Fetch and publish JavaScript modules from/to IPFS
JavaScript version of https://github.com/whyrusleeping/gx-go
Instead of fetching modules to a third-party, you can actually really simple host your own modules or ask other nodes to help rehost your modules.
Fetching the modules from IPFS rather than a centralized registry brings many benefits to the ecosystem.
- Low cost hosting
- Easy replication and easy to setup private mirrors
- Everyone can host packages
- Caching can happen locally, in the local network or in a private network, because of the P2P nature of IPFS.
For more information about GX itself, please check out the readme in https://github.com/whyrusleeping/gx
- NodeJS (5.11.1 or later)
- npm (3.10.3 or later)
- IPFS (0.4.2 or later) (https://ipfs.io)
- gx (0.8.0 or later) (https://github.com/whyrusleeping/gx)
npm install -g gx-js
- First, setup your project to use gx-js with gx
gx init --lang js
- Import the package you want to use, we'll use a test library called "gx-lib-a"
gx import Qmd4bNLqHGxRgZhp6jrkisNCffDU3SwSd3XWj7ukendco2
- Now you should have a
node_modules/directory with two directories inside it. It should look something like this:
node_modules
├── gx
│ └── ipfs
│ └── Qmd4bNLqHGxRgZhp6jrkisNCffDU3SwSd3XWj7ukendco2
│ └── gx-lib-a
│ ├── index.js
│ └── package.json
└── gx-lib-a -> /home/user/projects/victorbjelkholm/gx-root-package/node_modules/gx/ipfs/Qmd4bNLqHGxRgZhp6jrkisNCffDU3SwSd3XWj7ukendco2/gx-lib-a
5 directories, 2 files
Now you can import from two paths, the first being much more secure but much more tearse. If you're dealing with multiple versions of the same library, you probably want to use the first way as well.
- Require from
gx/ipfs, using the full path
const libAFromGX = require('gx/ipfs/Qmd4bNLqHGxRgZhp6jrkisNCffDU3SwSd3XWj7ukendco2/gx-lib-a')
console.log(libAFromGX)
- Require by using the module name only (might not work if multiple packages use the same name)
const libA = require('gx-lib-a')
console.log(libA)
To publish modules, you will need to run a IPFS node locally, then you can
just run gx publish and you get a hash that you can import in other projects.
Currently, there is no handy mechanism for discovering modules. If you're a module publisher, you could include the version hash in the git tag or Github Release.
MIT 2016 (Victor Bjelkholm)