net-ipfs-core

The core objects and interfaces of the IPFS (Inter Planetary File System) for .Net (C#, VB, F# etc.)

The interplanetary file system is the permanent web. It is a new hypermedia distribution protocol, addressed by content and identities. IPFS enables the creation of completely distributed applications. It aims to make the web faster, safer, and more open.

This library supports .NET Standard 2.0.

Install

Published releases are available on NuGet. To install, run the following command in the Package Manager Console.

PM> Install-Package IpfsShipyard.Ipfs.Core

Or using dotnet

> dotnet add package IpfsShipyard.Ipfs.Core

Major objects

• MerkleDag
• MultiAddress
• MultiHash

See the API Documentation for a list of all objects.

MultiHash

All hashes in IPFS are encoded with multihash, a self-describing hash format. The actual hash function used depends on security requirements. The cryptosystem of IPFS is upgradeable, meaning that as hash functions are broken, networks can shift to stronger hashes. There is no free lunch, as objects may need to be rehashed, or links duplicated. But ensuring that tools built do not assume a pre-defined length of hash digest means tools that work with today's hash functions will also work with tomorrows longer hash functions too.

MultiAddress

A standard way to represent a networks address that supports multiple network protocols. It is represented as a series of tuples, a protocol code and an optional value. For example, an IPFS file at a sepcific address over ipv4 and tcp is

/ip4/10.1.10.10/tcp/80/ipfs/QmVcSqVEsvm5RR9mBLjwpb2XjFVn5bPdPL69mL8PH45pPC

Merkle DAG

The DagNode is a directed acyclic graph whose edges are a DagLink. This means that links to objects can authenticate the objects themselves, and that every object contains a secure representation of its children.

Every Merkle is a directed acyclic graph (DAG) because each node is accessed via its name (the hash of DagNode). Each branch of Merkle is the hash of its local content (data and links); naming children by their hash instead of their full contents. So after creation there is no way to edit a DagNode. This prevents cycles (assuming there are no hash collisions) since one can not link the first created node to the last note to create the last reference.

Related Projects

• IPFS HTTP Client - A .Net client library for the IPFS HTTP API.

License

The IPFS Core library is licensed under the MIT license. Refer to the LICENSE file for more information.