Published release of the P2P platform Radicle 1.6, aimed at creating a decentralized service for collaborative development and storage of code, similar to GitHub and GitLab, but not tied to specific servers, uncensored and working using the resources of P2P network participants. The platform supports typical elements of social interaction among developers, such as issues, patches, and code reviews. The project’s developments are written in the Rust language and distributed under the Apache 2.0 and MIT licenses. Assemblies prepared for Linux and macOS. Additionally, desktop client, web interface and console interface are being developed.
Radicle allows you to be independent during development and distribution of code from centralized platforms and corporations, linking to which introduces additional risks (single point of failure, the company may close or change operating conditions). To manage code, Radicle uses the familiar Git, extended with tools for defining repositories on a P2P network. All data is first stored locally (local-first concept) and is always available on the developer’s computer, regardless of the state of the network connection.
Participants provide access to their code and code-related artifacts, such as patches and bug fix discussions (issues), which are stored locally and replicated to the nodes of other interested developers connected to a common decentralized P2P network. As a result, a global decentralized Git repository is formed, the data of which is replicated and duplicated on different systems of participants.
To determine neighboring nodes in a P2P network, the Gossip protocol is used, and to replicate data between nodes, the Heartwood, based on Git. Since the protocol is based on Git, the platform is easy to integrate with existing Git development tools. To identify nodes and verify repositories, cryptography based on public keys is used, without the use of accounts. Authentication and authorization are carried out on the basis of public keys without centralized certification servers.