ABY Java

ABY is a cryptographic framework for secure two-party computation implemented in C++. This library provides a painless way to use ABY from Java. It bundles a Java interface along with a native binary for each supported platform. At run time, the library extracts the correct binary based on the system. This allows you to use ABY as any other Maven dependency, completely ignoring the fact that the framework is implemented in C++.

Installation

This library is distributed through Maven Central.

Gradle

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}

dependencies {
    implementation("io.github.apl-cornell:aby-java:<version>")
}

Supported Platforms

We currently build native libraries for macOS and Linux. ABY (transitively) depends on GMP, which doesn't work on Windows.

Building

You need to have Java and Docker installed. Then, simply run:

./gradlew build

This command uses Docker to generate the Java interface and build the native binaries. It then copies the generated files from Docker to your machine, assembles the library JAR, and runs units tests.

Using Docker ensures reliable and portable builds. For example, it allows building a macOS binary on a Linux machine without any setup, and ensures the generated binary is the same no matter where it is generated.

We generate the Java interface from the C++ interface using SWIG, and use dockcross to build the native binaries.

Development

ABY Java does not expose all features of ABY. You can extend the SWIG interface file ABY.i to include more features. Refer to the SWIG documentation and especially the section on Java for more information.

ABY Java is based on the fork apl-cornell/ABY. You can contribute to that repository if you need to make changes to ABY source code. You need to update the version of ABY specified in build.gradle.kts if you do.

After making changes, create a new release on GitHub. This will build and publish a new version of the library.