Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
1235 lines (947 loc) · 49 KB

README.md

File metadata and controls

1235 lines (947 loc) · 49 KB

Unicly Description

Unicly is a Common Lisp library for generation of UUIDs (Universally Unique Identifiers) as described by RFC 4122.

As of 05-16-2024 Unicly is known to compile on SBCL 2.4.1 (on Darwin Arm64).

In past, Unicly has successfully compiled on Clisp, and Lispworks without complication. Porting or translations should be trivial. Patches/Pulls welcome.

Please do let us know if you can confirm whether Unicly is known to build on your platform and implementation. Again, Patches Welcome :)

Unicly installation

SHELL> cd /parent/dir/where/you/put/cl-repos/

SHELL> git clone git://github.com/mon-key/unicly.git 

SHELL> cd unicly

Unicly is loadable with Quicklisp assuming a directory containing unicly.asd is present as an element of ASDF:*CENTRAL-REGISTRY*.

CL-USER> (push #P"/parent/dir/where/you/put/cl-repos/unicly/" asdf:*central-registry*)

CL-USER> (quicklisp:quickload 'unicly)

Or for the perverse who'd like to see what their lisp can't optimize away:

CL-USER> (quicklisp:quickload 'unicly :verbose t :explain t)

Unicly Usage

(in-package #:unicly)
;=> #<PACKAGE "UNICLY">

UUID Namespaces:

As per RFC 4122 "Appendix C - Some Name Space IDs" the Unicly package exports four "namespaces", these are:

UNICLY> *uuid-namespace-dns*
;=> 6ba7b810-9dad-11d1-80b4-00c04fd430c8

UNICLY> *uuid-namespace-url* 
;=> 6ba7b811-9dad-11d1-80b4-00c04fd430c8

UNICLY> *uuid-namespace-oid*
;=> 6ba7b812-9dad-11d1-80b4-00c04fd430c8

UNICLY> *uuid-namespace-x500*
;=> 6ba7b814-9dad-11d1-80b4-00c04fd430c8

v4 UUID Namespaces:

The above "namespaces" are "canonical" in so much as they are presented by the RFC.

Indeed, a common misconception is that the above four namespaces are the only namespaces one can/should use when working with v3 and v5 uuids.

However, one is free to define any number of other "namespaces" to "contain" UUID objects, and one is free to utilize these namespaces as need dictates.

A problem that arises though, is how does one create a UUID "namespace"? This represents a sort of bootstrapping issue.

The RFC 4122 describes a mechanism for creating two types of UUIDs which may serve as initial "namespaces" from which one can then generate other types of UUIDs with reasonable certainty that the UUIDs so generated will remain unique.

The first of these is a v1 or time based UUID. Unicly does not currently provide an interface for creation of v1 UUIDs.

The second of these is a v4 or random UUID. This is Unicly's preferred interface for creation of an initial namespace.

Once one has a handle on an initial UUID namespace that namespace may then be leveraged to create any number of new UUID namespaces using MAKE-V3-UUID OR MAKE-V5-UUID. This is a commonly overlooked/misunderstood aspect of RFC 4122!

So, to be clear, the real utility of UUIDs isn't by way of the more pedestrian v1 and v4 UUIDs, but rather by utilization of v3 and v5 UUIDs in a manner similar to that of RDF, whereby a namespace is treated as a URI, and a name in that namespace is treated as a URIref.

We can't overstate this point enough - don't retstrict use of UUIDs to only the v1 or v4 forms. Doing so is (by analogy with RDF) equivalent to providing a URI for every object gererated by a system and then never bothering to reference any qualified names within that namespace! Or (by analogy with Common Lisp) this is not unlike defining a package object which doesn't use any symbols just to get at its identity, e.g.:

 (let ((hex (make-array 16
                        :element-type 'base-char
                        :initial-contents (list #\0 #\1 #\2 #\3 #\4 #\5 #\6 #\7 #\8 #\9
                                                #\A #\B #\C #\D #\E #\F)))
       (pkg-name '()))
   (loop 
      repeat 32
      for rand = (random 16)
      for rand-char = (aref hex rand)
      collect rand-char into rand-bag
      finally (setf pkg-name (coerce  rand-bag 'string)))
   (setf pkg-name
         (package-name  (eval `(defpackage ,pkg-name)))))

In any event, the easiest way to create a reasonably random new "namespace" is with MAKE-V4-UUID.

UNICLY> (make-v4-uuid)
;=> 2f20bdfa-cd67-4150-8500-80c94821bbda

Note

Because the v4 uuid is the "random" UUID when evaluating the following form your return value will obv. be somewhat different :)

Evaluating the above form returns the printed representation of UUID object.

To cache a namespace we need to bind it to a special variable.

Below we use a defparameter form to do this but, longer running applications would probably use CL:DEFVAR or CL:DEFCONSTANT.

The easiest way to persist a UUID object is to bind its printed string representation. To get the string representation of a UUID we use UUID-PRINC-TO-STRING.

UNICLY> (defparameter *unique-random-namespace* 
	   (uuid-princ-to-string  (unicly:make-v4-uuid))) 
;=> *UNIQUE-RANDOM-NAMESPACE*

UNICLY> *UNIQUE-RANDOM-NAMESPACE*
;=> "77b84745-ab13-49c6-8fdc-9afaabc51c52"

Note

Per RFC 4122 case is significant when the string representation of a UUID is output. IOW, sticklers should be careful when using CL printing function which depend on dynamic value of CL*PRINT-CASE*!

To convert this string back to a UUID use MAKE-UUID-FROM-STRING:

UNICLY> (setf *unique-random-namespace* 
	      (make-uuid-from-string *unique-random-namespace*))
;=> 77b84745-ab13-49c6-8fdc-9afaabc51c52

UNICLY> *unique-random-namespace*
;=> 77b84745-ab13-49c6-8fdc-9afaabc51c52

To print a UUID with a URN quailifier use UUID-AS-URN-STRING:

UNICLY> (uuid-as-urn-string nil *unique-random-namespace*)
;=> "urn:uuid:77b84745-ab13-49c6-8fdc-9afaabc51c52"

v4 UUIDs are fine so long as you don't need to persist an objects identity and simply need a throw away or single session UUID. Indeed, one could serialize/deserialize v4 UUIDs from a string to object representation with each session if desired.

