):
         """
-        Backend constructor, create needed instances.
+        Initialize the connection.
+
+        :param server_address: The address of the backend zmq server.
+        :type server: str
+        :param process_request: A callable used to process incoming requests.
+        :type process_request: callable(messageParts)
         """
-        self._signaler = Signaler()
+        self._server_address = server_address
+        self._process_request = process_request
+        self._zmq_factory = None
+        self._zmq_connection = None
+        self._init_txzmq()
 
-        self._frontend_pid = frontend_pid
+    def _init_txzmq(self):
+        """
+        Configure the txzmq components and connection.
+        """
+        self._zmq_factory = txzmq.ZmqFactory()
+        self._zmq_factory.registerForShutdown()
+        self._zmq_connection = txzmq.ZmqREPConnection(self._zmq_factory)
 
-        self._do_work = threading.Event()  # used to stop the worker thread.
-        self._zmq_socket = None
+        context = self._zmq_factory.context
+        socket = self._zmq_connection.socket
 
-        self._ongoing_defers = []
-        self._init_zmq()
+        def _gotMessage(messageId, messageParts):
+            self._zmq_connection.reply(messageId, "OK")
+            self._process_request(messageParts)
 
-    def _init_zmq(self):
-        """
-        Configure the zmq components and connection.
-        """
-        context = zmq.Context()
-        socket = context.socket(zmq.REP)
+        self._zmq_connection.gotMessage = _gotMessage
 
         if flags.ZMQ_HAS_CURVE:
             # Start an authenticator for this context.
@@ -95,37 +93,39 @@ class Backend(object):
             socket.curve_secretkey = secret
             socket.curve_server = True  # must come before bind
 
-        socket.bind(self.BIND_ADDR)
-        if not flags.ZMQ_HAS_CURVE:
-            os.chmod(self.SOCKET_FILE, 0600)
+        proto, addr = self._server_address.split('://')  # tcp/ipc, ip/socket
+        socket.bind(self._server_address)
+        if proto == 'ipc':
+            os.chmod(addr, 0600)
 
-        self._zmq_socket = socket
 
-    def _worker(self):
-        """
-        Receive requests and send it to process.
+class Backend(object):
+    """
+    Backend server.
+    Receives signals from backend_proxy and emit signals if needed.
+    """
+    # XXX we might want to make this configurable per-platform,
+    # and use the most performant socket type on each one.
+    if flags.ZMQ_HAS_CURVE:
+        # XXX this should not be hardcoded. Make it configurable.
+        PORT = '5556'
+        BIND_ADDR = "tcp://127.0.0.1:%s" % PORT
+    else:
+        SOCKET_FILE = "/tmp/bitmask.socket.0"
+        BIND_ADDR = "ipc://%s" % SOCKET_FILE
 
-        Note: we use a simple while since is less resource consuming than a
-        Twisted's LoopingCall.
+    PING_INTERVAL = 2  # secs
+
+    def __init__(self, frontend_pid=None):
         """
-        pid = self._frontend_pid
-        check_wait = 0
-        while self._do_work.is_set():
-            # Wait for next request from client
-            try:
-                request = self._zmq_socket.recv(zmq.NOBLOCK)
-                self._zmq_socket.send("OK")
-                # logger.debug("Received request: '{0}'".format(request))
-                self._process_request(request)
-            except zmq.ZMQError as e:
-                if e.errno != zmq.EAGAIN:
-                    raise
-            time.sleep(0.01)
-
-            check_wait += 0.01
-            if pid is not None and check_wait > self.PING_INTERVAL:
-                check_wait = 0
-                self._check_frontend_alive()
+        Backend constructor, create needed instances.
+        """
+        self._signaler = Signaler()
+        self._frontend_pid = frontend_pid
+        self._frontend_checker = None
+        self._ongoing_defers = []
+        self._zmq_connection = TxZmqREPConnection(
+            self.BIND_ADDR, self._process_request)
 
     def _check_frontend_alive(self):
         """
@@ -160,25 +160,27 @@ class Backend(object):
         for d in self._ongoing_defers:
             d.cancel()
 
