
IPFS, The Interplanetary File System, Simply Explained - acob
https://achainofblocks.com/2018/10/05/ipfs-interplanetary-file-system-simply-explained/
======
dymk
IPFS "solves" the problem of distributing static files - basically, a CDN
built on content addressable storage. But if you don't have nodes pinning your
content, or you're going to loose that data.

The article bills it as some alternative to HTTP, but it's a subset of
functionality. You can't do dynamic pages with IPFS. There's no concept of
cookies, so stateful sessions aren't a thing.

Why do articles insist on comparing IPFS to "the web", whatever that means?
It's a distributed filesystem. Not at all representative of most content on
"the web".

~~~
cjslep
The original "web" was built to serve files, with a special kind of markup
called Hyper Text that could reference another file with a Hyper Link.
Browsers today will still treat servers like a filesystem if it's old enough.

It took a decade to get the JavaScript cruft and layers of browser features
that basically makes the modern browser a native gaming-like app with a
gigantic scripting engine and a fat pipe internet connection.

It's possible iterations on IPFS could parallel the current web. But I am not
a fortune teller. I just wanted to be sure we all understand where the web
came from: serving files as if a gigantic connected filesystem.

~~~
zaarn
Browsers don't treat any server like a filesystem. If you see a directory
index; that is generated purely on the server.

~~~
CompuHacker
In the process of researching and writing a one-line quip about FTP and
Gopher, I found that Google Chrome will tell you not to enter credit card
details or sensitive information over the insecure connection... to an FTP
server.

That being said, FTP though.

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jonah-archive
For interested Bay Area folks, we're hosting our monthly decentralized web
meetup at the Internet Archive tomorrow night, and Jeremy Johnson from IPFS
will be discussing some of their recent stuff. Details and tickets here:
[https://www.eventbrite.com/e/decentralized-web-meet-up-
ticke...](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/decentralized-web-meet-up-
tickets-52509395014)

(we ask for a small donation to cover food & facilities, but if this is a
hardship for you, e-mail me and I can help out)

~~~
hinkley
> For interested Bay Area folks, we're hosting our monthly decentralized web
> meetup

For some reason this reminded me of the scene from Stranger Than Fiction where
she's teasing Harold, "Anarchists have a group? They assemble? Wouldn't that
defeat the whole purpose?"

(I don't suppose I know _how_ you would handle a distributed meetup, unless
IPFS has some facilities I'm unfamiliar with...)

~~~
aloisdg
By using a decentralized communication protocol like matrix?

matrix: [https://matrix.org/blog/home/](https://matrix.org/blog/home/)

~~~
acct1771
Client: www.riot.im

Not affiliated, just a fan plugging.

------
mattdemon
Previous HN discussion on IPFS whitepaper and protocol
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16430742](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16430742)

Based on the review at [https://muratbuffalo.blogspot.com/2018/02/paper-
review-ipfs-...](https://muratbuffalo.blogspot.com/2018/02/paper-review-ipfs-
content-addressed.html)

------
mStreamTeam
Can someone explain to me how IPFS is superior to BitTorrent from a usability
perspective?

I get all the additional functionality IPFS comes with, but it just feels too
complex to get adopted. I can go out right now and start interacting with
BitTorrent networks, but I don't even know where to get started with an IPFS
system

~~~
espadrine
BitTorrent started out without a DHT, and so requires metadata and a torrent
file to start downloading.

IPFS has a unique, global DHT as a matter of principle, and so, only requires
the hash of the file to start downloading. Everyone gets the same bootstrap
nodes, and then is part of the same DHT, with a common lookup mechanism
relying on Kademlia.

On the other hand, I feel like IPFS is not as advanced as dat in relevant
ways. IPFS is not good for file edition, while dat has systems that simplify
modification of even large files and merging of structured files.

~~~
antocv
Bittorrent transport layer, peer-to-peer is not encrypted, neither was IPFS
last time I checked. Is it now? Has that changed?

There is nothing stopping Bittorrent clients from agreeing on "this dht will
be global", and similary, what stops IPFS clients/peers from forming a
different DHT? Nothing as far as I know, not like scuttlebutt which has a
transport-layer network-wide key.

What about trackers, bittorrent can but does not work well without trackers,
so its not really according to me, decentralized, since some peer is more
equal than another peer.

IPFS is meh, datproject is where its at.

~~~
kaffee
IPFS has perhaps 2,000 times the resources ($) of dat. (Raised via the
filecoin sale.) Surely that must count for a little.

~~~
antocv
Considering how much resources, github starts, and fanbois IPFS has, and yet
the network layer is still shit, bandwidth not utilized to fullest.

Instead of just reusing bittorrents piece-per-peer-exchange-protocol (that
greedy not perfect algorithm, forgot its name) - which can saturate even high
end links, they invented bitswap, full with bugs, then decided lets make
filecoin instead, like a bartering engine of exchanging pieces.

datproject also can saturate my 250mbit connection.

~~~
mStreamTeam
Thanks for posting. Never heard of DAT before but it looks to be exactly the
BitTorrent alternative I've been looking for

~~~
macawfish
Check out hyperdb and hyperdrive (implementations of the core replicable data
structures used in dat)!

------
sixhobbits
[https://web.archive.org/web/20181210191657/https://achainofb...](https://web.archive.org/web/20181210191657/https://achainofblocks.com/2018/10/05/ipfs-
interplanetary-file-system-simply-explained/)

------
pmarreck
Are there any easy-to-use clients that interface with IPFS?

Is it possible to put a site on it that does any kind of computation that is
not frontend JS or that stores state in some fashion?

~~~
rgardaphe
We (qri) have built a front-end webapp (free & open source) for publishing,
sharing, and versioning datasets on IPFS. When you download qri, you're
working on IPFS (distributed web).

here's more on us: [https://qri.io](https://qri.io) & [https://github.com/qri-
io](https://github.com/qri-io)

------
momentoftop
My excitement about IPFS is tempered by this issue:

[https://github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/issues/3429](https://github.com/ipfs/go-
ipfs/issues/3429)

I was running IPFS on a VPS last year serving no content, and was consuming
about half a gig a day in bandwidth.

Is this a fundamental issue with the underlying concept?

