Spacedrive logo

Spacedrive

DevelopersP2pProtocols
P2p

Protocols

Ping

Implementation

We have the implementation of a basic ping protocol. This is not actually used within Spacedrive but acts a reference for implementing a new protocol.

Spacedrop

Implementation

Spacedrop is a system for sending files quickly to other peers. It is intended for sending to peers that have not been paired into the library. It is great for sending a file to a friend on your same network running Spacedrive but you can use the regular file manager for sharing a file without another node in your library.

This protocol works but some of the following are missing features:

  • Pause/resumable transfers
  • Transfer a folder - ENG-1297
  • Usage with sd-server will result in bugs if you have multiple web clients - ENG-1034 and ENG-1522

The following are known bugs:

rspc

Implementation

This protocol was an experiment to expose the rspc router of a node over P2P. Although it works this is a security nightmare so it has been disabled by default and hidden behind the wipP2P feature flag.

How to test this feature:

  • Enable the wipP2P feature flag
  • Enable the feature within the network page of settings
  • Ensure "Enable remote acccess" is enabled on both nodes
  • Click the "rspc remote" button on the node you want to connect to.
  • If the connection fails you will be presented with a white screen, otherwise you will be given a library selection and once seleted you will be given Spacedrive UI running on the remote node.

Major problems with this feature:

  • This protocol doesn't have any security (hence it being disabled by default). It's also a nightmare to secure as it's full access (including to do filesystem actions) or no access. - ENG-1646
  • The rspc websocket connection established over the P2P system is leaked so it will never be cleaned up. Fixing this would require changes to rspc. - ENG-1647
  • Any usage of rspc outside the React context will still be using the local node's rspc router. We don't do this often but we definitely do it. - ENG-1648

From my (oscartbeaumont's) perspective this was a cool experiment but not something we should ship because getting it's nightmare to get security right.

Sync

Unimplemented

In an earlier version of the P2P system we had a method for sending sync messages to other nodes over the peer to peer connection, however this was removed during some refactoring of the sync system.

The code for it could be taken from here and upgraded to account for changes to the sync and P2P system to bring back this functionality.

Loading remote files

TODO - Loading file within location over P2P

Sync preview media

https://linear.app/spacedriveapp/issue/ENG-910/sync-preview-media

Edit this page on GitHub