dev.md

go-ipfs development

This is a simple description of where the codebase stands.

There are multiple subpackages:

• bitswap - the block exchange
• blocks - handles dealing with individual blocks and sharding files
• blockservice - handles getting and storing blocks
• cmd/ipfs - cli ipfs tool - the main entrypoint atm
• config - load/edit configuration
• core - the core node, joins all the pieces
• fuse/readonly - mount /ipfs as a readonly fuse fs
• importer - import files into ipfs
• merkledag - merkle dag data structure
• path - path resolution over merkledag data structure
• peer - identity + addresses of local and remote peers
• routing - the routing system
• routing/dht - the dht default routing system implementation
• swarm - connection multiplexing, many peers and many transports
• util - various utilities

What's done:

• merkle dag data structure
• path resolution over merkle dag
• local storage of blocks
• basic file import/export (ipfs add, ipfs cat)
• mounting /ipfs (try {cat, ls} /ipfs/<path>)
• multiplexing connections (tcp atm)
• peer addressing
• dht - impl basic kademlia routing
• bitswap - impl basic block exchange functionality
• crypto - building trust between peers in the network
• block splitting on import - Rabin fingerprints, etc

What's in progress:

• ipns - impl /ipns obj publishing + path resolution
• expose objects to the web at http://ipfs.io/<path>

What's next:

• version control - commit like data structure
• more...

Cool demos

A list of cool demos to work towards

• boot a VM from an image in ipfs
• boot a VM from a filesystem tree in ipfs
• publish static websites directly from ipfs
• expose objects to the web at http://ipfs.io/<path>
• mounted auto-committing versioned personal dropbox
• mounted encrypted personal/group dropbox
• mounted {npm, apt, other pkg manager} registry
• open a video on ipfs, stream it in
• watch a video with a topology of 1 seed N leechers (N ~100)
• more in section 3.8 in the paper