mirror of
https://github.com/fazo96/ipfs-boards
synced 2025-01-10 12:24:20 +01:00
150 lines
6.5 KiB
Markdown
150 lines
6.5 KiB
Markdown
# IPFS Boards
|
|
|
|
The easy to use Social Platform that runs in modern web browsers but requires _no servers_ and
|
|
_no external applications_ to work.
|
|
|
|
This Application aims to allow users to:
|
|
|
|
- __Share Data__ with the world, in a distributed and permanent way, whether it is documents, media, posts or files and folders
|
|
- __Discover__ other user's content by visiting a link to their profiles, and then seeding the content they like the most
|
|
- __Connect__ with other people, building communities and merging boards.
|
|
|
|
All of these in a fully distributed way: servers help by seeding content, but they are not necessary for the application to work.
|
|
|
|
The App is being developed to be versatile: it will run in web browsers, and it will bundle a viewer that will understand and display
|
|
_any file or folder_ already hosted via IPFS, with a nice user interface and optionally social features on top.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This is how the Board view looks in the current prototype. You can see that markdown syntax is supported in all text bodies,
|
|
and the administrator name `fazo96` and also the other allowed posters,
|
|
in this case only one. Posts are shown in chronological order, but other sorting methods are planned.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This is the Post view with reddit style comments.
|
|
|
|
__Most mentioned functionality is already implemented and a lot more is coming :)__
|
|
|
|
## Why
|
|
|
|
Discussion boards, forums and other social platforms have many problems:
|
|
|
|
- __Centralized__
|
|
- What if it gets shut down?
|
|
- What if the servers are down?
|
|
|
|
- __Fragile__
|
|
- What if there's a DoS attack?
|
|
- What if there is a usage explosion and the servers can't handle it?
|
|
- What if the datacenter is flooded and data is lost?
|
|
|
|
- __Limited__
|
|
- What if you want new functionality or restore old features?
|
|
- What if you want to build custom clients or extensions to the service?
|
|
- What if you want to use it in a Local Network with no Internet access and no servers?
|
|
- What if you want to do more than what the service was designed for, or truly be in control of your data?
|
|
|
|
This project was conceived to solve that. With the help of:
|
|
|
|
- the [IPFS](https://github.com/ipfs/ipfs) and IPNS protocols for efficient distributed data storage
|
|
- IPLD and [POST](https://github.com/ipfs/POST) protocols for a common, universal data structure
|
|
- Modern browsers and web technologies for a portable, accessible user interface
|
|
|
|
We can solve these problems and create a _truly universal social platform_ which can act as:
|
|
|
|
- Discussion board, like reddit or 4chan
|
|
- Blog with dynamic comments
|
|
- Wiki
|
|
- File Sharing platform, like dropbox.
|
|
- Forum
|
|
- (Maybe) E-Learning platform
|
|
|
|
With security, control, reliability, rock solid stability, fully distributed
|
|
architecture or, _optionally_, none of these!
|
|
|
|
## Get Started
|
|
|
|
__The App is not ready yet__, but you're welcome to take a look at the prototype,
|
|
even though it has limited functionality and is cumbersome to set up at the
|
|
moment.
|
|
|
|
Also keep in mind that due to issues with the current implementation of IPNS in
|
|
go-ipfs, real world usage of the prototype is very limited. This will all be
|
|
sorted out as soon as go-ipfs' next version, 0.4, is out.
|
|
|
|
If you want to really use the prototype, you can take a look at `CONTRIBUTING.md`
|
|
to set up a developer environment and try it out.
|
|
|
|
__Note about current status:__ almost every feature is _not_ optimized, _not_
|
|
efficient, but almost all solutions to current problems are already well defined,
|
|
frozen, and being developed, _expecially_ regarding __IPFS__.
|
|
|
|
__Note about short term future:__ after `go-iofs 0.4` comes out, a public demo will be available and you'll
|
|
just have to open a link to try the app!
|
|
|
|
__Note about long term future:__ a javascript implementation of IPFS is in progress. As soon as it's done, you will not need
|
|
go-ipfs anymore and this application will truly run in the browser without external dependencies.
|
|
|
|
## FAQ
|
|
|
|
See `FAQ.md`
|
|
|
|
If you have any questions not already answered, please open an issue and
|
|
consider contributing to the documentation and FAQs.
|
|
|
|
### How does it work?
|
|
|
|
See `PROTOCOL.md`
|
|
|
|
### How do I set up a development environment and contribute?
|
|
|
|
See `CONTRIBUTING.md`
|
|
|
|
## Components
|
|
|
|
- __Client__
|
|
- a static web application to access IPFS Boards
|
|
- work in progress, some features are already done, see above
|
|
- maybe a desktop version (which would be the wrapped web application, using Electron)
|
|
- will be able to do everything in any modern browser
|
|
- __Cache Server and/or Backend__
|
|
- __Not started yet__: no code has been written yet!
|
|
- __Completely Optional__: you don't need this to be able to use the App
|
|
- automagically caches content 24/7 so that it's always available
|
|
- fully configurable, for example only cache content from users you want to support.
|
|
- can serve data via HTTP API
|
|
- can render the client application so that search engines can index content
|
|
- can provide content over an HTTP API or web sockets so that devices can save bandwidth
|
|
- __[go-ipfs](https://github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs)__
|
|
- needed to use the app until [js-ipfs](https://github.com/ipfs/js-ipfs) is ready!
|
|
|
|
__Note:__ until the __IPFS Javascript Implementation__ is done:
|
|
|
|
- the client (a static web application) requires a full IPFS node because it needs to be able to discover content via the IPFS API.
|
|
- the cache server (written in node) requires go-ipfs.
|
|
|
|
### License
|
|
|
|
The MIT License (MIT)
|
|
|
|
Copyright (c) 2015 Enrico Fasoli (fazo96)
|
|
|
|
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
|
|
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
|
|
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
|
|
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
|
|
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
|
|
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
|
|
|
|
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
|
|
copies or substantial portions of the Software.
|
|
|
|
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
|
|
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
|
|
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
|
|
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
|
|
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
|
|
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
|
|
SOFTWARE.
|