{"id":583,"date":"2018-05-08T03:00:16","date_gmt":"2018-05-07T19:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vinta.ws\/code\/?p=583"},"modified":"2026-03-17T01:12:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T17:12:26","slug":"ipfs-the-very-slow-distributed-permanent-web","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vinta.ws\/code\/ipfs-the-very-slow-distributed-permanent-web.html","title":{"rendered":"IPFS: The (Very Slow) Distributed Permanent Web"},"content":{"rendered":"

IPFS stands for InterPlanetary File System, but you could simply consider it as a distributed, permanent, but ridiculously slow, not properly functioning version of web. You could upload any static file and static website to IPFS. And the whole swarm would probably distribute your files to the moon, that might be why IPFS is so fucking slow.<\/p>\n

ref:
\nhttps:\/\/ipfs.io\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Installation<\/h2>\n

Install on macOS.<\/p>\n

$ brew install ipfs<\/code><\/pre>\n
Start your IPFS node.<\/p>\n
$ ipfs init\ninitializing IPFS node at \/Users\/vinta\/.ipfs\ngenerating 2048-bit RSA keypair... done\npeer identity: QmfNy1th16zscbpxe8Q2EQdQkNFn7Y3Rp9kGZWL1EQDyw6\n\n$ ipfs daemon<\/code><\/pre>\n
ref:
\nhttps:\/\/ipfs.io\/docs\/commands\/#ipfs-init<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/ipfs.io\/docs\/commands\/#ipfs-daemon<\/a><\/p>\n
Furthermore, you might want to run your IPFS node in a Docker container.<\/p>\n
# docker-compose.yml\nversion: \"3\"\nservices:\n    ipfs:\n        image: ipfs\/go-ipfs:v0.4.15\n        working_dir: \/export\n        ports:\n            - \"4001:4001\" # Swarm\n            - \"5001:5001\" # web UI\n            - \"8080:8080\" # HTTP proxy\n        volumes:\n            - \"~\/.ipfs:\/data\/ipfs\"\n            - \"~\/.ipfs\/export:\/export\"<\/code><\/pre>\n
ref:
\nhttps:\/\/hub.docker.com\/r\/ipfs\/go-ipfs\/<\/a><\/p>\n
Usage<\/h2>\n
Show Node Info<\/h3>\n
$ ipfs id\n{\n    \"ID\": \"QmfNy1th16zscbpxe8Q2EQdQkNFn7Y3Rp9kGZWL1EQDyw6\",\n    \"PublicKey\": \"A_LONG_LONG_LONG_KEY,\n    \"Addresses\": [\n        \"\/ip4\/127.0.0.1\/tcp\/4001\/ipfs\/QmfNy1th16zscbpxe8Q2EQdQkNFn7Y3Rp9kGZWL1EQDyw6\",\n        \"\/ip4\/172.19.0.2\/tcp\/4001\/ipfs\/QmfNy1th16zscbpxe8Q2EQdQkNFn7Y3Rp9kGZWL1EQDyw6\"\n    ],\n    \"AgentVersion\": \"go-ipfs\/0.4.14\/5db3846\",\n    \"ProtocolVersion\": \"ipfs\/0.1.0\"\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n
ref:
\nhttps:\/\/ipfs.io\/docs\/getting-started\/<\/a><\/p>\n
Add Other Nodes to Your Bootstrap List<\/h3>\n
This one is from Muzeum, https:\/\/muzeum.pro\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n
$ ipfs bootstrap add \/ip4\/52.221.121.238\/tcp\/4001\/ipfs\/QmTKYdZDkqHiY24kPynSmKbmRdk7cJxWsvvfvvvZArQ1N9\n\n# you could also connect to a node directly\n$ ipfs swarm connect \/ip4\/52.221.121.238\/tcp\/4001\/ipfs\/QmTKYdZDkqHiY24kPynSmKbmRdk7cJxWsvvfvvvZArQ1N9<\/code><\/pre>\n
ref:
\nhttps:\/\/ipfs.io\/docs\/commands\/#ipfs-bootstrap<\/a>
\nhttps:\/\/ipfs.io\/docs\/commands\/#ipfs-swarm<\/a><\/p>\n
Add Files to IPFS<\/h3>\n
Every IPFS node's default storage is 10GB<\/code>, and a single node could only store data it needs, which also means each node only stores a small amount of whole data on IPFS. If there is not enough nodes, your data might be distributed to no one except your own node.<\/strong><\/p>\n
Your content is automatically pinned when you ipfs add<\/code> it.<\/p>\n
$ ipfs add -r mysite\nadded QmRticJ3P5fnb9GGnUj3U9XMkYvGEnv9AQfk6YmgRhivYA mysite\/index.html\nadded QmY9cxiHqTFoWamkQVkpmmqzBrY3hCBEL2XNu3NtX74Fuu mysite\/readme.md\nadded QmTLhFgeWLacpbiGNYmhchHGQAhfNyDZcLt5akJFFLV89V mysite<\/code><\/pre>\n
If files\/folders under the folder change, the hash of the folder changes too.<\/p>\n
$ vim mysite\/index.html\n$ ipfs add -r mysite\nadded QmQTTe3deLfeULKjPHnQTcyFuCmY5JZiwSTiPT4nSt1KVK mysite\/index.html # changed\nadded QmS85tb3aKQNurFm51FaxtK6NyNei4ej3gDR21baDZXRoU mysite            # changed<\/code><\/pre>\n
ref:
\nhttps:\/\/ipfs.io\/docs\/commands\/#ipfs-add<\/a><\/p>\n
Pin Files from IPFS<\/h3>\n
Pinning means storing IPFS files on local node, and prevent them from getting garbage collected. Also, you could access them much more quickly. You only need to do ipfs pin add<\/code> to pin contents someone else uploaded.<\/p>\n
$ ipfs pin add -r --progress \/ipns\/ipfs.soundscape.net\/\n\n$ ipfs pin add --progress \/ipns\/ipfs.soundscape.net\/music_group\/index.json\npinned QmZwTEhdjT4MyvEnWndVEJzBjp8zGGZH1cEBpshBQs75rY recursively\n\n$ ipfs pin add --progress \/ipns\/ipfs.soundscape.net\/music_album\/index.json\npinned QmSAuGU5xt5SdR2ca2EDgeHFATSrAQhTfTYpYs9K9qmqED recursively\n\n$ ipfs pin add --progress \/ipns\/ipfs.soundscape.net\/music_recording\/index.json\npinned QmcTiadA9jRMXx77tydPa6492QJAtjXkKkA4gERaFksy94 recursively\n\n$ ipfs pin add --progress \/ipns\/ipfs.soundscape.net\/music_composition\/index.json\npinned QmTfqVaGVRnaPRQgYypGYXUvTK1UcDfK5VWYvU4rwK3m26 recursively<\/code><\/pre>\n
P.S. Sometimes when I ipfs pin add<\/code> a file which is not on my node, the command just hangs there. I'm not sure why that once I access the file first (through curl<\/code> or any browser), then ipfs pin add<\/code> works fine. But it does not make sense: if I already get\/access\/download the file, I could just ipfs add<\/code> the file and it would be automatically pinned.<\/p>\n
ref:
\nhttps:\/\/ipfs.io\/docs\/commands\/#ipfs-pin<\/a><\/p>\n
Get Files<\/h3>\n
You have several ways to get files or folders from IPFS:<\/p>\n