+        logger.debug("Stopping the Twisted reactor...")
         reactor.stop()
-        logger.debug("Twisted reactor stopped.")
 
     def run(self):
         """
         Start the ZMQ server and run the loop to handle requests.
         """
         self._signaler.start()
-        self._do_work.set()
-        threads.deferToThread(self._worker)
+        self._frontend_checker = task.LoopingCall(self._check_frontend_alive)
+        self._frontend_checker.start(self.PING_INTERVAL)
+        logger.debug("Starting Twisted reactor.")
         reactor.run()
+        logger.debug("Finished Twisted reactor.")
 
     def stop(self):
         """
         Stop the server and the zmq request parse loop.
         """
-        logger.debug("STOP received.")
+        logger.debug("Stopping the backend...")
         self._signaler.stop()
-        self._do_work.clear()
+        self._frontend_checker.stop()
         threads.deferToThread(self._stop_reactor)
 
     def _process_request(self, request_json):
diff --git a/src/leap/bitmask/backend/backend_proxy.py b/src/leap/bitmask/backend/backend_proxy.py
index 04046d3d..8d6930d6 100644
--- a/src/leap/bitmask/backend/backend_proxy.py
+++ b/src/leap/bitmask/backend/backend_proxy.py
@@ -21,11 +21,13 @@ to the backend.
 # XXX should document the relationship to the API here.
 
 import functools
-import Queue
 import threading
-import time
 
 import zmq
+from zmq.eventloop import ioloop
+from zmq.eventloop import zmqstream
+
+from taskthread import TimerTask
 
 from leap.bitmask.backend.api import API, STOP_REQUEST, PING_REQUEST
 from leap.bitmask.backend.settings import Settings
@@ -37,35 +39,39 @@ import logging
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
-class BackendProxy(object):
+class ZmqREQConnection(threading.Thread):
     """
-    The BackendProxy handles calls from the GUI and forwards (through ZMQ)
-    to the backend.
+    A threaded zmq req connection.
     """
 
-    if flags.ZMQ_HAS_CURVE:
-        PORT = '5556'
-        SERVER = "tcp://localhost:%s" % PORT
-    else:
-        SERVER = "ipc:///tmp/bitmask.socket.0"
-
-    POLL_TIMEOUT = 4000  # ms
-    POLL_TRIES = 3
-
-    PING_INTERVAL = 2  # secs
-
-    def __init__(self):
-        generate_zmq_certificates_if_needed()
-
-        self._socket = None
+    def __init__(self, server_address, on_recv):
+        """
+        Initialize the connection.
 
-        self.settings = Settings()
+        :param server_address: The address of the backend zmq server.
+        :type server: str
+        :param on_recv: The callback to be executed when a message is
+            received.
+        :type on_recv: callable(msg)
+        """
+        threading.Thread.__init__(self)
+        self._server_address = server_address
+        self._on_recv = on_recv
+        self._stream = None
+        self._init_zmq()
 
-        # initialize ZMQ stuff:
+    def _init_zmq(self):
+        """
+        Configure the zmq components and connection.
+        """
+        logger.debug("Setting up ZMQ connection to server...")
         context = zmq.Context()
-        logger.debug("Connecting to server...")
         socket = context.socket(zmq.REQ)
 
+        # we use zmq's eventloop in order to asynchronously send requests
+        loop = ioloop.ZMQIOLoop.current()
+        self._stream = zmqstream.ZMQStream(socket, loop)
+
         if flags.ZMQ_HAS_CURVE:
             # public, secret = zmq.curve_keypair()
             client_keys = zmq.curve_keypair()
@@ -79,66 +85,128 @@ class BackendProxy(object):
 
         socket.setsockopt(zmq.RCVTIMEO, 1000)
         socket.setsockopt(zmq.LINGER, 0)  # Terminate early
-        socket.connect(self.SERVER)
-        self._socket = socket
 
