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+// Copyright (c) 2021 The Bitcoin Core developers
+// Distributed under the MIT software license, see the accompanying
+// file COPYING or http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php.
+
+#ifndef BITCOIN_INTERFACES_IPC_H
+#define BITCOIN_INTERFACES_IPC_H
+
+#include <functional>
+#include <memory>
+#include <typeindex>
+
+namespace interfaces {
+class Init;
+
+//! Interface providing access to interprocess-communication (IPC)
+//! functionality. The IPC implementation is responsible for establishing
+//! connections between a controlling process and a process being controlled.
+//! When a connection is established, the process being controlled returns an
+//! interfaces::Init pointer to the controlling process, which the controlling
+//! process can use to get access to other interfaces and functionality.
+//!
+//! When spawning a new process, the steps are:
+//!
+//! 1. The controlling process calls interfaces::Ipc::spawnProcess(), which
+//!    calls ipc::Process::spawn(), which spawns a new process and returns a
+//!    socketpair file descriptor for communicating with it.
+//!    interfaces::Ipc::spawnProcess() then calls ipc::Protocol::connect()
+//!    passing the socketpair descriptor, which returns a local proxy
+//!    interfaces::Init implementation calling remote interfaces::Init methods.
+//! 2. The spawned process calls interfaces::Ipc::startSpawnProcess(), which
+//!    calls ipc::Process::checkSpawned() to read command line arguments and
+//!    determine whether it is a spawned process and what socketpair file
+//!    descriptor it should use. It then calls ipc::Protocol::serve() to handle
+//!    incoming requests from the socketpair and invoke interfaces::Init
+//!    interface methods, and exit when the socket is closed.
+//! 3. The controlling process calls local proxy interfaces::Init object methods
+//!    to make other proxy objects calling other remote interfaces. It can also
+//!    destroy the initial interfaces::Init object to close the connection and
+//!    shut down the spawned process.
+class Ipc
+{
+public:
+    virtual ~Ipc() = default;
+
+    //! Spawn a child process returning pointer to its Init interface.
+    virtual std::unique_ptr<Init> spawnProcess(const char* exe_name) = 0;
+
+    //! If this is a spawned process, block and handle requests from the parent
+    //! process by forwarding them to this process's Init interface, then return
+    //! true. If this is not a spawned child process, return false.
+    virtual bool startSpawnedProcess(int argc, char* argv[], int& exit_status) = 0;
+
+    //! Add cleanup callback to remote interface that will run when the
+    //! interface is deleted.
+    template<typename Interface>
+    void addCleanup(Interface& iface, std::function<void()> cleanup)
+    {
+        addCleanup(typeid(Interface), &iface, std::move(cleanup));
+    }
+
+protected:
+    //! Internal implementation of public addCleanup method (above) as a
+    //! type-erased virtual function, since template functions can't be virtual.
+    virtual void addCleanup(std::type_index type, void* iface, std::function<void()> cleanup) = 0;
+};
+
+//! Return implementation of Ipc interface.
+std::unique_ptr<Ipc> MakeIpc(const char* exe_name, const char* process_argv0, Init& init);
+} // namespace interfaces
+
+#endif // BITCOIN_INTERFACES_IPC_H