Re: Adopting the Multihash spec as a work item?

On Thu, 3 Jan 2019 at 20:30, Manu Sporny <msporny@digitalbazaar.com> wrote:

> On 1/2/19 2:22 AM, Melvin Carvalho wrote:
> > Does not RFC 6920 (Naming things with hashes) already have this
> > property
>
> Yes, it is one of the properties that spec has.
>
> > https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc6920/
>
> The argument is that the specification above did not do proper
> architectural layering. It combined 1) hash algorithm specification, 2)
> URLs, 3) base-encoding, and 4) dereferencing protocol into a single
> specification instead of layering the architecture in the appropriate
> way, like the following stack (high to low order):
>
> URL encoding format
> agile base encoding
> agile hash expression
>
> ... where the dereferencing protocol should have been outside of the
> specification to enable the URLs to support multiple network protocols.
>
> By splitting the spec into these different parts (multihash, multibase,
> and hashlink), we enable those building blocks to be used elsewhere
> (e.g. public key expression)... and enable new use cases (multi-network
> support).
>
> > And furthermore, has the advantage of a way to dereference the hash
> > using HTTP.
>
> The hashlink spec has the same advantage, but isn't tied to a single
> network protocol like the ni:/// format is AND has a native packed
> binary representation.
>
> > Are there any substantial advantages to the multiformats RFC?
>
> Yes, explained above... do those arguments resonate with you, Melvin?
>
> -- manu
>
> PS: We had been using ni:/// heavily until we shifted to the approach
> listed above.
>

PS great that you've used ni:/// in the past, I think we've chatted about
that before together.

I suggested looking that in an ipfs issue a few years back.  But I think
the way you are doing things now is really first class.  Protocol labs are
getting some great tech here.

I can see this working really well.  I'd be keen to try out a minimal
subset with a real use case, say something like hosting ipfs multihashes on
a solid pod.


>
> --
> Manu Sporny (skype: msporny, twitter: manusporny, G+: +Manu Sporny)
> Founder/CEO - Digital Bazaar, Inc.
> blog: Veres One Decentralized Identifier Blockchain Launches
> https://tinyurl.com/veres-one-launches
>