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Political and Technical Implications of GitTorrent

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the distribute-this-sucka dept.

lkcl writes "The GitTorrent Protocol (GTP) is a protocol for collaborative git repository distribution across the Internet. Git promises to be a distributed software management tool, where a repository can be distributed. Yet, the mechanisms used to date to actually 'distribute,' such as ssh, are very much still centralized. GitTorrent makes Git truly distributed. The initial plans are for reducing mirror loading, however the full plans include totally distributed development: no central mirrors whatsoever. PGP signing (an existing feature of git) and other web-of-trust-based mechanisms will take over from protocols on ports (e.g. ssh) as the access control 'clearing house.' The implications of a truly distributed revision control system are truly staggering: unrestricted software freedom. The playing field is leveled in so many ways, as 'The Web Site' no longer becomes the central choke-point of control. Coming just in time for that all-encompassing Free Software revolution hinted at by The Rebellion Against Vista, this article will explain more fully some of the implications that make this quiet and technically brilliant project, GitTorrent, so important to Software Freedom, from both technical and political perspectives."

5 of 208 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Serve Documentation from GitTorrent by lkcl · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is cool, your code can be free. But unfortunately you're still stuck with hosting the documentation on a central website of some sort.

    no - you're not :) read the article: it mentions that static content such as that generated by ikiwiki could perfectly well be generated by a locally-checked-out (gittorrent-distributed) copy of the documentation

    extend that concept a little further (one step at a time!) and you have, as you rightly mention:

    a standard for hosting the documentation website. IE PHP + SQlite + GitTorrent docRoot == Distributed website.

    yes! although, to be much better, technically, you'd have a distributed SQL server - a peer-to-peer SQL server. there's a project that IngreSQL are keeping an eye on, called "d", that might show some promise, here.

    Could even contain Trac or something, so all the bug tracking is also in the GitTorrent repository.

    yes!

    _now_ you're getting it :)

  2. Re:Serve Documentation from GitTorrent by PouletFou · · Score: 5, Informative

    From TFA : The possibilities that GitTorrent opens up are just mind-blowing. Here are a few: * Imagine that an entire project - its web site, documentation, wiki, bug-tracker, source code and binaries are all managed and stored in a peer-to-peer distributed git repository. o To view the web site, you either go to the main site, http://web-site.org/ or, if you are offline or want faster access, you go to the locally checked out copy.

  3. Re:Davros, is that you? by sesshomaru · · Score: 3, Informative

    Here's a clip for an example, for those unfamiliar:

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7026801162637347552&ei=eyc4SdWjOoL8rAKQiLiTDg&q=genesis+of+the+daleks+davros

    --
    "MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."
  4. Debian GPG-signed Web of Trust by lkcl · · Score: 3, Informative

    debian has a keysigning process that creates a web of trust.

    http://www.chaosreigns.com/code/sig2dot/debian.html
    http://www.debian.org/events/keysigning

  5. Dead project by nniillss · · Score: 5, Informative
    Status, according to the project site, http://code.google.com/p/gittorrent/: Currently no-one is actively developing either this developed version or Jonas' C++ implementation.

    The last project entries/downloads are from February 2008. Why such a hype over a dead/dormant project?