libdpf/doc/pages/ppvc.md

# Point-programmable vector commitments {#ppvc_manual}

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<div class="eli5"><b>ELI5.</b> The vector is bound before the coordinate is chosen. Each coordinate is a pair of 1-bit DPF roots, and both roots are committed with a Naor string. Opening one side of each pair writes the hidden coordinate, or the sum, onto a public index.</div>
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A point-programmable vector commitment binds a vector
`x` in `(Z/2^s Z)^n` and still lets one hidden coordinate be chosen
after the commitment is published.

`n` is a power of two, the bit length of the input type, and at most
2^20, because evaluation stores one entry per domain point. `s` is
the `Width` parameter, from 1 to 64.
The manual construction is `dpf::ppvc`. `dpf::k_ppvc<K, ...>` is `K`
independent copies of that object.

The committer samples an index `i` and builds `s` aligned 1-bit DPF
pairs there, the same point key as [DPF basics](@ref basics_body).
Both roots of every pair are bound with a Naor commitment under a
public matrix `A`. Opening releases one key from each pair, together
with a shift `delta = xi - i`.

Off `i`, the two keys of a pair evaluate to the same bit.
At `i`, they evaluate to opposite bits.
Choosing the side therefore writes an arbitrary value into that one
coordinate and leaves every other coordinate fixed.
The shift moves the written coordinate from `i` onto the public target
`xi`. The opening carries `delta`, not `i` and not `xi`.

`open(st, mu, tau, xi)` has two modes.

- `mu = 0` programs the coordinate. After rotation, entry `xi` equals `tau`.
- `mu = 1` programs the sum of every coordinate. That sum equals `tau`.

Those two maps are bijections on `Z/2^s Z`. Programming one of them
programs the other.

```cpp
using scheme = dpf::ppvc<std::uint8_t, 8>;
const auto pp = scheme::setup();
const auto [com, st] = scheme::commit(pp);

const std::uint8_t xi = 40;
const auto op = scheme::open(st, 0, 0x5a, xi);
const auto x = scheme::eval(op);               // hidden indexing
const auto rotated = scheme::eval_rotated(op); // value 0x5a sits at xi
const bool ok = scheme::accept(pp, com, op, x, xi);
```

`setup` samples `A`. `setup_from_seed` expands one 128-bit seed into the
same matrix, which is the common random string when many sessions share
it. `commit` samples `i`. `commit_at` uses an index the caller already
chose. The shift hides `i` when that index was sampled independently of
`xi`. `commit_from_seed` and `commit_at_from_seed` rerun key generation
from a replica seed. Seed expansion keeps its counter in thread-local
storage, so two expansions on one thread must not overlap.

## What an opening proves {#ppvc_verify}

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<div class="eli5"><b>ELI5.</b> verify recomputes the Naor string on each opened root and compares it to the commitment. A root that was not the committed one fails. The check does not reveal the other coordinates.</div>
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`verify` checks each opened root against its Naor string.
`accept` also checks the programmed statement: the rotated coordinate
when `mu` is 0, the column sum when `mu` is 1.

Correction words travel with the opened key. They are not inside the
commitment. `verify` sees one side of each pair.
`check_well_formed` is the check on a replica the committer still holds:
shared correction words, party bits 0 and 1, both Naor openings, and
exactly one place where the two keys disagree, at the recorded index,
with payload 1.
`audit` expands a seed and accepts when the published commitment matches
that expansion and the replica is well formed.
When many replica seeds sit as leaves of a GGM tree, the audit opening of
the pool is a [`dpf::pprf_copath`](@ref dpf/pprf.hpp) built by
`dpf::puncture(master, live…, /*program_hidden=*/false)`: every audited
leaf re-expands with `dpf::pprf_eval`, and a live seed is never among the
published nodes. Sampling the audit set and combining live copies stay in
the protocol, not in this library.

`k_ppvc` asks for the same checks on every copy, and for distinct hidden
indices. `combine_rotated` adds the rotated vectors in `Z/2^s Z`.
Reprogramming copy `r` changes coordinate `xi[r]` of that sum.

The commitment is `2 * s * (3 * 128 + Sigma)` bits.
`Sigma` defaults to 128 and must be a multiple of 8.
The generator is `dpf::prg::aes128` unless another 128-bit PRG is named.

**Defined in**\n
@ref dpf/ppvc.hpp

**Try**\n
@ref mwe/ppvc.cpp

Naor's string commitment is Moni Naor, [Bit Commitment Using Pseudorandomness](@ref bib_naor), Journal of Cryptology 1991.
The point keys are the Boyle–Gilboa–Ishai construction named in
[DPF basics](@ref point_functions).

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<div class="tldr"><b>TL;DR.</b> Commit binds the vector before the coordinate is chosen, by committing both DPF roots. Open writes one coordinate or the sum onto a public index. verify checks those roots against the Naor strings.</div>
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