Network builds and regression tests

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ARK requires C++20 and uses arknet directly for TCP, WebSocket, HTTP and RDP. RDP uses arknet’s RUDP endpoints with the legacy ARQ wire format, MTU 1400 and FEC disabled. Application message headers and Update-thread callback dispatch remain the same. No coroutine API migration is included.

Dependencies

CMake 3.21+ and a C++20 compiler: GCC 12+, Clang with C++20 support, or VS 2022.
Boost 1.90+ for applications and network tests, using Boost.Asio and Boost.Beast.
Standalone Asio 1.38.0+ is optional for core-only and native database development builds.
RapidXML 1.13, spdlog 1.17.0 and ARK’s pinned readerwriterqueue/args submodules.
Protobuf, Zstandard and zlib when building applications and plugins.

The vcpkg manifest pins the package baseline. CMake retrieves arknet from its pinned revision in the independent repository. To validate a development checkout, set ARKNET_SOURCE_DIR to its absolute path.

Applications and the current network tests use HTTP/WebSocket, which require Boost.Beast. CMake rejects ASIO_STANDALONE=ON with either ARK_BUILD_APPLICATIONS=ON or ARK_BUILD_NETWORK_TESTS=ON before retrieving dependencies. It does not silently change the selected Asio library.

Use Protobuf, Abseil and utf8_range from the same installation prefix. When setting Protobuf_DIR manually, select matching absl_DIR and utf8_range_DIR.

Build and run the network tests

git submodule update --init 3rdparty/args 3rdparty/spdlog 3rdparty/readerwriterqueue
cmake -S . -B network-build -G Ninja \
  -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="$VCPKG_ROOT/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake" \
  -DARK_BUILD_APPLICATIONS=OFF -DARK_BUILD_NETWORK_TESTS=ON \
  -DASIO_STANDALONE=OFF -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
cmake --build network-build --parallel 2
cmake --build network-build --target check-network

Boost is the default dependency. The tests are permanent C++ doctest cases under tests/network/; the binary can also run directly or select cases with --test-case=RUDP*. Python and Ruby are not required.

Coverage includes framing, binary payloads, reconnection, limits and timeouts, Update-thread dispatch, reentrant callbacks, HTTP status/headers/query data, shutdown cancellation, owner release inside receive callbacks, malformed input and log formatting/directory creation/rotation. CI checks Boost on Linux, macOS and Windows, plus memory/undefined-behavior and thread sanitizers on Linux. Application jobs also run check-core with Protobuf enabled, including kernel initialization-order regressions.

Local validation on 2026-10-15 used an Apple M4 Pro (14 CPU cores, 48 GiB RAM), macOS 27.0.1 arm64 and Apple Clang 21.0.0. Local results:

Configuration	Core cases / assertions	Network cases / assertions
Release, Boost 1.90, 128-bit GUID, Protobuf, TLS enabled	22 / 1,961	36 / 953
Debug, Boost, 128-bit GUID, ASan/UBSan, network only	—	36 / 953
Release, Boost, ASan/UBSan, kernel initialization only	1 / 176	—
Debug, Standalone Asio 1.38.2, core only, Protobuf/TLS disabled	14 / 1,734	—

Protobuf cases cover valid messages, truncated input, actor identity, binary messages containing NUL, existing wire payloads, external JSON field names and the new public descriptor/enum names.

The core total includes four kernel/config initialization-order combinations for both resource-relative paths and legacy paths with a leading separator. The full Release application, default plugins and examples built. An isolated process loaded Bus, Net, Utility and Kernel, entered its main loop and exited normally on SIGINT. HTTP requests use the library-owned IO pool; pending futures and update-thread callbacks are covered by the network suite.

macOS ASan ran without leak detection; Linux CI enables LeakSanitizer. These are correctness checks, not capacity measurements. The TLS-enabled consumer build has no ark-specific handshake or certificate test; arknet covers those separately.

See core regressions for independent builds and filtering. When ARK_BUILD_CORE_TESTS=ON, check-network also runs the core cases.

Build applications

Enable the application manifest feature to install Protobuf:

cmake -S . -B app-build -G Ninja \
  -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="$VCPKG_ROOT/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake" \
  "-DVCPKG_MANIFEST_FEATURES=application;boost" \
  -DASIO_STANDALONE=OFF
cmake --build app-build --parallel 2
cmake --build app-build --target check-core

Standalone Asio builds

Standalone Asio remains available for core-only builds and optional native database development tests. Disable applications and network tests explicitly:

cmake -S . -B core-build -G Ninja \
  -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="$VCPKG_ROOT/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake" \
  -DVCPKG_MANIFEST_NO_DEFAULT_FEATURES=ON \
  -DARK_BUILD_APPLICATIONS=OFF -DARK_BUILD_PROTO=OFF \
  -DARK_BUILD_NETWORK_TESTS=OFF -DARK_BUILD_CORE_TESTS=ON \
  -DASIO_STANDALONE=ON
cmake --build core-build --target check-core

Deployment acceptance

Loopback regression is not a 100,000–200,000 PCU capacity result. Cross-machine load, endurance and the application’s complete business flows require separate acceptance before production rollout. ARQ/FEC performance measurements are in arknet’s reports.