However, as indicated above a v4 UUID is best used as a "seed-value" for generating a namespace which is unique to your application.

v4 UUID Namespaces:

For persistent UUID solutions it is recommended to use MAKE-V5-UUID by providing a persisted UUID namespace for an object to reside in.

You can make your own fabulous namespace like this:

UNICLY> (defparameter *my-fabulous-namespace* 
	 (make-v5-uuid *unique-random-namespace* "com.bubba.namespace"))
;=> *MY-FABULOUS-NAMESPACE*

UNICLY> *MY-FABULOUS-NAMESPACE*
;=> e5c2a048-863f-5c7d-a894-607070d2d299

Create some objects in the namespace *my-fabulous-namespace*:

UNICLY> (make-v5-uuid *my-fabulous-namespace* (namestring (user-homedir-pathname)))
;=> c0f2a167-dae7-55c0-ad57-1d8bad0444d3

UNICLY> (make-v5-uuid *my-fabulous-namespace* (namestring *default-pathname-defaults*))
;=> a5ace91c-d657-5f5c-abef-81bbef52d27c

UNICLY> (setf *default-pathname-defaults* (user-homedir-pathname))
;=> #P"/home/you/"

You should now find that the UUID for the CL:NAMESTRING of CL:*DEFAULT-PATHNAME-DEFAULTS* is the same as that of the namestring of CL:USER-HOMEDIR-PATHNAME:

UNICLY> (make-v5-uuid *my-fabulous-namespace* (namestring *default-pathname-defaults*))
;=> c0f2a167-dae7-55c0-ad57-1d8bad0444d3

Note, that each object returned by MAKE-V5-UUID has unique identity under CL:EQUALP:

UNICLY> (equalp (make-v5-uuid *my-fabulous-namespace* (namestring (user-homedir-pathname)))
                (make-v5-uuid *my-fabulous-namespace* (namestring *default-pathname-defaults*)))
;=> NIL

To test equality among two UUIDs (even where their CL:PRINT-OBJECT is identical), one must first convert the UUID to an intermediary format and compare the identity of the intermediate formats instead.

One way to do this is test CL:EQUAL for two UUIDs using their string representation:

UNICLY> (equal (uuid-princ-to-string 
		 (make-v5-uuid *my-fabulous-namespace* (namestring (user-homedir-pathname))))
		(uuid-princ-to-string 
		 (make-v5-uuid *my-fabulous-namespace* (namestring *default-pathname-defaults*))))
;=> T

CL:EQUAL finds the two UUIDs above as having identical string representations. However, checking string values for object identity is ugly because internally UUID objects are represented as unsigned integer values.

Unicly provides features for comparing UUID representations in various intermediary formats other than as strings, and further below we present some examples of Unicly's representations of UUIDs in other representations which illustrate some alterhative (and cleaner) ways to interrogate UUID equality.

Persisting and serialzing/deserializing a UUID to file:

So, now that you've got a handle on a fabulous UUID namespace how do you persist it? The quick and dirty way is to write the UUID string representation of *my-fabulous-namespace* to a file somewhere.

UNICLY> (with-open-file (persist (make-pathname :directory '(:absolute "tmp") 
                                                :name "persisted-fabulous-namespace"
                                                :type "uuid")
                                 :direction :output
                                 :if-exists :supersede
                                 :if-does-not-exist :create)
          ;; Here we CL:PRIN1 the UUID string representation.
	  ;; This is for illustrative purposes, there are other ways.
          (prin1 *MY-FABULOUS-NAMESPACE*  persist))
;=> "e5c2a048-863f-5c7d-a894-607070d2d299"

UNICLY> (setf *my-fabulous-namespace* nil)
;=> NIL

To restore the string representation of the persisted UUID into the *my-fabulous-namespace* variable, read in the contents of the file:

UNICLY> (with-open-file (persist (make-pathname :directory
                                                '(:absolute "tmp")
                                                :name "persisted-fabulous-namespace"
                                                :type "uuid")
                                 :direction :input
                                 :if-does-not-exist :error)
          (setf *my-fabulous-namespace* 
                (make-uuid-from-string (read-line  persist))))
;=> e5c2a048-863f-5c7d-a894-607070d2d299

When serialzing/deserializing large numbers of UUIDs it may be more expedient to use other intermediary representations of your UUIDs. Unicly provides interfaces for reading, writing, and converting UUIDs across various representations including bit-vectors, byte-arrays, 128-bit integers, strings, etc.

Write a UUID byte-array to file with UUID-SERIALIZE-BYTE-ARRAY-BYTES:

UNICLY> (let ((file (make-pathname :directory '(:absolute "tmp")
                                   :name "temp-bytes"))
              (w-uuid (make-v5-uuid *uuid-namespace-dns* "bubba"))
              (gthr '()))
          (with-open-file (s file
                             :if-exists :supersede
                             :if-does-not-exist :create
                             :direction :output
                             :element-type 'uuid-ub8)
            (uuid-serialize-byte-array-bytes  w-uuid s))
          ;; read the byte-array back in
          (with-open-file (stream file :element-type 'uuid-ub8)
            (do ((code (read-byte stream nil :eof) (read-byte stream nil :eof)))
                ((eql code :eof))
              (push code gthr)))
          (and gthr
               (setf gthr (uuid-from-byte-array (make-array 16
                                                            :element-type 'uuid-ub8
                                                            :initial-contents (nreverse gthr)))))
          (unwind-protect
               (list (uuid-eql w-uuid gthr)
                     gthr
                     w-uuid)
            (delete-file file)))
;=> (T eea1105e-3681-5117-99b6-7b2b5fe1f3c7 eea1105e-3681-5117-99b6-7b2b5fe1f3c7)

Read a UUID byte-array to file with UUID-SERIALIZE-BIT-VECTOR-BITS:

