[Blocks-development] Some suggestions

[Erik M. <mo...@sc...>]

Just a few suggestions for the coming versions after the patch.

	- Should the letters assigned to the IP numbers be randomly
	  picked instead of the order of their apperance? Right now,
	  the primary server is always "A". If the primary server
	  is very common (like it is right now) it is possible to
	  guess that a certain IP number reappears in the path, e.g.
	  CADDAF probably means that one of our two primaries is at
	  hop 2 and 5. I suppose encryption as suggested in the protocol
      specs would also solve this problem.
	- adverts for the same file with different routes could be 
	  summarized
	- initial handshaking should contain a version number and 
	  optionally a "network name", which is sort of a password
	  that can be used to isolate networks easily. Of course,
	  this should be encrypted like everything else.
	- improved cache flushing:
	  Flushing all local files seems pretty pointless since at
	  least some of them are probably stored permanently
	  somewhere else. This is especially annoying for users
	  whose connections are cut every 24 hours, or those who
	  cannot let their PC run all day.
	 
      The solution I suggest is pretty tricky, but I think it should
	  be implemented before we go to a larger public. I suggest
	  to have two options for uploading files: "temporary upload"
	  and "persistent upload". Persistently uploaded files would be
	  stored in a separate cache that is encrypted with a permanent
	  cipher and only flushed on explicit request.

	  That way, you could upload your MP3 collection once and you
	  would never have to think again about it. One other advantage
	  is that the hash of the files remains the same so that there
	  are not lots of different adverts for the same files floating
	  around. Security of the other non-local files would not be
	  affected.
	- optional expiry date for adverts. The TTL limits them in space,
	  the expiry date would limit them in time. This is important for
	  files like messages, which are only relevant for a week or so	
	  and should then stop circulating on the network. I don't know
	  how hard this is to do since the adverts would have to be
	  updated regularly.

Regards,
Erik Moeller
-- 
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