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BLAKE2s for Ada

This is a SPARK83 implementation of the BLAKE2s hash function. As SPARK83 is a strict subset of Ada 1987 (ISO-8652:1987), this package should be usable with any compiler compliant with the 1987 (or later) edition of the ISO Ada standard.

BLAKE2s Advantages

Like SHA-256, BLAKE2s operates on 32-bit words, but is not susceptible to the length extension attacks of the former. Although the FIPS hash functions SHA-512/256 and SHA-3 mitigate the length extension vulnerability of SHA-256, they require 64-bit words for decent performance. Thus, BLAKE2s fills a niche for resource-constrained platforms. It also enjoys a high security margin, as each of the ten BLAKE2s rounds is the equivalent of two ChaCha rounds.

Build Instructions for GNAT

To compile the BLAKE2s library and executables, you will need to have installed and accessible within your path copies of AST NMAKE with Ada support and the GCC compiler built with the GNAT Ada front-end enabled.

Once the prerequisites are available, simply run cd gnat && nmake .

SPARK and Isabelle Verification

This project uses a combination of the original, annotation-based SPARK tool set (search AdaCore Libre for the 2012 GPL release) and the HOL-SPARK library bundled within Isabelle 2021 to prove the absence of runtime errors.

To verify the proofs, check the file named makefile.nmk within the project root first to ensure that you have the necessary programs (including the isabelle command) installed within your path.

If everything is functioning as it should, all verification conditions should be discharged.

Ada 1987 Compatibility Note

This package utilizes the Ada 1995 pragma "Pure" in the following package specifications:

Per section 2.8 of the Ada 1987 Language Reference Manual, "[a] pragma that is not language-defined has no effect if its identifier is not recognized by the (current) implementation." However, as the pragma is merely advisory to the compiler, it may be removed without adverse effect from these files should it cause any issues.

SPARK83 Rationale

For the 1987, 1995, and 2007 editions of the ISO Ada standard, the corresponding SPARK language tools were based upon annotations. The placement of annotations within Ada comments has the advantage of not requiring any special support for SPARK on the part of the compiler.

At the time of writing, the compiler support required by the post-2007 editions of the SPARK language is found only within the GNAT compiler. Like the BLAKE2s reference source code, which targets the first edition of the ISO C standard released in 1990, this project targets the earliest release of the ISO Ada standard to maximize portability, and for this same reason the annotation-based SPARK language tools are ideal.

License and Warranty

Licensing terms and important warranty information for the BLAKE2s library may be found within the file named license.txt.

Separate from the BLAKE2s library, the B2SSUM and B2STEST executables are distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 3.0; see the file copying.txt for licensing terms and important warranty information.

SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT-0

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Aumasson et al. for releasing the excellent BLAKE hash functions into the public domain, and the GNAT, SPARK, Isabelle, and AdaControl developers for publishing their tremendously helpful free software.