UNICLY> (let* ((tmp (make-pathname :directory '(:absolute  "tmp")
                                   :name "bitstream-test"))
               (v4     (uuid-get-namespace-bytes (make-v4-uuid)))
               (v4-out (with-open-file (strm tmp
                                             :direction :output
                                             :if-does-not-exist :create
                                             :if-exists :supersede
                                             :element-type 'uuid-ub8)
                         (uuid-serialize-byte-array-bytes v4 strm)))
               (v4-in   (with-open-file (in-strm tmp
                                                 :direction :input
                                                 :if-does-not-exist :error
                                                 :element-type 'uuid-ub8)
                          (uuid-deserialize-byte-array-bytes in-strm))))
          (progn (delete-file tmp)
                 (values (equalp v4-in v4-out)
                         v4-in)))
;=> T
;   #(79 53 137 227 91 111 66 133 148 52 126 41 125 175 137 144)

Write a UUID bit-vector to file with UUID-SERIALIZE-BIT-VECTOR-BITS:

UNICLY> (let* ((file (make-pathname :directory '(:absolute "tmp")
                                    :name "temp-bytes"))
               (w-uuid    (make-v5-uuid *uuid-namespace-dns* "bubba"))
               (w-uuid-ba (uuid-to-bit-vector w-uuid)))
          (unwind-protect
               (progn
                 (with-open-file (s file
                                    :direction :output
                                    :if-exists :supersede
                                    :if-does-not-exist :create
                                    :element-type 'uuid-ub8)
                   (uuid-serialize-bit-vector-bits w-uuid-ba s))
                 ;; read the bit-vector back in
                 (with-open-file (s file
                                    :direction :input
                                    :if-does-not-exist :error
                                    :element-type 'uuid-ub8)
                   (let ((ba-read (uuid-deserialize-bit-vector-bits s)))
                     (values (equalp ba-read w-uuid-ba)
                             ba-read
                             w-uuid))))
            (delete-file file)))
;=> T
   #*11101110101000010001000001011110001101101000000101010001000101111001100110110110011110110010101101011111111000011111001111000111
   eea1105e-3681-5117-99b6-7b2b5fe1f3c7

Read a UUID bit-vector from a stream with UUID-DESERIALIZE-BIT-VECTOR-BITS:

Note, unlike UUID-READ-BIT-VECTOR-BITS, is not wrapped in a CL:WITH-OPEN-FILE form.

UNICLY> (let* ((tmp (make-pathname :directory '(:absolute  "tmp")
                                   :name "bitstream-test"))
               (v4     (uuid-to-bit-vector (make-v4-uuid)))
               (v4-out (with-open-file (strm tmp
                                             :direction :output
                                             :if-does-not-exist :create
                                             :if-exists :supersede
                                             :element-type 'uuid-ub8)
                         (uuid-serialize-bit-vector-bits v4 strm)))
               (v4-in   (with-open-file (in-strm tmp
                                                 :direction :input
                                                 :if-does-not-exist :error
                                                 :element-type 'uuid-ub8)
                          (uuid-deserialize-bit-vector-bits in-strm))))
          (progn (delete-file tmp)
                 (values (uuid-bit-vector-eql v4-in v4-out)
                         v4-in)))
;=> T
;   #*00101101001110100100001110101011000000101110010001000001101011101000010001100010101100011111101000001101100110110010111000001011

Read a UUID bit-vector from a file with UUID-READ-BIT-VECTOR-BITS:

UNICLY> (let* ((tmp (make-pathname :directory '(:absolute  "tmp")
                                   :name "bitstream-test"))
               (v4     (uuid-to-bit-vector (make-v4-uuid)))
               (v4-out (with-open-file (strm tmp
                                             :direction :output
                                             :if-does-not-exist :create
                                             :if-exists :supersede
                                             :element-type 'uuid-ub8
                                             :external-format   :UTF-8)
                         (uuid-serialize-bit-vector-bits v4 strm)))
               (v4-in  (uuid-read-bit-vector-bits *tt--temp-path*)))
          (prog1 (uuid-bit-vector-eql v4-in v4-out)
            (delete-file tmp)))
;=> T

Unicly's UUID Equality Interface:

Following examples illustrate some more of the Unicly interface.

We use the value of the v4-uuid in the variable *unique-random-namespace* defined earlier above, but feel free to substitute *my-fabulous-namespace* (or equivalent).

Testing the equivalence of two UUID objects with UUID-EQL:

UNICLY> (uuid-eql 
         (make-v5-uuid *unique-random-namespace* "bubba")
         (make-v5-uuid *unique-random-namespace* "bubba"))
;=> T

Printing a UUID object in hex-string-36 format with UUID-PRINC-TO-STRING:

UNICLY> (uuid-princ-to-string (make-v5-uuid *unique-random-namespace* "bubba"))
;=> "065944a4-7566-53b2-811b-11a20e0bfed2"

Testing equivalence of two UUID objects where the first is generated using MAKE-V5-UUID and the second is generated from an equivelent hex-string-36 representation as per MAKE-UUID-FROM-STRING:

UNICLY> (uuid-eql 
         (make-v5-uuid *unique-random-namespace* "bubba")
         (make-uuid-from-string "065944a4-7566-53b2-811b-11a20e0bfed2"))
;=> T

Binding a variable another-unique-random-namespace for use as a namespace. We initally bind it to the hex-string-36 representation of a v4 UUID per the return value of UUID-PRINC-TO-STRING:

UNICLY> (defparameter *another-unique-random-namespace* 
          (uuid-princ-to-string (unicly:make-v4-uuid)))
;=> *ANOTHER-UNIQUE-RANDOM-NAMESPACE*

Binding the *another-unique-random-namespace* variable to a UUID object:

UNICLY> (setf *another-unique-random-namespace*
              (make-uuid-from-string *another-unique-random-namespace*))
;=> f65c8371-0c41-4913-96e6-8a917666aa51

Creating a container to hold 32 v5 UUIDs for 16 names each of which will occupy two distinct namespaces:

UNICLY> (defparameter *v5-uuids-in-distinct-unique-random-namespaces* '()) 
;=> *V5-UUIDS-IN-DISTINCT-UNIQUE-RANDOM-NAMESPACES*

