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frost trusted dealer: Add documentation file
This commit adds a documentation file with instructions for how to use the module.
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Notes on the frost module API | ||
=========================== | ||
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The following sections contain additional notes on the API of the frost module | ||
(`include/secp256k1_frost.h`). A usage example can be found in | ||
`examples/frost.c`. | ||
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# API misuse | ||
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Users of the frost module must take great care to make sure of the following: | ||
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1. The dealer establishes a secure communications channel with each participant | ||
and uses that channel to transmit shares during key generation. | ||
2. A unique set of coefficients per key generation session is generated in | ||
`secp256k1_frost_share_gen`. See the corresponding comment in | ||
`include/secp256k1_frost.h` for how to ensure that. | ||
3. The `pubnonces` provided to `secp256k1_frost_nonce_process` are sorted by | ||
the corresponding lexicographic ordering of the x-only pubkey of each | ||
participant, and the `pubkeys` provided to `secp256k1_frost_nonce_process` | ||
are sorted lexicographically. | ||
4. A unique nonce per signing session is generated in | ||
`secp256k1_frost_nonce_gen`. See the corresponding comment in | ||
`include/secp256k1_frost.h` for how to ensure that. | ||
5. The `secp256k1_frost_secnonce` structure is never copied or serialized. See | ||
also the comment on `secp256k1_frost_secnonce` in | ||
`include/secp256k1_frost.h`. | ||
6. Opaque data structures are never written to or read from directly. Instead, | ||
only the provided accessor functions are used. | ||
7. If adaptor signatures are used, all partial signatures are verified. | ||
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# Key Generation | ||
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1. A trusted dealer generates shares with `secp256k1_frost_shares_trusted_gen` | ||
and distributes a share and the public key to each participant using a | ||
secure channel. | ||
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# Tweaking | ||
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A (Taproot) tweak can be added to the resulting public key with | ||
`secp256k1_xonly_pubkey_tweak_add`, after converting it to an xonly pubkey if | ||
necessary with `secp256k1_xonly_pubkey_from_pubkey`. | ||
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An ordinary tweak can be added to the resulting public key with | ||
`secp256k1_ec_pubkey_tweak_add`, after converting it to an ordinary pubkey if | ||
necessary with `secp256k1_frost_pubkey_get`. | ||
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Tweaks can also be chained together by tweaking an already tweaked key. | ||
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# Signing | ||
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1. Optionally add a tweak by calling `secp256k1_frost_pubkey_tweak` and then | ||
`secp256k1_frost_pubkey_xonly_tweak_add` for a Taproot tweak and | ||
`secp256k1_frost_pubkey_ec_tweak_add` for an ordinary tweak. | ||
2. Generate a pair of secret and public nonce with `secp256k1_frost_nonce_gen` | ||
and send the public nonce to the other signers. | ||
3. Process the aggregate nonce with `secp256k1_frost_nonce_process`. | ||
4. Create a partial signature with `secp256k1_frost_partial_sign`. | ||
5. Verify the partial signatures (optional in some scenarios) with | ||
`secp256k1_frost_partial_sig_verify`. | ||
6. Someone (not necessarily the signer) obtains all partial signatures and | ||
aggregates them into the final Schnorr signature using | ||
`secp256k1_frost_partial_sig_agg`. | ||
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The aggregate signature can be verified with `secp256k1_schnorrsig_verify`. | ||
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Note that steps 1 to 3 can happen before the message to be signed is known to | ||
the signers. Therefore, the communication round to exchange nonces can be | ||
viewed as a pre-processing step that is run whenever convenient to the signers. | ||
This disables some of the defense-in-depth measures that may protect against | ||
API misuse in some cases. Similarly, the API supports an alternative protocol | ||
flow where generating the key (see Key Generation above) is allowed to happen | ||
after exchanging nonces (step 2). | ||
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# Verification | ||
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A participant who wants to verify the partial signatures, but does not sign | ||
itself may do so using the above instructions except that the verifier skips | ||
steps 2 and 4. |