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Comment by anonymousnotme | Hacker News Reader

The hash will change depending on how the file is broken down into chunks and and a different hash can be used for multiple versions of the same file. I expected to be able to compute a hash and see whether the file is in the IPFS network; then upload it if it not in the network. That just feels wrong to me.

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Because it is not the hash of the file, it is the hash of a DAG that contains file chunks on its leaves. And this DAG serves the purpose of making content copy+verification simpler, while also protecting the peers in the network from abuse (no chunk larger than 4MB can be transferred). Sure, people can choose if they edit the parameters that dictate how these dags are built and use non-defaults.

I understand this complain as it is not obvious why things are like they are, but there are somewhat good reasons!

> I expected to be able to compute a hash and see whether the file is in the IPFS network; then upload it if it not in the network.

There is no upload in IPFS. Either you serve the file from your peer or you don't. It should be irrelevant whether that file was already present in the network or not.

Hello, you appear to be well versed in the state of IPFS. If you don't mind, in your views, are there any stumbling blocks in the design and implementation of IPFS that could prevent it from achieving itss ambitions? Or maybe big, current challenges it's facing that might hamper its adoption? Things being worked on?

Thanks.

IPFS domaim is very wide so different issues affect different parts in different ways.

One major hurdle is browsers not being made for p2p. We will need http gateways and other centralized compatibility layers for the time being, which are costly and very prone to abuse. I have hopes in better webrtc support to improve interop with browsers.

Other than that, a DHT at the scales we aim for in terms of indexed content is a problem when 95% of nodes are clients which don't contribute to it. NAT hole punching and supernodes will help.

With IPFS becoming the delivery layer for content stored on Filecoin, and being the standard storage layer for NFTs, there are certainly incentives for the protocols to be used and usage to keep growing heavily.

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