Re: IPFS trouble

[Hector Sanjuan]

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
On Tuesday, December 18, 2018 2:07 PM, Laura Lazzati <address@hidden> wrote:

> On Tue, Dec 18, 2018 at 10:00 AM Björn Höfling
> address@hidden wrote:
>
> > Hi Laura,
> > I'm sending this also to guix-devel [and sorry for the previous, empty,
> > private mail, I was too fast on the sending button].
> > Note: I'm also new to IPFS, so I hope everything is correct here, if
> > someone knows better, please reply.
> > On Tue, 18 Dec 2018 00:04:56 -0300
> > Laura Lazzati address@hidden wrote:
> >
> > > > A good guide is:
> > > > https://medium.com/textileio/the-definitive-guide-to-publishing-content-on-ipfs-ipns-dfe751f1e8d0.
> >
> > > Sorry, I read the documentation, but I am mixed up.
> > > I have my peer identity, and my /ipfs/hash...
> > > And I find confusing several things:
> > > If I run ipfs add myfile, using my command line, I cannot find myfile
> > > in my node. even the add command returns a hash for that file I guess.
> > > And if I run ipfs ls or cat that hash, the file is shown.
> >
> > I don't get what you mean with "I cannot find my file". Where are you
> > looking for it?
> >
> > > I found useful for instance the webui, but when running ipfs add, my
> > > files don't appear there if I open it and the other way around either:
> > > the files are there if I upload them in the webui, and they have a
> > > hash. I can copy the hash from the webui, but it doesn't work if I run
> > > ipfs ls on that hash. And the files added with ipfs add myfile do not
> > > appear in the webui. The webui however has an option to share your
> > > file, I don't know if that is useful.
> >
> > You have in IPFS file-objects and directory-objects. The command 'ipfs
> > ls' is for listing the contents of directory-objects (i.e. list the
> > files in that directory). If you use it on file-objects (that exit in
> > the store), the command just returns with no output.
> > This works for me:
> > I have the daemon down, i.e. no 'ipfs daemon' started.
> > Then I can still add things to my local IPFS-store:
> >
> >     mkdir baz
> >     echo "foo" > baz/foo.txt
> >     echo "bar" > baz/bar.txt
> >     echo "Hello World, now it is $(date -u -Ins)" > baz/hello.txt
> >     cat baz/hello.txt
> >
> >     Hello World, now it is 2018-12-18T12:08:57,304514914+00:00
> >
> >
> >     ipfs add -r baz/
> >     added QmTz3oc4gdpRMKP2sdGUPZTAGRngqjsi99BPoztyP53JMM baz/bar.txt
> >     added QmYNmQKp6SuaVrpgWRsPTgCQCnpxUYGq76YEKBXuj2N4H6 baz/foo.txt
> >     added QmXXZWRsLhFAHNWW6tH4TJVB2UiUPsUX8TZhYavqTne6RH baz/hello.txt
> >     added QmZ9iMU1iKRpAs7dR7XTLGaYtkcYFn6EiMXRhqpk5jaeNg baz
> >      67 B / 67 B
> >     [=========================================================] 100.00%
> >
> >
> >     Now I can open the web-browser:
> >
> >     localhost:9090/ipfs/QmYNmQKp6SuaVrpgWRsPTgCQCnpxUYGq76YEKBXuj2N4H6
> >
> >     --> (Note:I changed my port from default 8080 to 9090, on 8080 is
> >     already something listening) Unable to connect, I don't have the daemon
> >     up yet.
> >
> >     https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmYNmQKp6SuaVrpgWRsPTgCQCnpxUYGq76YEKBXuj2N4H6
> >
> >     --> Shows "foo", as this Hash is already uploaded in the global network
> >     by someone else.
> >
> >     https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmZ9iMU1iKRpAs7dR7XTLGaYtkcYFn6EiMXRhqpk5jaeNg
> >
> >     --> That is with the hash of the directory. Times out, this is not found
> >     on the global network.
> >
> >
> >     Starting daemon:
> >
> >     ipfs daemon
> >
> >     Browser:
> >
> >     localhost:5001/webui
> >
> >     Redirects:
> >
> >     
> > http://localhost:5001/ipfs/QmSDgpiHco5yXdyVTfhKxr3aiJ82ynz8V14QcGKicM3rVh/#/
> >
> >     Entering hash of "foo" in the "Explore" tab:
> >
> >     QmYNmQKp6SuaVrpgWRsPTgCQCnpxUYGq76YEKBXuj2N4H6
> >
> >     Finds it, I can view it.
> >
> >     Entering hash of "baz" directory:
> >
> >     