Adding 32 v5 UUIDs to the container where each is a cons with the head of each cons a UUID object and the tail the name of some object in a namespace. For each name we create two UUIDs, one will occupy the namespace *unique-random-namespace*, the other will occupy the namepsace *another-unique-random-namespace*:

UNICLY> (loop
           initially (setf *v5-uuids-in-distinct-unique-random-namespaces* nil)
           for bubba in (loop
                           for cnt from 0 below 16  
                           collect (format nil "bubba-~D" cnt))
           do (push (cons (make-v5-uuid *unique-random-namespace*  bubba) bubba)
                    *v5-uuids-in-distinct-unique-random-namespaces*)
           (push (cons (make-v5-uuid *another-unique-random-namespace* bubba) bubba)
                 *v5-uuids-in-distinct-unique-random-namespaces*)
           finally (return *v5-uuids-in-distinct-unique-random-namespaces* ))

;=> ((7c34b05e-d7a0-573e-baa2-7cc407532609 . "bubba-15")
;     (f7922a16-0b67-5329-87c9-71fdaa52c6c1 . "bubba-15")
;     { ... }
;     (7af9b747-e1f4-59b1-8f05-0acb70220817 . "bubba-0")
;     (f3228291-0a24-5a46-a9e2-7963d4671069 . "bubba-0"))

Retrieving the UUID for the name "bubba-8" in the namespace *unique-random-namespace*:

Retrieving a UUID using CL:ASSOC's with UUID-EQL as :TEST keyword:

UNICLY> (assoc 
         (make-v5-uuid *unique-random-namespace* "bubba-8")
         *v5-uuids-in-distinct-unique-random-namespaces*
         :test #'uuid-eql)
;=> (8e64c855-70fd-5d53-82ce-67e545f724a1 . "bubba-8")

Retrieving the UUID for the name "bubba-8" in the namespace*another-unique-random-namespace*:

UNICLY> (assoc 
         (make-v5-uuid *another-unique-random-namespace* "bubba-8")
         *v5-uuids-in-distinct-unique-random-namespaces*
         :test #'uuid-eql)
;=> (ef74e326-4ecc-5edc-9b55-e69e6069610a . "bubba-8")

Testing if two identical names can be UUID-EQL when each occupies a different namespace:

UNICLY> (uuid-eql 
         (make-v5-uuid *unique-random-namespace* "bubba-8")
         (make-v5-uuid *another-unique-random-namespace* "bubba-8"))
;=> NIL

Testing if two identical names can be UUID-EQL when each occupies the same namespace:

UNICLY> (uuid-eql 
         (make-v5-uuid *unique-random-namespace* "bubba-8")
         (car (assoc 
               (make-v5-uuid *unique-random-namespace* "bubba-8")
               *v5-uuids-in-distinct-unique-random-namespaces*
               :test #'uuid-eql)))
;=> T

UUID's as Bit Vector:

Examining the bit-vector representation of the *unique-random-namespace* UUID:

UNICLY> (uuid-to-bit-vector *unique-random-namespace*)
;=> #*01110111101110000100011101000101101010110001001101001001110001101000111111011100100110101111101010101011110001010001110001010010

UUID Predicate:

Testing with UNIQUE-UNIVERSAL-IDENTIFIER-P whether the value of *unique-random-namespace* is an instance of class UNIQUE-UNIVERSAL-IDENTIFIER:

UNICLY> (unique-universal-identifier-p *unique-random-namespace*)
;=> T

When testing an object with UNIQUE-UNIVERSAL-IDENTIFIER-P, if the object is a bit-vector, and the form of that bit-vector satisfies UUID-BIT-VECTOR-128-P, and the appropriate version bit of the bit-vector is set, indication is given that the bit-vector may be coerceable to an object which would satisfy UNIQUE-UNIVERSAL-IDENTIFIER-P. This indication is provided as the CL:NTH-VALUE 1 as illustrated by the following return value:

UNICLY> (unique-universal-identifier-p (uuid-to-bit-vector *unique-random-namespace*))
;=> NIL 
    (UUID-BIT-VECTOR-128 4)

Testing whether the null-uuid satisfies UNIQUE-UNIVERSAL-IDENTIFIER-P:

UNICLY> (unique-universal-identifier-p (make-null-uuid))
;=> T

UUID Byte Array

Converting a UUID to bit-vector representation with UUID-TO-BIT-VECTOR then converting that to an integer value with UUID-BIT-VECTOR-TO-INTEGER:

UNICLY> (uuid-bit-vector-to-integer (uuid-to-bit-vector *unique-random-namespace*))
;=> 159134959691145724577639637335874542674

Converting a UUID to byte-array reresentation with UNICLY::UUID-TO-BYTE-ARRAY:

UNICLY> (unicly::uuid-to-byte-array *unique-random-namespace*)
;=> #(119 184 71 69 171 19 73 198 143 220 154 250 171 197 28 82)

Converting a UUID to byte-array reresentation with UNICLY::UUID-TO-BYTE-ARRAY then converting that to a bit-vector:

UNICLY> (uuid-byte-array-to-bit-vector (unicly::uuid-to-byte-array *unique-random-namespace*))
;=> #*01110111101110000100011101000101101010110001001101001001110001101000111111011100100110101111101010101011110001010001110001010010

Note

Above, when converting the UUID object to a byte-array, we used the internal symbol UNICLY::UUID-TO-BYTE-ARRAY. However, the preferred interface for retrieving the byte-array representation of a UUID object is UUID:GET-NAMESPACE-BYTES.

The symbol UNICLY::UUID-TO-BYTE-ARRAY is not exported by Unicly, because it's implementation conflicts with UUID:UUID-TO-BYTE-ARRAY (the two functions access differently named slot values of their respective base classes UNICLY:UNIQUE-UNIVERSAL-IDENTIFIER vs. UUID:UUID).

