Current state of WebRTC

[youngjoon-lee]

Hi all,

I’m trying to test the connectivity of rust-libp2p for:

• standalone <> standalone
• standalone <> browser
• browser <> browser
  After studying some materials from libp2p.io and after struggling with WebSocket transport (libp2p-websys-transport), I’m considering using WebRTC transport implemented in rust-libp2p.

I would like to ask if the current state of WebRTC in rust-libp2p supports those connectivities. From ROADMAP.md, it seems that only browser-to-server is supported currently, even if I use a relay server as described in https://docs.libp2p.io/concepts/transports/webrtc/.

Also, I’d like to ask if I can start from these examples:

• https://github.com/libp2p/rust-libp2p/tree/master/examples/relay-server
• https://github.com/libp2p/rust-libp2p/blob/master/transports/webrtc/examples/listen_ping.rs
  It would be helpful if there is any example for Wasm with WebRTC.

Thank you

[youngjoon-lee]

@thomaseizinger It seems that only WebRTC server-side has been completed by #2622. As I understand, the WebRTC client-side is going to be implemented after resolving the WASM improvement roadmap. Did I understand it correctly?

https://github.com/libp2p/rust-libp2p/blob/master/ROADMAP.md#webrtc-support-browser-to-server

We are currently implementing WebRTC for browser-to-server connectivity in #2622. More specifically the server side. This will enable browser nodes to connect to rust-libp2p nodes where the latter only have self-signed TLS certificates. See libp2p/specs#412 for in-depth motivation.

Long term we should enable rust-libp2p running in the browser via Wasm to use the browser's WebRTC stack. Though that should only happen after improved Wasm support, see below.

When I use js-libp2p for the client side, it worked well with the rust-libp2p server. If the WASM side of WebRTC is not completed yet as above, I’ll use js-libp2p for now.

Thank you.

[youngjoon-lee]

I just posted a blog post about my rust-libp2p connectivity tests.

https://oudwud.dev/posts/2305042345-exploring-rust-libp2p/

I’ll keep updating this post once I find something new. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

[p-shahi]

@youngjoon-lee So we've recently built an application that claims universal-connectivity i.e. showcases all the ways different libp2p implementations can connect with one another with their supported transports.
In this example, we connect rust-libp2p to a browser js-libp2p node using webrtc-direct and establish browser to server connectivity
We also establish QUIC connections between go-libp2p and rust-libp2p

The rust-libp2p node also acts as a Circuity Relay v2 Node and helps facilitate browser js-libp2p nodes to establish direct connections with other browser nodes using the webrtc (private to private) transport

Here is the app: https://github.com/libp2p/universal-connectivity
We are currently in the progress of writing a tutorial for this

There's no Wasm involved in this example

[youngjoon-lee]

Awesome! Thank you. I’ll try to run it.
It would be great if many users like me can find this example quickly from anywhere :)

[p-shahi]

Cool, please raise an issue in that repo if you have any trouble!

It would be great if many users like me can find this example quickly from anywhere :)

I sympathize with you, will work to make sure it's easily discoverable

[thomaseizinger]

We will soon have a WebTransport implementation for WASM environments: #4015

It should serve as a good blueprint in case somebody wants to attempt implementing WebRTC for WASM.

[youngjoon-lee]

👍 I have been keeping tracking of that issue. Happy to hear that it can be merged soon.

It should serve as a good blueprint in case somebody wants to attempt implementing WebRTC for WASM.

If this topic is in your backlog and if anyone in the team is not gonna take it, I can try to implement it.

[thomaseizinger]

It should serve as a good blueprint in case somebody wants to attempt implementing WebRTC for WASM.

If this topic is in your backlog and if anyone in the team is not gonna take it, I can try to implement it.

I don't think we have an issue for it yet and I am not aware of anyone else working on it.

It would probably be good to create an issue to coordinate the work. It would be much appreciated! :)

[youngjoon-lee]

#4111 I just opened an issue. I'll try to implement it if there is no plan by libp2p team.

[DougAnderson444]

Cross-referencing #4248 as I'm working on the web_sys implementation for rust-libp2p WebRTC in the browser over there