Has anyone tested Dat and also knows ZeroNet and IPFS? How do they compare? Dat ...

shakna · on Feb 23, 2017

I can chime in with a different perspective here - code quality.

I helped out ZeroNet for a while. I even ran a bridge for public access without ZeroNet for a while.

The main task I was undertaking was bringing in testing.

There were large problems.

The main developer refused to use pip for dependencies, a misunderstanding that it requires admin privileges.

So instead, the dependencies were half a list that the user must install, and half lived inside the git repo.

I suggested git submodules but it was shot down as inconvenient for manual testing.

I countered that the dependencies were increasingly out of date, including some critical security issues - and was told to go find another project.

On the other hand, IPFS has been incredibly professional, really on top with critical security bugs.

Beaker has been a rather pleasant experience when patching any holes that appear.

bigiain · on Feb 23, 2017

"I countered that the dependencies were increasingly out of date, including some critical security issues - and was told to go find another project."

Classy... Note to self to never consider that project.

anentropic · on Feb 23, 2017

So... it's developed by someone who doesn't know how to do Python :(

johnhenry · on Feb 22, 2017

I've tried all three. Quick and dirty differences: ZeroNet is for sharing websites by public key -- meaning the data the public key points to is mutable by the whoever possesses the private key. Dat is for storing generic content (which may or not be a website) by public key. IPFS is for storing generic content by hash -- meaning that the data the address points to is immutable. You should also be aware of IPNS, a public key system from the makers of IPFS, thought I'm more of a fan of Dat than anything else.