InterPlanetary File System
Original author(s)Juan Benet and Protocol Labs[1]
Developer(s)Protocol Labs
Initial releaseFebruary 2015; 9 years ago (2015-02)[1]
Stable release
0.4.22 / 13 August 2019; 4 years ago (2019-08-13)
Repositorygithub.com/ipfs/ipfs
Written inProtocol implementations: Go (reference implementation), JavaScript, C,[2] Python
Client libraries: Go, Java, JavaScript, Python, Scala, Haskell, Swift, Common Lisp, Rust, Ruby, PHP, C#, Erlang
Operating systemFreeBSD, Linux, macOS, Windows
Available inGo, JavaScript, Python
TypeProtocol, distributed file system, content delivery network
LicenseMIT license, Apache license 2.0
Websiteipfs.io
Part of a series on
File sharing
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The InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) is a protocol and peer-to-peer network for storing and sharing hypermedia in a distributed file system. IPFS uses content-addressing to uniquely identify each file in a global namespace connecting all computing devices.[3] With content-addressing, files "can be decoupled from origin servers, and instead, can be stored permanently. This means content can be stored and served very close to the user, perhaps even from a computer in the same room. Content-addressing allows us to verify the data too, because other hosts may be untrusted. And once the user’s device has the content, it can be cached indefinitely."[1]

Similar to a torrent, IPFS allows users to not only receive but host content. As opposed to a centrally located server, IPFS is built around a decentralized system of user-operators who hold a portion of the overall data, creating a resilient system of file storage and sharing. Any user in the network can serve a file by its content address, and other peers in the network can find and request that content from any node who has it using a Distributed hash table (DHT).

IPFS was launched in an alpha version in February 2015, and by October of the same year was described as "quickly spreading by word of mouth."[1]

In 2019 the project has been criticized for being "still not usable for websites" in spite of attracting huge investments and creating an "overextended, under-documented, and unfinished constellation of projects".[4]

The Wikipedia logo has an IPFS hash with the following code: QmRW3V9znzFW9M5FYbitSEvd5dQrPWGvPvgQD6LM22Tv8D. It can be accessed with that hash over HTTP by a public gateway or a local IPFS instance

Notable users

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Case, Amber (4 October 2015). "Why The Internet Needs IPFS Before It's Too Late". TechCrunch. Retrieved 16 July 2019. ((cite web)): Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  2. ^ Agorise (23 October 2017). "c-ipfs: IPFS implementation in C. Why C? Think Bitshares' Stealth backups, OpenWrt routers (decentralize the internet/meshnet!), Android TV, decentralized Media, decentralized websites, decent." Github.com. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  3. ^ Finley, Klint (20 June 2016). "The Inventors of the Internet Are Trying to Build a Truly Permanent Web". Wired.
  4. ^ MacWright, Tom. "IPFS, Again". macwright.org. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  5. ^ Balcell, Marta Poblet (5 October 2017). "Inside Catalonia's cypherpunk referendum". Eureka Street.
  6. ^ Hill, Paul (30 September 2017). "Catalan referendum app removed from Google Play Store". Neowin. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  7. ^ Dale, Brady (10 May 2017). "Turkey Can't Block This Copy of Wikipedia". Observer Media. Archived from the original on 18 October 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  8. ^ Johnson, Steven (16 January 2018). "Beyond the Bitcoin Bubble". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 September 2018.

External links

File systems
Peer-to-peer file sharing
Internet censorship circumvention technologies
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