> > http://localhost:9090/ipfs/QmZ9iMU1iKRpAs7dR7XTLGaYtkcYFn6EiMXRhqpk5jaeNg
> >
> >     Yes, it lists the directory.
> >
> >     Globally available:
> >
> >     https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmZ9iMU1iKRpAs7dR7XTLGaYtkcYFn6EiMXRhqpk5jaeNg
> >
> >     I can see the directory structure. And I can see the files foo.txt,
> >     bar.txt and hello.txt listed:
> >     
> > https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmZ9iMU1iKRpAs7dR7XTLGaYtkcYFn6EiMXRhqpk5jaeNg/bar.txt
> >
> >
> >     But, the "hello.txt" takes its time to download, until now I still
> >     don't see it:
> >
> >     
> > https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmZ9iMU1iKRpAs7dR7XTLGaYtkcYFn6EiMXRhqpk5jaeNg/hello.txt
> >
> >     Probably that's because it first needs to search the network and find
> >     my little local host for that file. Hm. Strange.
> >
> >     Ah, after 5 minutes, it's there! Maybe that's also your problem?
> >
> >     Going to my server, daemon is down by default:
> >
> >     myserver$ ipfs ls QmYNmQKp6SuaVrpgWRsPTgCQCnpxUYGq76YEKBXuj2N4H6
> >     Error: merkledag: not found
> >
> >     myserver$ echo "foo" > foo.txt
> >     myserver$ ipfs add foo.txt
> >     added QmYNmQKp6SuaVrpgWRsPTgCQCnpxUYGq76YEKBXuj2N4H6 foo.txt
> >      4 B / 4 B
> >     [===========================================================] 100.00%
> >     myserver$ ipfs ls QmYNmQKp6SuaVrpgWRsPTgCQCnpxUYGq76YEKBXuj2N4H6
> >     myserver$
> >
> >     (i.e., no error, no output)
> >
> >
> >
> >     myserver$ ipfs daemon &
> >
> >     Looking for the directory:
> >
> >     myserver$ ipfs ls QmZ9iMU1iKRpAs7dR7XTLGaYtkcYFn6EiMXRhqpk5jaeNg
> >     [Waiting 3 minutes nothing happens, then:]
> >     QmTz3oc4gdpRMKP2sdGUPZTAGRngqjsi99BPoztyP53JMM 12 bar.txt
> >     QmYNmQKp6SuaVrpgWRsPTgCQCnpxUYGq76YEKBXuj2N4H6 12 foo.txt
> >     QmXXZWRsLhFAHNWW6tH4TJVB2UiUPsUX8TZhYavqTne6RH 67 hello.txt
> >
> >     myserver$ ipfs cat
> >     QmZ9iMU1iKRpAs7dR7XTLGaYtkcYFn6EiMXRhqpk5jaeNg/hello.txt Hello World,
> >     now it is 2018-12-18T12:08:57,304514914+00:00
> >
> >     (instantly!)
> >
> >     Hope this helps a bit,
> >
> >     Björn
> >
>
> Thank you! I will try it. I felt really silly for spending too much
> time on that. I just want to share my videos so that you can see how
> they are, even they are videos for trying out the video/translation
> tools. BTW, I edited the libreplanet site, changing some stuff about
> the commands that I faced, and adding comments about why I did so.
> I am not running the daemon in background, since I don't mind having a
> terminal open. I will write back to let you know if it your steps work
> for me :)
>
> Thank you!
>
> Regards,
> Laura


Hi! I just joined this list today after meeting Guix people in Paris and my 
topic comes up :)

It is not quite obvious that once you add a files to ipfs the standard way to 
list them is `ipfs pin ls` (`add` automatically pins), and that you only get 
hashes as the names of the folder/file is lost (unless you wrap it in another 
folder).

One way around this is to use the `ipfs files` commands, which interact with 
something we call mfs (memory file system). I think the web UI uses this. This 
is basically allowing you to interact with IPFS as if it was a regular folder 
with contents.

For example, you can add your file with `ipfs files write -e /myfile.txt 
myfile.txt` (or `cat myfile.txt | ipfs files write -e /myfile.txt`). Then you 
will see it with `ipfs files ls /`. You can create folders (`ipfs files mkdir 
/abc`) and move things around like in a normal filesystem. Finally, if you want 
to get the hash of the file, or the folder, in order to share it, you can run
`ipfs files stat <path>` to get it (note that it will change if you modify 
anything in that folder or file).

The `ipfs files --help` (also for any subcommands) gives more details about all 
this. Remember to run `ipfs files flush` to store persist your MFS filesystem 
on disk.


Cheers,

Hector