README
¶
I3v is a decentralized cloud storage platform that radically alters the landscape of cloud storage. By leveraging smart contracts, client-side encryption, and sophisticated redundancy (via Reed-Solomon codes), I3v allows users to safely store their data with hosts that they do not know or trust. The result is a cloud storage marketplace where hosts compete to offer the best service at the lowest price. And since there is no barrier to entry for hosts, anyone with spare storage capacity can join the network and start making money.
Traditional cloud storage has a number of shortcomings. Users are limited to a few big-name offerings: Google, Microsoft, Amazon. These companies have little incentive to encrypt your data or make it easy to switch services later. Their code is closed-source, and they can lock you out of your account at any time.
We believe that users should own their data. I3v achieves this by replacing the traditional monolithic cloud storage provider with a blockchain and a swarm of hosts, each of which stores an encrypted fragment of your data. Since the fragments are redundant, no single host can hold your data hostage: if they jack up their price or go offline, you can simply download from a different host. In other words, trust is removed from the equation, and switching to a different host is painless. Stripped of these unfair advantages, hosts must compete solely on the quality and price of the storage they provide.
I3v can serve as a replacement for personal backups, bulk archiving, content distribution, and more. For developers, I3v is a low-cost alternative to Amazon S3. Storage on I3v is a full order of magnitude cheaper than on S3, with comparable bandwidth, latency, and durability. I3v works best for static content, especially media like videos, music, and photos.
Distributing data across many hosts automatically confers several advantages. The most obvious is that, just like BitTorrent, uploads and downloads are highly parallel. Given enough hosts, I3v can saturate your bandwidth. Another advantage is that your data is spread across a wide geographic area, reducing latency and safeguarding your data against a range of attacks.
It is important to note that users have full control over which hosts they use. You can tailor your host set for minimum latency, lowest price, widest geographic coverage, or even a strict whitelist of IP addresses or public keys.
At the core of I3v is a blockchain that closely resembles Bitcoin. Transactions are conducted in I3vcoin, a cryptocurrency. The blockchain is what allows I3v to enforce its smart contracts without relying on centralized authority. To acquire i3vcoins, use an exchange such as Binance, Bittrex, Shapeshift, or Poloniex.
To get started with I3v, check out the guides below:
Usage
I3v is ready for use with small sums of money and non-critical files, but until the network has a more proven track record, we advise against using it as a sole means of storing important data.
This release comes with 2 binaries, i3vd and i3vc. i3vd is a background service, or "daemon," that runs the I3v protocol and exposes an HTTP API on port 9980. i3vc is a command-line client that can be used to interact with i3vd in a user-friendly way. There is also a graphical client, I3v-UI, which is the preferred way of using I3v for most users. For interested developers, the i3vd API is documented at i3v.tech/docs.
i3vd and i3vc are run via command prompt. On Windows, you can just double-
click i3vd.exe if you don't need to specify any command-line arguments.
Otherwise, navigate to its containing folder and click File->Open command
prompt. Then, start the i3vd service by entering i3vd and pressing Enter.
The command prompt may appear to freeze; this means i3vd is waiting for
requests. Windows users may see a warning from the Windows Firewall; be sure
to check both boxes ("Private networks" and "Public networks") and click
"Allow access." You can now run i3vc (in a separate command prompt) or I3v-
UI to interact with i3vd. From here, you can send money, upload and download
files, and advertise yourself as a host.
Building From Source
To build from source, Go 1.13 or above must be installed
on the system. Clone the repo and run make:
git clone https://gitlab.com/I3VNetDisk/I3v
cd I3v && make
This will install the i3vd and i3vc binaries in your $GOPATH/bin folder.
(By default, this is $HOME/go/bin.)
You can also run make test and make test-long to run the short and full test
suites, respectively. Finally, make cover will generate code coverage reports
for each package; they are stored in the cover folder and can be viewed in
your browser.
Running I3v on a Raspberry Pi
Official binaries are not provided for the Raspberry Pi, but you can easily
compile them yourself by installing the Go toolchain on your Raspberry Pi.
Alternatively, you can cross-compile by running GOOS=linux GOARCH=arm64 make.
Raspberry Pi compatible binaries will then be installed in
$GOPATH/bin/linux_arm64/.
Directories
¶
| Path | Synopsis |
|---|---|
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analysis
|
|
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jsontag
Package jsontag defines an Analyzer that checks for violations of i3vd json struct tag conventions.
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Package jsontag defines an Analyzer that checks for violations of i3vd json struct tag conventions. |
|
lockcheck
Package lockcheck checks for lock misuse.
|
Package lockcheck checks for lock misuse. |
|
responsewritercheck
Package responsewritercheck checks that HTTP handlers do not pass the http.ResponseWriter to more than one function
|
Package responsewritercheck checks that HTTP handlers do not pass the http.ResponseWriter to more than one function |
|
cmd
|
|
|
Package compatibility contains a bunch of tests to make sure that compatibility has been preserved with previous versions.
|
Package compatibility contains a bunch of tests to make sure that compatibility has been preserved with previous versions. |
|
Package encoding converts arbitrary objects into byte slices, and vis versa.
|
Package encoding converts arbitrary objects into byte slices, and vis versa. |
|
daemon
Package daemon contains tests related to the /daemon endpoints.
|
Package daemon contains tests related to the /daemon endpoints. |
|
Package modules contains definitions for all of the major modules of I3v, as well as some helper functions for performing actions that are common to multiple modules.
|
Package modules contains definitions for all of the major modules of I3v, as well as some helper functions for performing actions that are common to multiple modules. |
|
explorer
Package explorer provides a glimpse into what the I3v network currently looks like.
|
Package explorer provides a glimpse into what the I3v network currently looks like. |
|
gateway
Package gateway connects a I3v node to the I3v flood network.
|
Package gateway connects a I3v node to the I3v flood network. |
|
host
Package host is an implementation of the host module, and is responsible for participating in the storage ecosystem, turning available disk space an internet bandwidth into profit for the user.
|
Package host is an implementation of the host module, and is responsible for participating in the storage ecosystem, turning available disk space an internet bandwidth into profit for the user. |
|
miner
Package miner is responsible for creating and submitting i3vcoin blocks
|
Package miner is responsible for creating and submitting i3vcoin blocks |
|
renter
Package renter is responsible for uploading and downloading files on the i3v network.
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Package renter is responsible for uploading and downloading files on the i3v network. |
|
renter/hostdb
Package hostdb provides a HostDB object that implements the renter.hostDB interface.
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Package hostdb provides a HostDB object that implements the renter.hostDB interface. |
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Package node provides tooling for creating a I3v node.
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Package node provides tooling for creating a I3v node. |
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api/server
Package server provides a server that can wrap a node and serve an http api for interacting with the node.
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Package server provides a server that can wrap a node and serve an http api for interacting with the node. |