More UUID equality interrogations with UUID-EQL:

Testing if a UUID object is UUID-EQL to itself:

UNICLY> (uuid-eql *unique-random-namespace* *unique-random-namespace*)
;=> T

Testing if a UUID object is UUID-EQL to its bit-vector representation:

UNICLY> (uuid-eql *unique-random-namespace* (uuid-to-bit-vector *unique-random-namespace*))
;=> T

Testing if a UUID object is UUID-EQL to a copy of itself as per UUID-COPY-UUID:

UNICLY> (let ((copy (uuid-copy-uuid *unique-random-namespace*)))
          (uuid-eql copy *unique-random-namespace*))
;=> T

Testing if a UUID object is UUID-EQL to its byte-array representation:

Note

UNICLY::UUID-TO-BYTE-ARRAY is not exported, and it's use is nominally deprecated (see note above). As such, the underlying implementation of this aspect of the UUID-EQL interface may to change in future versions of UNICLY!

UNICLY> (uuid-eql (uuid-to-byte-array *unique-random-namespace*)
                  *unique-random-namespace*)
;=> NIL

Testing if two UUID bit-vector representations are UUID-BIT-VECTOR-EQL:

UNICLY> (uuid-bit-vector-eql 
         (uuid-to-bit-vector *unique-random-namespace*)
         (uuid-byte-array-to-bit-vector (unicly::uuid-to-byte-array *unique-random-namespace*)))
;=>T

Testing if two UUID bit-vector representations are UUID-EQL:

UNICLY> (uuid-eql 
         (uuid-to-bit-vector *unique-random-namespace*)
         (uuid-byte-array-to-bit-vector (unicly::uuid-to-byte-array *unique-random-namespace*)))
;=> T

Testing UUID bit vector equivalence with CL:EQUALP:

Althogh Unicly provides the function UUID-BIT-VECTOR-EQL for bit vector equivalence, we can also test if two UUID bit-vector representations are CL:EQUAL:

UNICLY> (equal
         (uuid-to-bit-vector (make-v5-uuid *unique-random-namespace* "bubba"))
         (uuid-to-bit-vector (make-v5-uuid *unique-random-namespace* "bubba"))) 
;=> T

UNICLY> (equal
         (uuid-to-bit-vector (make-v5-uuid *unique-random-namespace* "bubba"))
         (uuid-to-bit-vector (make-v5-uuid *unique-random-namespace* "NOT-A-bubba")))
;=> NIL

Note, however, we can NOT do the same for two UUID byte-array representations, instead we must use CL:EQUALP for that:

UNICLY> (equal
         (uuid-get-namespace-bytes (make-v5-uuid *unique-random-namespace* "bubba"))
         (uuid-get-namespace-bytes (make-v5-uuid *unique-random-namespace* "bubba")))
;=> NIL

UNICLY> (equalp
         (uuid-get-namespace-bytes (make-v5-uuid *unique-random-namespace* "bubba"))
         (uuid-get-namespace-bytes (make-v5-uuid *unique-random-namespace* "bubba")))
;=> T

UNICLY> (equalp
         (uuid-get-namespace-bytes (make-v5-uuid *unique-random-namespace* "bubba"))
         (uuid-get-namespace-bytes (make-v5-uuid *unique-random-namespace* "NOT-A-BUBBA")))
;=> NIL

To circumvent using CL:EQUALP we can UUID-BYTE-ARRAY-TO-BIT-VECTOR and then test byte-array equivalence with UUID-BIT-VECTOR-EQL. See below for additional examples.

Comparing return value of UUID-EQL with CL native equality operators:

Following form illustrates UUID equality as compared with the CL native equality tests, namel: CL:EQ, CL:EQL, CL:EQUAL, CL:EQUALP, and CL:SXHASH:

UNICLY> (let* ((uuid-1    (make-v5-uuid *uuid-namespace-dns* "bubba"))
               (uuid-1-bv (uuid-to-bit-vector (make-v5-uuid *uuid-namespace-dns* "bubba")))
               (uuid-2    (uuid-from-bit-vector uuid-1-bv)))
          (list :uuid-eql (uuid-eql uuid-1 uuid-2)
                :eq       (eq uuid-1 uuid-2)
                :eql      (eql uuid-1 uuid-2) 
                :equal    (equal uuid-1 uuid-2)
                :equalp   (equalp uuid-1 uuid-2)
                :sxhash   (list (sxhash uuid-1) (sxhash uuid-2))))
;=> (:UUID-EQL T :EQ NIL :EQL NIL :EQUAL NIL :EQUALP NIL :SXHASH (121011444 363948070))

Round-tripping UUID representations:

Below is an example of round-tripping a UUID as follows:

uuid -> bit-vector -> uuid -> byte-array -> bit-vector -> uuid -> byte-array -> uuid -> uuid-string-36 -> uuid

First, we verify the identity of the name "bubba" in the *UUID-NAMESPACE-DNS* namespace:

UNICLY> (make-v5-uuid *uuid-namespace-dns* "bubba")
;=> eea1105e-3681-5117-99b6-7b2b5fe1f3c7

Does the round-tripping return an equivalent object?

UNICLY> (make-uuid-from-string
         (uuid-princ-to-string
          (uuid-from-byte-array
           (uuid-to-byte-array
            (uuid-from-bit-vector
             (uuid-byte-array-to-bit-vector
              (uuid-to-byte-array 
               (uuid-from-bit-vector 
                (uuid-to-bit-vector 
                 (make-v5-uuid *uuid-namespace-dns* "bubba"))))))))))
;=> eea1105e-3681-5117-99b6-7b2b5fe1f3c7

Is previously evaluated result UUID-EQL to itself?

UNICLY> (uuid-eql * (make-v5-uuid *uuid-namespace-dns* "bubba"))
;=> T

UUID Version Number Integer Representation:

We can interrogate a UUID object to find it's version.