-        self._ping_at = 0
+        self._stream.on_recv(self._on_recv)
+
+    def run(self):
+        """
+        Run the threaded stream connection loop.
+        """
+        self._stream.socket.connect(self._server_address)
+        logger.debug("Starting ZMQ loop.")
+        self._stream.io_loop.start()
+        logger.debug("Finished ZMQ loop.")
+
+    def stop(self):
+        """
+        Stop the threaded connection loop.
+        """
+        self._stream.io_loop.stop()
+
+    def send(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        """
+        Send a message through this connection.
+        """
+        # Important note: calling send on the zmqstream from another
+        # thread doesn’t properly tell the IOLoop thread that there’s an
+        # event to process. This could cuase small delays if the IOLoop is
+        # already processing lots of events, but it can cause the message
+        # to never send if the zmq socket is the only one it’s handling.
+        #
+        # Because of that, we want ZmqREQConnection.send to hand off the
+        # stream.send to the IOLoop’s thread via IOLoop.add_callback:
+        self._stream.io_loop.add_callback(
+            lambda: self._stream.send(*args, **kwargs))
+
+
+class BackendProxy(object):
+    """
+    The BackendProxy handles calls from the GUI and forwards (through ZMQ)
+    to the backend.
+    """
+
+    if flags.ZMQ_HAS_CURVE:
+        PORT = '5556'
+        SERVER = "tcp://localhost:%s" % PORT
+    else:
+        SERVER = "ipc:///tmp/bitmask.socket.0"
+
+    PING_INTERVAL = 2  # secs
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        """
+        Initialize the backend proxy.
+        """
+        generate_zmq_certificates_if_needed()
+        self._do_work = threading.Event()
+        self._work_lock = threading.Lock()
+        self._connection = ZmqREQConnection(self.SERVER, self._set_online)
+        self._heartbeat = TimerTask(self._ping, delay=self.PING_INTERVAL)
+        self._ping_event = threading.Event()
         self.online = False
+        self.settings = Settings()
 
-        self._call_queue = Queue.Queue()
-        self._worker_caller = threading.Thread(target=self._worker)
+    def _set_online(self, _):
+        """
+        Mark the backend as being online.
 
-    def start(self):
-        self._worker_caller.start()
+        This is used as the zmq connection's on_recv callback, and so it is
+        passed the received message as a parameter. Because we currently don't
+        use that message, we just ignore it for now.
+        """
+        self.online = True
+        # the following event is used when checking whether the backend is
+        # online
+        self._ping_event.set()
+
+    def _set_offline(self):
+        """
+        Mark the backend as being offline.
+        """
+        self.online = False
 
     def check_online(self):
         """
         Return whether the backend is accessible or not.
         You don't need to do `run` in order to use this.
-
         :rtype: bool
         """
-        # we use a small timeout in order to response quickly if the backend is
-        # offline
-        self._send_request(PING_REQUEST, retry=False, timeout=500)
-        self._socket.close()
+        logger.debug("Checking whether backend is online...")
+        self._send_request(PING_REQUEST)
+        # self._ping_event will eventually be set by the zmq connection's
+        # on_recv callback, so we use a small timeout in order to response
+        # quickly if the backend is offline
+        if not self._ping_event.wait(0.5):
+            logger.warning("Backend is offline!")
+            self._set_offline()
         return self.online
 
-    def _worker(self):
+    def start(self):
         """
-        Worker loop that processes the Queue of pending requests to do.
+        Start the backend proxy.
         """
-        while True:
-            try:
-                request = self._call_queue.get(block=False)
-                # break the loop after sending the 'stop' action to the
-                # backend.
-                if request == STOP_REQUEST:
-                    break
-
-                self._send_request(request)
-            except Queue.Empty:
-                pass
-            time.sleep(0.01)
-            self._ping()
+        logger.debug("Starting backend proxy...")
+        self._do_work.set()
+        self._connection.start()
+        self.check_online()
+        self._heartbeat.start()
 
