rdv VS uploadserver

Haha that’s currently a way to explain to people who are used to hosting/sync based cloud solutions that anything that is (a) local p2p and (b) doesn’t need to upload-before-download is much faster. It’s also faster than WebRTC based solutions which there are dozens, WebRTC kind of sucks for large stuff.

That said, the next version will have multi connection tcp striping, which is a lot faster than any single tcp solution in many cases, especially over long distances, similar to some ftp/usenet clients. (Spoiler there will be online p2p transfers. See https://github.com/betamos/rdv if curious)

This is an incredible resource on NAT traversal in practice. I used it as a reference while building a server-assisted p2p-over-TCP[1] system. The post covers UDP but all of the theory applies to TCP as well – you just need some SO_REUSEPORT dual dial/listen magic so the code will look a bit different.

The post alludes to this, but I think NAT traversal is an inaccurate and confusing term. I like “hole punching” a lot more as a general term. It gets the message across without the myopic connotation that it’s all about NATs – it isn’t.

[1]: https://github.com/betamos/rdv

> In trying to come up with a WebRTC solution, I think I've settled on defeat. The local network syncing works like a charm, but I haven't had any luck in trying to get around a TURN server by using an API endpoint to provide routing data. It would be nice if there were other prebuilts than COTURN (something deployable to a deno/node server would be ideal),

The bad news is that if you want something that works in all instances, you need a relay of _some_ sort, because p2p isn't possible/feasible in all cases. Bittorrent (for instance) works around that limitation by simply having many-to-many peering and relying on large numbers, to be reliable. But that doesn't work for 1:1.

The good news is that maintaining a relay (or TURN, with WebRTC), need not be expensive. Yes, you need a server, and perhaps some IP-based rate limiting, but that can handle a LOT of connections and small data.

I created https://github.com/betamos/rdv for this purpose, an extremely light-weight alternative to WebRTC, but for TCP only (BYO identity, auth and encryption). The p2p success rate is, anecdotally, very high. However, you cannot use it from a web browser.

Feel free to reach out (see profile), happy to chat about p2p whether or not you use this project.

You first start one server on a desktop/laptop which has the software, and then any client (Android, iOS, PlayStation, Kindle, etc) with a web browser (no need to install any client software) can upload or download files from it.

You can download prebuilt binaries for x86-64 Linux, Windows, or Mac OS (sorry, no prebuilt binaries for Apple Silicon, but they could be added if there is sufficient demand) from https://github.com/akovacs/uploadserver/releases/ or compile from source using a nightly rust toolchain if you prefer.

Compared to cloud services or `python -m http.server 8000`, this is extremely fast since the server is written in rust, it is fairly simple (compiled and stripped binary is typically less than 3MB), it sends everything over local LAN, it seems to handle large files (over 4GB) fairly well, and you only need to install the software on one machine.

For additional details, please see: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39665095

If you don't have a network connection, you can setup an adhoc hotspot on any Android 9+ (Settings > Network & internet > Hotspot & tethering https://support.google.com/android/answer/9059108) or iPhone (Settings > Personal Hotspot), then connect to it using any WiFi-enabled device.

A useful filesharing utility that a friend wrote is https://github.com/akovacs/uploadserver - it's basically a nicer version of:

    python -m http.server 8000

Basically just start the file server, and then navigate to it using the web browser of your choice on any device (no need for a client application).

Download prebuilt binaries from https://github.com/akovacs/uploadserver/releases/

Or install from source if you prefer:

    # install rust toolchain

A similar utility (much more bare-bones though) that a friend wrote is https://github.com/akovacs/uploadserver

It works on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and therefore should probably work on FreeBSD as well if you can install a Rust toolchain:

    pkg install curl

Another option (also not Airdrop compatible) is https://github.com/akovacs/uploadserver which is a Rust (Rocket) web server that you can run on a local machine. Open a browser and navigate to the machine's IP address at port 8000 to upload/download files from the web form.