Get the integer version of a UUID object with UUID-VERSION-UUID:

UNICLY> (uuid-version-uuid *unique-random-namespace*)
;=> 4

UNICLY> (uuid-version-uuid (make-v5-uuid *unique-random-namespace* "bubba-8"))
;=> 5

Using the UUID-BIT-VECTOR-V4-P predicate to test the version of a UUID object:

UNICLY> (uuid-bit-vector-v4-p (uuid-to-bit-vector *unique-random-namespace*))
;=> T

UNICLY> (uuid-bit-vector-v4-p (uuid-to-bit-vector (make-v5-uuid *uuid-namespace-dns* "bubba")))
;-> nil

Using the UUID-BIT-VECTOR-V5-P predicate to test the version of a UUID object:

UNICLY> (uuid-bit-vector-v5-p (uuid-to-bit-vector (make-v5-uuid *uuid-namespace-dns* "bubba")))
;-> T

UNICLY> (uuid-bit-vector-v5-p (uuid-to-bit-vector (make-v4-uuid)))
;=> NIL

The UUID null-uuid:

The null-uuid is a special case, as such we use a dedicated inteface when frobbing it.

Note

Some special mojo occurs behind the curtains to ensure unique identity for the null-uuid because the CL:SXHASH of the null-uuid is an intransient value.

MAKE-NULL-UUID is the preferred interface for accessing the null-uuid. Use It!

Generating an instance of the null-uuid with MAKE-NULL-UUID:

UNICLY> (make-null-uuid)
;=> 00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000

The predicateUNIQUE-UNIVERSAL-IDENTIFIER-NULL-P:

WE can test if return-value of MAKE-NULL-UUID is an instance of class UNIQUE-UNIVERSAL-IDENTIFIER-NULL with the predicateUNIQUE-UNIVERSAL-IDENTIFIER-NULL-P:

UNICLY> (unique-universal-identifier-null-p (make-null-uuid))
;=> T

Get the version of the null-uuid with UUID-VERSION-UUID.

The null-uuid is special in that it's version is 0.

UNICLY> (uuid-version-uuid (make-null-uuid))
;=>  0
     UNICLY::NULL-UUID

Note

The CL:NTH-VALUE 1 can be checked to verify that every bit of the UUID object is 0 (as opposed to an object with a partial bit signature at bits 48-51 mimicing that of the null-uuid). Some care should be taken to avoid inadverdently misidentifying the null-uuid. Again, the null-uuid is special.

Testing if the null-uuid is UUID-EQL to itself:

UNICLY> (uuid-eql (make-null-uuid) (make-null-uuid))
;=> T

UUID as Bit Field:

The UUID is sometimes referenced as having an 8:4:4:4:12 hex string representation. We refer to this representation as a UUID object with type UUID-HEX-STRING-36.

However, such references imply a string-centric view-point of the UUID when really it is much saner to see the UUID as a sequence of bits or bytes.

Following table illustrates the components of a UUID as a bit/byte field. Note, it will not display correctly in a text-editor word/line wrapping is enabled and/or your display is unable to lines of render text out to 140 columns :{

The UUID as bit field:

 WEIGHT   INDEX      OCTETS                     BIT-FIELD-PER-OCTET
    4  | (0  31)  | 255 255 255 255         | #*11111111 #*11111111 #*11111111 #*11111111  | %uuid_time-low               | uuid-ub32
    2  | (32 47)  | 255 255                 | #*11111111 #*11111111                        | %uuid_time-mid               | uuid-ub16
    2  | (48 63)  | 255 255                 | #*11111111 #*11111111                        | %uuid_time-high-and-version  | uuid-ub16
    1  | (64 71)  | 255                     | #*11111111                                   | %uuid_clock-seq-and-reserved | uuid-ub8
    1  | (72 79)  | 255                     | #*11111111                                   | %uuid_clock-seq-low          | uuid-ub8
    6  | (80 127) | 255 255 255 255 255 255 | #*11111111 #*11111111 #*11111111 #*11111111 #*11111111 #*11111111 | %uuid_node | uuid-ub48

The UUID bit-vector representation:

UNICLY> (uuid-to-bit-vector (make-v5-uuid *uuid-namespace-dns* "bubba"))
;=> #*11101110101000010001000001011110001101101000000101010001000101111001100110110110011110110010101101011111111000011111001111000111
;     !      !       !       !       !       !       !       !        !      !       !       !       !       !       !       !       !  
;     0      7       15      23      31      39      47      55       63     71      79      87      95      103     111     119     127
;      --1--   --2--   --3--   --4--   --5--   --6--   --7--    --8--   --9--   -10-   -11-     -12-    -13-    -14-    -15-    -16-  
;     |  time-low slot               | time-mid slot | time-high slot | rsvd |  low  |                node slot                      |

The UUIDs binary integer representation:

UNICLY> #b11101110101000010001000001011110001101101000000101010001000101111001100110110110011110110010101101011111111000011111001111000111
;=> 317192554773903544674993329975922389959

Other UUID representations:

Get the byte-array reresentation of a UUIDs integer representation with UUID-INTEGER-128-TO-BYTE-ARRAY:

UNICLY> (uuid-integer-128-to-byte-array 317192554773903544674993329975922389959)
;=> #(238 161 16 94 54 129 81 23 153 182 123 43 95 225 243 199)
 
UNICLY> (uuid-to-byte-array (make-v5-uuid *uuid-namespace-dns* "bubba"))
;=> #(238 161 16 94 54 129 81 23 153 182 123 43 95 225 243 199)

The component octet bit-vector reresentation of a UUID:

UNICLY> (map 'list #'uuid-octet-to-bit-vector-8
             (uuid-to-byte-array (make-v5-uuid *uuid-namespace-dns* "bubba")))
;=> (#*11101110 #*10100001 #*00010000 #*01011110 #*00110110 #*10000001 #*01010001 #*00010111 
;    #*10011001 #*10110110 #*01111011 #*00101011 #*01011111 #*11100001 #*11110011 #*11000111)

Converting from UUID -> byte-array -> bit-vector with UUID-BYTE-ARRAY-TO-BIT-VECTOR:

UNICLY> (uuid-byte-array-to-bit-vector (uuid-to-byte-array (make-v5-uuid *uuid-namespace-dns* "bubba")))
;=> #*11101110101000010001000001011110001101101000000101010001000101111001100110110110011110110010101101011111111000011111001111000111

The upper bounds of a UUID in binary integer representation:

UNICLY> #b11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
;=> 340282366920938463463374607431768211455

Finding the number of unsigned bits used to represent the upper bounds of a UUID:

We can interrogate the unsigned bits of a UUIDs integer representation with CL:INTEGER-LENGTH:

