• jamesravey@lemmy.nopro.be
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    I think IPFS often unfairly gets lumped in with crypto bro shite but it seems to me like a pretty useful technology in many other contexts too.

    • dan@upvote.au
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Sorry if this is a dumb question but what does IPFS do that torrents can’t do?

      • Something Burger 🍔@beehaw.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        Torrents identify groups of files, and different torrents with the same files will have different hashes and clients will download them from different peers, split across different trackers. IPFS identifies unique files, and all copies of the same files are available to all clients.

        • dan@upvote.au
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Thanks. That makes sense. I wonder why torrents couldn’t be somehow adapted for this use case though. They’re way more widespread than IPFS.

          • Something Burger 🍔@beehaw.org
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            I suppose they could with a protocol revision but then we’d end up with another IPFS. Older torrents would still need to work the old way, so instead of torrents and IPFS, there would be old torrents, new torrents, and IPFS, further fragmenting access to files.

            • dan@upvote.au
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              Ah yeah, good catch. I think I have to learn about IPFS and how to use it :)