Freechains: Peer-to-peer Content Dissemination

• Local-first publish-subscribe topic-based model
• Unstructured peer-to-peer gossip dissemination
• Happened-before best-effort partial order
• Per-topic reputation system for healthiness
• Multiple flavors of public and private communication (1->N, 1<-N, N<->N, 1<-)
• Free in all senses

(In bold we highlight what we believe is particular to Freechains.)

A user posts a message to a chain (a topic) and all other users subscribed to the same chain eventually receive the message. Users spend their reputation to post new messages and gain reputation from consolidated posts. Users can like and dislike messages from other users, which transfer reputation between them.

• Other systems: comparison with other systems
• Commands: list of all protocol commands
• Main concepts:
  • Block: unit of information (aka post or message)
  • Chain: list of blocks (aka topic or feed]
  • Reps: reputation system of chains
• Google group: discussion group about Freechains
• Resources: publicly available chains, identities and peers
• Source code:
  • Common: common files
  • Host: host daemon
  • CLI: command-line interface
  • Tests: self tests
• Tools:
  • Store: interprets a chain as a dataset
  • Sync: persist and replicate peers and chains of interest
  • Android dashboard: manage/navigate your peers/chains
  • E-mail client: communicate through an e-mail client (very hacky, abandoned?)
• Introductory videos: 1/3 | 2/3 | 3/3

Install

First, you need to install java and libsodium:

$ sudo apt install default-jre libsodium23

Then, you are ready to install freechains:

$ wget https://github.com/Freechains/README/releases/download/v0.7.9/install-v0.7.9.sh

# choose one:
$ sh install-v0.7.9.sh .                    # either unzip to current directory (must be in the PATH)
$ sudo sh install-v0.7.9.sh /usr/local/bin  # or     unzip to system  directory

Basics

The basic API of Freechains is very straightforward:

• freechains-host start ...: starts the local peer to serve requests (execute on every restart)
• freechains crypto ...: creates a cryptographic identity
• freechains chains join ...: joins a chain locally to post and read content
• freechains chain post ...: posts to a chain locally
• freechains chain get ...: reads a post locally
• freechains chain traverse ...: iterates over (discovers) local posts
• freechains peer send/recv ...: synchronizes a local chain with a remote peer

Follows a step-by-step execution:

• Start host:

$ freechains-host start /tmp/myhost

• Switch to another terminal.

• Join the #chat chain:

$ freechains chains join "#chat"

• Create an identity:

$ freechains crypto pubpvt "My very strong passphrase"  # returns public private keys
EB172ED6C782145B8D4FD043252206192C302E164C0BD16D49EB9D36D5188070 96700ACD1128035FFEF5DC264DF87D5FEE45FF15E2A880708AE40675C9AD039EEB172ED6C782145B8D4FD043252206192C302E164C0BD16D49EB9D36D5188070

• Post some content:

$ freechains chain "#chat" post inline "Hello World!" --sign=96700A... # key above
$ freechains chain "#chat" post inline "I am here!"   --sign=96700A... # key above

• Communicate with other peers:
  • Start another freechains host.
  • Join the "#chat" chain.
  • Synchronize with the first host.

$ freechains-host start /tmp/othost 8331
# switch to another terminal
$ freechains --host=localhost:8331 chains join "#chat"
$ freechains --host=localhost:8330 peer localhost:8331 send "#chat"

The last command sends all new posts from 8330 to 8331, which can then be traversed as follows:

• Identify the predefined "genesis" post of "#chat".
• Acquire it to see what comes next.
• Iterate over its fronts posts recursively.

$ freechains --host=localhost:8331 chain "#chat" genesis
0_A80B5390F7CF66A8781F42AEB68912F2745FC026A71885D7A3CB70AB81764FB2
$ freechains --host=localhost:8331 chain "#chat" get block 0_A80B5390F7CF66A8781F42AEB68912F2745FC026A71885D7A3CB70AB81764FB2
{
    ...
    "fronts": [
        "1_1D5D2B146B49AF22F7E738778F08E678D48C6DAAF84AF4128A17D058B6F0D852"
    ],
    ...
}
$ freechains --host=localhost:8331 chain "#chat" get block 1_1D5D2B146B49AF22F7E738778F08E678D48C6DAAF84AF4128A17D058B6F0D852
{
    "immut": {
        ...
        "backs": [
            "0_A80B5390F7CF66A8781F42AEB68912F2745FC026A71885D7A3CB70AB81764FB2"
        ]
    },
    "fronts": [
        "2_DFDC784B4609F16F4487163CAC531A9FE6A0C588DA39D597769DA279AB53C862"
    ],
    ...
}
$ freechains --host=localhost:8331 chain "#chat" get payload 1_1D5D2B146B49AF22F7E738778F08E678D48C6DAAF84AF4128A17D058B6F0D852
Hello World!