UNICLY> (integer-length 340282366920938463463374607431768211455) 
;=> 128

Finding the octet count of the upper bounds of a UUIDs integer representation:

UNICLY> (truncate (integer-length 340282366920938463463374607431768211455) 8)
;=> 16

Getting the upper bounds of UUID in decimal integer representation (longform):

With CL:FORMAT's "~R" flag we can get a long form printed representation of a UUID's decimal integer representation as follows:

UNICLY> (format t "~R" 340282366920938463463374607431768211455)
;=> three hundred forty undecillion two hundred eighty-two decillion three hundred
;   sixty-six nonillion nine hundred twenty octillion nine hundred thirty-eight
;   septillion four hundred sixty-three sextillion four hundred sixty-three
;   quintillion three hundred seventy-four quadrillion six hundred seven trillion
;   four hundred thirty-one billion seven hundred sixty-eight million two hundred
;   eleven thousand four hundred fifty-five

Converting from a UUID bit-vector representation to an integer with UUID-BIT-VECTOR-TO-INTEGER:

UNICLY> (uuid-bit-vector-to-integer (uuid-to-bit-vector (make-v5-uuid *uuid-namespace-dns* "bubba")))
;=> 317192554773903544674993329975922389959

Converting from a UUID byte-array representation to an integer:

UNICLY> (uuid-integer-128-to-byte-array 317192554773903544674993329975922389959)
;=> #(238 161 16 94 54 129 81 23 153 182 123 43 95 225 243 199)

Converting from a UUID byte-array representation to a UUID integer representation with UUID-BYTE-ARRAY-16-TO-INTEGER:

UNICLY> (uuid-byte-array-16-to-integer 
         (uuid-integer-128-to-byte-array 317192554773903544674993329975922389959))
;=> 317192554773903544674993329975922389959

Converting from a UUID integer representation to a UUID bit-vector representation:

UNICLY> (uuid-integer-128-to-bit-vector 317192554773903544674993329975922389959)
;=> #*11101110101000010001000001011110001101101000000101010001000101111001100110110110011110110010101101011111111000011111001111000111

Testing if two UUIDs are UUID-BIT-VECTOR-EQL

Here, we test here the first is coerced to a bit-vector from a UUID object, and the second is coerced to a bit-vector from a UUID integer representation:

UNICLY> (uuid-bit-vector-eql (uuid-to-bit-vector (make-v5-uuid *uuid-namespace-dns* "bubba")) 
                             (uuid-integer-128-to-bit-vector 317192554773903544674993329975922389959))
;=> T

Testing if two UUIDs are UUID-BIT-VECTOR-EQL, where the first is coerced to a bit-vector from UUID integer representation and the second is coerced to a bit-vector from a UUID byte-array representation:

UNICLY> (uuid-bit-vector-eql (uuid-integer-128-to-bit-vector 317192554773903544674993329975922389959)
                             (uuid-byte-array-to-bit-vector (uuid-integer-128-to-byte-array 317192554773903544674993329975922389959)))
;=> T

Comparing Common Lisp UUID libraries Unicly vs Boian Tzonev's UUID CL library:

Unicly has a similar interface to Boian Tzonev's Common Lisp library UUID: :SEE [Boian Tzonev's CL UUID Library](URL `https://github.com/dardoria/uuid')

Indeed, portions of the core of Unicly API are derived from Tzonev's UUID codebase.

However, Unicly deviates in some not insignificant ways from Tzonev's UUID library, and while we have made some attempt to create a compatibility layer between the two libraries, the UUID objects generated with Unicly can not be used interchangeably with those of Tzonev's UUID library.

Some notable differences between Unicly and Tzonev's UUID library:

  • Unicly is developed on SBCL and with SBCL as it's primary targeted CL compiler.

    • Many routines are targeted towards making use of SBCL specific features.

    • It is highly declaration bound and inlined.

    • I do not test on implementations other than SBCL, but code for generating v3, v4, and v5 UUIDs should run portably on other Common Lisps ;}

  • Unicly is developed primarily for speedy minting of v3 and v5 UUIDs. On an x86-32 SBCL we have found Unicly's minting of v3 and v5 UUIDs to be significantly faster (at least 3-5x) than equivalent code from UUID. On 64bit ARM architecture the timing differences aren't as significant. :SEE unicly/unicly-timings.lisp for some timing comparisons.

    • Unicly is not particlulary faster than uuid when minting v4 UUIDS. This is to be expected as both systems depend on frobbing random-state and there is little room for optimization beyond some internal declarations.

    • Unicly does however have different performace characteristcs when comparing timings of UNICLY:MAKE-V5-UUID with UUID:MAKE-V5-UUID.

    Following timings were made using functionally identical namespaces for 1mil invocations on an 64bit ARM SBCL.

    Name components were taken from an array of 1mil elements where each element was a randomly generated string and where each string was between 1-36 characters long and where each character of the string was a randomly chosen UTF-8 characater (pulled from a constrained set of 360). With each invocation having the basic form:

    (unicly:make-v5-uuid <NAMESPACE> <RANDOM-NAME>)
    (uuid:make-v5-uuid   <NAMESPACE> <RANDOM-NAME>)

UNICLY-TIMINGS> (generic-gc)
(time
 (loop 
    for x across *timing-random-array*
    do (unicly::make-v5-uuid unicly::*uuid-namespace-dns* x)))
Evaluation took:

  3.258 seconds of real time
  3.264746 seconds of total run time (3.222223 user, 0.042523 system)
  [ Real times consist of 0.073 seconds GC time, and 3.185 seconds non-GC time. ]
  [ Run times consist of 0.073 seconds GC time, and 3.192 seconds non-GC time. ]
  100.21% CPU
  1,583,015,056 bytes consed

UNICLY-TIMINGS> (generic-gc)
(time
 (loop 
    for x across *timing-random-array*
    do (uuid:make-v5-uuid  uuid:+namespace-dns+ x)))

Evaluation took:
  3.465 seconds of real time
  3.471200 seconds of total run time (3.449735 user, 0.021465 system)
  [ Real times consist of 0.060 seconds GC time, and 3.405 seconds non-GC time. ]
  [ Run times consist of 0.060 seconds GC time, and 3.412 seconds non-GC time. ]
  100.17% CPU
  1,359,595,008 bytes consed

The above ratios are similar for the equivalent MAKE-V3-UUID functions.

