InterPlanetary File System is a protocol and network designed to create a content-addressable, peer-to-peer method of storing and sharing hypermedia in a distributed file system. IPFS was initially designed by Juan Benet, and is now an open-source project developed with help from the community.
IPFS is a peer-to-peer distributed file system that seeks to connect all computing devices with the same system of files. In some ways, IPFS is similar to the World Wide Web.
Ok that's a mouthful but IPFS is basically just a single BitTorrent swarm.
How do I use it?
IPFS is primarily used via the command line or WebUI. However MagnetGames finds the easiest way to use IPFS on Windows is by using a 3rd party desktop client.
We recommend using the software IPFS Desktop by hacdias on GitHub.
IPFS Desktop makes the user experience a lot easier due to the use of a GUI interface instead of a command line interface.
Once installed, the IPFS Desktop interface can be opened via the Windows Tray.
From here, you'll be able to see which peers you are connected to through the IPFS network, upload files/directories, open the WebUI and configure settings.
Uploading files/directories to the IPFS network
Uploading files to the IPFS network in IPFS Desktop is as easy as clicking the Files tab and clicking away!
It's important to know however, IPFS does NOT retain filenames unless it's from a directory.
When you're ready to share a link, hover over the uploaded file and click the picture of the "Clipboard".
You will get something like this copied to your clipboard:
https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmbXjoHEL1BisbXmcUwkySKvcxrPBy5Y8jCgSwzUB8GphY
The part in bold is the IPFS Hash itself, hashes can be downloaded via the WebUI or more commonly by the http://ipfs.io/ipfs/ links.
Using the WebUI
You can access the IPFS WebUI by clicking on the Info tab, scrolling to the bottom and clicking on the "Open WebUI" button.
You can also use "Stop Daemon" to stop running IPFS itself, which will give you an option to quit IPFS Desktop.
After clicking on "Open WebUI", a browser window should open in your default browser.
On here, you can upload files/directories the same way as IPFS Desktop. You can additionally enter hashes on the bar on the top.
Sharing IPFS Hashes to MagnetGames
You can simply just use URL BBCode tags for these if it uses the ipfs.io link, or just put the actual hash in a CODE BBCode.
Should I use IPFS? Is it better than Magnet Links?
Probably not, ever since IPFS has been out, most links that are uploaded to the network die not long after.
I personally think part of the reason is that it's not user friendly at all unless you depend on obscure 3rd party clients for it.
Which pretty much makes it dead right out of the box.
When we were upgrading the original MagnetGames V1.0 site over to these forums, we found every single IPFS hash link posted was no longer working.