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Diffstat (limited to 'dev-merchant.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | dev-merchant.rst | 30 |
1 files changed, 13 insertions, 17 deletions
diff --git a/dev-merchant.rst b/dev-merchant.rst index faa2a28c..275c5481 100644 --- a/dev-merchant.rst +++ b/dev-merchant.rst @@ -16,26 +16,22 @@ Merchant ======== ------------- -Introduction ------------- -TBD - .. _merchant-arch: - ------ Design ------ -TO REVIEW:: +In order for a merchant to be Taler-compatible, they need to run two distinct Web +services: a *frontend* and a *backend*. The former is typically the Web site where +the merchant exposes their goods, whereas the latter is a C program in charge of +making all the Taler-related cryptography. + +In details, the frontend gathers all the information from customers about sales, +and forwards it to the backend via its RESTful API. Typically, the backend will either +cryptographically process this data or just forward it to the exchange. + +That saves the frontend developers from dealing with cryptography in scripting +languages and from commmunicating at all with any exchange. - The 'frontend' is the existing shopping portal of the merchant. - The architecture tries to minimize the amount of modifications necessary - to the `frontend` as well as the trust that needs to be placed into the - `frontend` logic. Taler requires the frontend to facilitate two - JSON-based interactions between the wallet and the `backend`, and - one of those is trivial. - - The 'backend' is a standalone C application intended to implement all - the cryptographic routines required to interact with the Taler wallet - and a Taler exchange. +Additionally, the backend RESTful API is such that a frontend might be run completely +database-less. |