[Replicant] Replicant and remote storage, Was: the minimal effort needed for a minimal change in initramfs?

[Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli]

On Tue, 27 Oct 2015 18:58:42 +0100
user468362 at 0w.se wrote:

> > > In other words, Coda when properly used removes the need to "sync"
> > > data between the multiple devices - you just use the same data
> > > under /coda/...../something and Coda gives you the same view, no
> > > matter which computer or phone you use for the moment.  
[...]
> This would be nice for proper use of mobile devices, to get rid
of the
> dependency on proprietary and insecure data services. That's why I
> do not think this matter is totally OT here.
Indeed, it's not. Especially because it requires support form Replicant
for now.

> For better clarity, Coda and Tahoe-LAFS aim at different targets.
> 
> Coda is a Posix-compatible file system, based on replicated trusted
> servers with server-local storage, with a global name space and
> (non-Posix, more consistent) ACLs.
> It provides disconnection resiliency both against servers going down
> and the clients losing connectivity, maintaining a consistent and
> persistent client-side data cache.
That sounds nice for Replicant compatible devices, indeed. For
now, security wise, I trust my phone way less than my server anyway.

> Tahoe-LAFS is a distributed data storage protocol which does not rely
> on trust to storage servers. It offers non-replicated gateways and an
> optional Posix-like API, without a global file name space or cache
> consistency guarantees. The gateways have to be trusted.
Yes, the gateway can also run on your client. I understood (probably
wrongly) that you could have access to the same files with different
gateways.

> The global name space (in Coda) makes some great things possible,
> like putting on it directly runnable Posix software, usable
> everywhere, or sharing paths as easily as URLs (but with much better
> access control!). Another crucial property is of course the
> capability of disconnected operation.
Wow nice.

> (Conceptually, if correspondingly modified, Coda servers could put
> their data on an encrypted bulk storage platform, then their need of
> trust would correspond to the one of Tahoe-LAFS gateways)
Yes, I don't have yet the same trust level on my main laptop and my
server.

> A product combining the positive features of those three would be of
> course best of all, but nobody took the challenge yet. :)
There are also some storage systems based on the git storage format
that sounds nice. I'm not sure how well they fit.

There are also some other less filesystem oriented ways that are
compatible with applications in f-droid, such as owncloud and so on.
Some of theses require a powerful server, but maybe nowadays it's ok
given the increase of RAM and CPU power on low power ARM home servers.

I vaguely remember a blog post where someone tested some of theses
solutions with Replicant and F-droid.

Denis.
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 819 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
URL: <http://lists.osuosl.org/pipermail/replicant/attachments/20151029/0516741d/attachment.asc>