50 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
50 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
# LBRYnet
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LBRYnet is a fully decentralized network for distributing data. It consists of peers uploading
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and downloading data from other peers, possibly in exchange for payments, and a distributed hash
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table, used by peers to discover other peers.
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## Overview
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On LBRYnet, data is broken into chunks, and each chunk is specified by its sha384 hash sum. This
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guarantees that peers can verify the correctness of each chunk without having to know anything
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about its contents, and can confidently re-transmit the chunk to other peers. Peers wishing to
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transmit chunks to other peers announce to the distributed hash table that they are associated
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with the sha384 hash sum in question. When a peer wants to download that chunk from the network,
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it asks the distributed hash table which peers are associated with that sha384 hash sum. The
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distributed hash table can also be used more generally. It simply stores IP addresses and
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ports which are associated with 384-bit numbers, and can be used by any type of application to
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help peers find each other. For example, an application for which clients don't know all of the
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necessary chunks may use some identifier, chosen by the application, to find clients which do
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know all of the necessary chunks.
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## Running
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LBRYnet comes with an file sharing application, called 'lbrynet-console', which breaks
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files into chunks, encrypts them with a symmetric key, computes their sha384 hash sum, generates
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a special file called a 'stream descriptor' containing the hash sums and some other file metadata,
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and makes the chunks available for download by other peers. A peer wishing to download the file
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must first obtain the 'stream descriptor' and then may open it with his 'lbrynet-console' client,
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download all of the chunks by locating peers with the chunks via the DHT, and then combine the
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chunks into the original file, according to the metadata included in the 'stream descriptor'.
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To install and use this client, see INSTALL and RUNNING
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## Installation
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See INSTALL
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## Developers
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Documentation: doc.lbry.io
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Source code: trac.lbry.io/browser
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To contribute to the development of LBRYnet or lbrynet-console, contact jimmy@lbry.io
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## Support
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Send all support requests to jimmy@lbry.io
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## License
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See LICENSE
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