Other significant performace differences can be seen between Unicly and UUID around the respective system's UUID-TO-BYTE-ARRAY, UUID-FROM-BYTE-ARRAY, MAKE-UUID-FROM-STRING functions.

However, Unicly's biggest performance gains don't become apparent until using Unicly for equivalence tests and hash-table lookups using Unicly's extended interface as provided by UUID-EQL, UUID-BIT-VECTOR-EQL, etc.

  • Unicly is extended with support for creating/storing/(de)serializing UUID objects as bit vectors.

    • For persistence libraries which make use of hash-tables to store their keys as UUID objects in hex-string-36 representation there are some potentially big gains to be had by moving to a bit-vector base UUID representation.

      For example, on SBCL it is possible to SB-EXT:DEFINE-HASH-TABLE-TEST which tests for UUID bit-vector equivalence using UUID-BIT-VECTOR-EQL instead of CL:EQUAL and CL:EQUALP. (Underneath the covers UUID-BIT-VECTOR-EQL invokes SB-INT:BIT-VECTOR-=. A nearly equivalent routine is provided for other CLs)

  • Unicly is extended with support for preserving identity of the null-uuid. This feature is specified in RFC 4122.

  • Unicly prints UUID string representations in case-significant form. This feature is specified in RFC 4122 Section 3. "Namespace Registration Template" as follows:

    The hexadecimal values "a" through "f" are output as lower case characters and are case insensitive on input.

  • Unicly defines its base UUID class as UNIQUE-UNIVERSAL-IDENTIFIER, instead of as the class UUID.

  • Unicly does not expose accessors for the slots of the UUID class UNIQUE-UNIVERSAL-IDENTIFIER.

  • Unicly slot-names for the base class UNIQUE-UNIVERSAL-IDENTIFIER are strongly namespaced with "%uuid_". This intent here is twofold:

    • Our opinion is that UUID identity should be considered immutable once minted. There should be no need for user code to directly modify a UUIDs slot values. Obfuscating easy access to the class slots of UNIQUE-UNIVERSAL-IDENTIFIER helps prevent this.

    • Because the Unicly interface is similar to that of the UUID library we've attempted to prevent trivial visual namespace collision with the slots of the UUID library. Projects using both Unicly and the UUID library may benefit from being able to easily distinguish among the two.

  • Unicly's printing of a UUIDs string representation is not always conformant with ANSI spec.

    • The UUID CL:PRINT-OBJECT method for the class UNIQUE-UNIVERSAL-IDENTIFIER is not wrapped around CL:PRINT-UNREADABLE-OBJECT.
  • Unicly's interface is extensively documented.

  • Unicly's source-code is commented with references to the relevant portions of RFC 4122.

  • Unicly does not have a dependency on TRIVIAL-UTF-8

    • SBCL users can use internal features (assuming a Unicode enabled SBCL)

    • non-SBCL code can (and should) use FLEXI-STREAMS instead.

  • Unicly is not released under an LLGPL licenses.

    • If licensing issues are a concern in your project please take a moment to investigate unicly/LICENSE.txt

    [!Note] Although Unicly is initially derived from Tzonev's uuid library we note that significant portions of that library were in turn strongly derived from the non-normative reference implementation source code included of RFC4122 Appendix C as a wholly functional C language source code implementation of RFC4122.

    We believe the original RFC reference implementation and license have clear precedent in lieu of the later LLGPL and believe it reasonable to revert to the spirit of the original permissive and non-LLGPL'd license included of RFC4122.

  • Unicly is not targeted for generation of version 1 UUIDs (e.g. time based).

    The general implementation strategy for minting v1 UUID is reliant on interrogation of the system's underlying hardware and clock setting [1]. When this is the strategy taken, we have found that:

    • It requires platform and implementation specific code;

    • Minting version 1 UUIDs requires interrogating the MAC address of an Ethernet device;

    • Minting version 1 UUIDs requires interrogating the system clock -- there are in general some notoriously nasty bugs which spring from reliance on the value of the system clock e.g. cross-platform multi-boot systems...

    • Minting version 1 UUIDs is slow;

    • There is no portably universal mechanism for generation of version 1 UUIDs Some implementations use the hardware for seed value others use a random-number.

    • The uniqueness of version 1 UUIDs is not nearly as robust as the v3, v4, v5 variants. There are numerous mechanisms by which a v1 UUID can become corrupted which simply do not affect the others.

    [^1] RFC 4122 Section 4.5 "Node IDs that Do Not Identify the Host" Suggests that a v1 UUID may also be minted from a "47-bit cryptographic quality random number" by using it as the bottom 47 bits of the UUID Node id and setting the LSB of the first octet of the UUID node id to 1. Unfortunately, when attempting to implement this alternative strategy we found that Tzonev's uuid library has what we believe to be a bug in UUID:GET-NODE-ID in that it sets bit 0 of the the LS-Byte of a 48bit integer with:

      (setf node (dpb #b01 (byte 8 0) (random #xffffffffffff *random-state-uuid*)))
    

    Apparently, there is some confusion around the RFC's reference to the unicast/multicast bit, instead of the arguably more correct local/global bit.

    As it is now, when using Tzonev's uuid one can not reliably inspect a v1 UUID for its version because the bits are in the wrong sequence and disambiguation of of the various v1, v2, v3, v4, and v5 UUIDs is impossible.

Ror additional details/discussion see unicly/unicly-compat.lisp

We could attempt to accommodate this and propagate the error onward or do the prudent thing and simply rely on v3, v4, v5 UUIDs instead.

Examples of Common Lisp libraries which make use of UUIDs:

Vivace Graph v2 de.setf.resource Blocky CL-mongo Kyoto Persistence

An Emacs lisp implementation of RFC 4122 UUID generation:

uuid-el

RFC 4122 for Reference:

RFC 4122 text RFC 4122 pdf