js-libp2p-tcp

Node.js implementation of the TCP module that libp2p uses, which implements the interface-connection interface for dial/listen.

libp2p-tcp in Node.js is a very thin shim that adds support for dialing to a multiaddr. This small shim will enable libp2p to use other different transports.

Note: This module uses pull-streams for all stream based interfaces.

Table of Contents

• Install
  • npm
• Usage
  • Example
  • This module uses pull-streams
    • Converting pull-streams to Node.js Streams
• API
• Contribute
• License

Install

npm

> npm i libp2p-tcp

Usage

Example

const TCP = require('libp2p-tcp')
const multiaddr = require('multiaddr')
const pull = require('pull-stream')

const mh1 = multiaddr('/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/9090')
const mh2 = multiaddr('/ip6/::/tcp/9092')

const tcp = new TCP()

const listener = tcp.createListener(mh1, (socket) => {
  console.log('new connection opened')
  pull(
    pull.values(['hello']),
    socket
  )
})

listener.listen(() => {
  console.log('listening')

  pull(
    tcp.dial(mh1),
    pull.log,
    pull.onEnd(() => {
      tcp.close()
    })
  )
})

Outputs:

listening
new connection opened
hello

This module uses pull-streams

We expose a streaming interface based on pull-streams, rather then on the Node.js core streams implementation (aka Node.js streams). pull-streams offers us a better mechanism for error handling and flow control guarantees. If you would like to know more about why we did this, see the discussion at this issue.

You can learn more about pull-streams at:

• The history of Node.js streams, nodebp April 2014
• The history of streams, 2016
• pull-streams, the simple streaming primitive
• pull-streams documentation

Converting pull-streams to Node.js Streams

If you are a Node.js streams user, you can convert a pull-stream to a Node.js stream using the module pull-stream-to-stream, giving you an instance of a Node.js stream that is linked to the pull-stream. For example:

const pullToStream = require('pull-stream-to-stream')

const nodeStreamInstance = pullToStream(pullStreamInstance)
// nodeStreamInstance is an instance of a Node.js Stream

To learn more about this utility, visit https://pull-stream.github.io/#pull-stream-to-stream.

API

libp2p-tcp accepts TCP addresses both IPFS and non IPFS encapsulated addresses, i.e:

/ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/4001 /ip4/127.0.0.1/tcp/4001/ipfs/QmHash

Both for dialing and listening.

Contribute

Contributions are welcome! The libp2p implementation in JavaScript is a work in progress. As such, there's a few things you can do right now to help out:

• Check out the existing issues.
• Perform code reviews.
• Add tests. There can never be enough tests.

Please be aware that all interactions related to libp2p are subject to the IPFS Code of Conduct.

Small note: If editing the README, please conform to the standard-readme specification.

License

MIT © 2015-2016 David Dias