-        logger.debug("BackendProxy worker stopped.")
-
-    def _reset_ping(self):
+    def _stop(self):
         """
-        Reset the ping timeout counter.
-        This is called for every ping and request.
+        Stop the backend proxy.
         """
-        self._ping_at = time.time() + self.PING_INTERVAL
+        with self._work_lock:  # avoid sending after connection was closed
+            self._do_work.clear()
+            self._heartbeat.stop()
+        self._connection.stop()
+        logger.debug("BackendProxy worker stopped.")
 
     def _ping(self):
         """
         Heartbeat helper.
         Sends a PING request just to know that the server is alive.
         """
-        if time.time() > self._ping_at:
-            self._send_request(PING_REQUEST)
-            self._reset_ping()
+        self._send_request(PING_REQUEST)
 
     def _api_call(self, *args, **kwargs):
         """
@@ -162,6 +230,8 @@ class BackendProxy(object):
             'arguments': kwargs,
         }
 
+        request_json = None
+
         try:
             request_json = zmq.utils.jsonapi.dumps(request)
         except Exception as e:
@@ -172,12 +242,12 @@ class BackendProxy(object):
             raise
 
         # queue the call in order to handle the request in a thread safe way.
-        self._call_queue.put(request_json)
+        self._send_request(request_json)
 
         if api_method == STOP_REQUEST:
-            self._call_queue.put(STOP_REQUEST)
+            self._stop()
 
-    def _send_request(self, request, retry=True, timeout=None):
+    def _send_request(self, request):
         """
         Send the given request to the server.
         This is used from a thread safe loop in order to avoid sending a
@@ -185,49 +255,10 @@ class BackendProxy(object):
 
         :param request: the request to send.
         :type request: str
-        :param retry: whether we should retry or not in case of timeout.
-        :type retry: bool
-        :param timeout: a custom timeout (milliseconds) to wait for a response.
-        :type timeout: int
         """
-        # logger.debug("Sending request to backend: {0}".format(request))
-        self._socket.send(request)
-
-        poll = zmq.Poller()
-        poll.register(self._socket, zmq.POLLIN)
-
-        reply = None
-
-        tries = 0
-        if not retry:
-            tries = self.POLL_TRIES + 1  # this means: no retries left
-
-        if timeout is None:
-            timeout = self.POLL_TIMEOUT
-
-        while True:
-            socks = dict(poll.poll(timeout))
-            if socks.get(self._socket) == zmq.POLLIN:
-                reply = self._socket.recv()
-                break
-
-            tries += 1
-            if tries < self.POLL_TRIES:
-                logger.warning('Retrying receive... {0}/{1}'.format(
-                    tries, self.POLL_TRIES))
-            else:
-                break
-
-        if reply is None:
-            msg = "Timeout error contacting backend."
-            logger.critical(msg)
-            self.online = False
-        else:
-            # msg = "Received reply for '{0}' -> '{1}'".format(request, reply)
-            # logger.debug(msg)
-            self.online = True
-            # request received, no ping needed for other interval.
-            self._reset_ping()
+        with self._work_lock:  # avoid sending after connection was closed
+            if self._do_work.is_set():
+                self._connection.send(request)
 
     def __getattribute__(self, name):
         """
diff --git a/src/leap/bitmask/backend/components.py b/src/leap/bitmask/backend/components.py
index 1efcda6c..0a2f1029 100644
--- a/src/leap/bitmask/backend/components.py
+++ b/src/leap/bitmask/backend/components.py
@@ -63,7 +63,8 @@ from leap.common import certs as leap_certs
 
 from leap.keymanager import openpgp
 
-from leap.soledad.client.secrets import NoStorageSecret, PassphraseTooShort
+from leap.soledad.client.secrets import PassphraseTooShort
+from leap.soledad.client.secrets import NoStorageSecret
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
diff --git a/src/leap/bitmask/gui/app.py b/src/leap/bitmask/gui/app.py
index 5fe031b1..46f276e1 100644
--- a/src/leap/bitmask/gui/app.py
+++ b/src/leap/bitmask/gui/app.py
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ and the signaler get signals from the backend.
 """
 import logging
 
-from functools import partial
 from PySide import QtCore, QtGui
 
 from leap.bitmask.config.leapsettings import LeapSettings