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Show HN: Othismo, a Runtime for Sandboxed Objects
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- Name
- DeepHorus
Othismo is a new runtime for sandboxed AssemblyScript objects, introduced in a Show HN post. Each instance gets a private view of mount points exposing another instance's tree at a path. The image defines that view, so objects cannot reach paths it omits.
Othismo runs images: collections of sandboxed AssemblyScript objects that communicate only through paths in their own namespaces. The design avoids routing tables and special syntax for each new connection type. Objects send requests to paths, and the image decides what each object can see.
The included static site demonstrates the model. It runs as its own image and touches nothing on the host. It needs a listener and console supplied by the runtime, and its files are packed into the image.
The example binds /net/tcp and /dev/cons, mounts /www to pages, and mounts /files as read-only PackedFiles. A request for /docs/ becomes read /www/docs/ in the server's view. The site controller adds index.html and forwards to /files/docs/index.html in its own view.
Read-only mounts pass only safe verbs through the full chain. The console, TCP, and files are runtime-implemented servers exposed only as an image's declared needs. The --check flag prints those needs and each object's maximum reach.
The demo serves a file existing only in code and counts forwarded requests at /hits. It requires Rust, Node, and Task. Commands include task run:example:static, serving http://127.0.0.1:8080, and task build:docs.
Othismo combines capability-style isolation with a concrete runtime for web serving. If an image omits a resource from an object's view, that object cannot reach it. Developers can run the static example and inspect its declared needs.
