Reading some articles about #decentraziled #storage so that I can better grasp what would fit as a backend for #peertube; hopefully something interesting will come out as I dump them in this thread :)
Expect some #ipfs #dat along the way.
ping @Chocobozzz
As any video streaming platform, PeerTube suffers from video size vs storage available on the host. Offloading storage can be done on the host level, or like here on the application level with a notable advantage: we can let users deal with their storage independently from the instance. The cost is then independent of PeerTube, and the raw reference is not tied to the instance anymore.
Back to #ipfs vs #dat, there is at the moment (not fixed since it's not tied to how the protocol functions) a notable difference in the services available for each to provide the hosting services. The #ipfs world seems to cherish blockchains:
- #IPFSstore using the Steem blockchain to pay file pinning on #ipfs by a third party. (atm 0.044 USD/Gigabyte per month)
- #FileCoin using the FileCoin blockchain as an auction platform to pay file pinning by miners. (an official projects of the developpers of #ipfs)
The #dat world for now uses less distributed approaches, where you pay an intermediary like hashbase.io (its code is open and deliberately aimed at making you self-host your own broker service, here https://github.com/beakerbrowser/hashbase)
I stress the fact that both #ipfs and #dat could develop (non)blockchain alternatives to provide such hosting/pinning services. It's probably just culture within their respective communities.
side note: There is an impact of using blockchain services like #FileCoin to auction storage, however. https://medium.com/blue-link-labs/in-response-to-is-decentralized-storage-sustainable-a5f797e7d1f0 (which was written in response to https://blog.dshr.org/2017/07/is-decentralized-storage-sustainable.html)
There is also a smaller contender, MaidSafe, but it's even more alpha and doesn't focus on storage only but also on computing resource distribution.
But now is maybe the time to say I am not so fond of blockchains. They are trying to solve complex problems in the realm of *distributed* storage. We only care about *decentralizing*, potentially via federation too. There is also a continued track of centralization on blockchains driven by private entities, which undermines the governance of distribution.
@rigelk @Chocobozzz any idea if Wasabi can be used for storage?
@Chocobozzz @rigelk OK, thanks.
How about through s3fs?
@cheesegrits @rigelk if it's a classic directory on the fs, it should work. Feedbacks welcome!
@Chocobozzz @cheesegrits sounds like https://github.com/kahing/catfs + https://github.com/kahing/goofys/ could yield better performance to access s3 backends.
"Entire file is cached if it's open for read, even if nothing is actually read."
Might be an issue with catfs on large video files?
A nice comparison of #ipfs and #dat from 6 months ago: https://macwright.org/2017/08/09/decentralize-ipfs.html
Focusing on storage, both seem to provide ways to store files on the long term. Basically you pay third parties to store your files for a given period of time, instead of just for the time users stream your video.