GBS-Downloader

What is it?

GBS-Downloader integrates Tahoe-CHK with Tahoe-Great-Black-Swamp to support downloading and decoding data from Great Black Swamp servers. It aims for bit-for-bit compatibility with the original Python implementation.

What is the current state?

• It can download immutable and mutable shares from Great Black Swamp storage servers.
  • It does not cryptographically verify the identity of servers it communicates with.
• It can interpret, decode, and decrypt the data for CHK- and SDMF-encoded shares to recover the plaintext.

Why does it exist?

A Haskell implementation can be used in places the original Python implementation cannot be (for example, runtime environments where it is difficult to have a Python interpreter). Additionally, with the benefit of the experience gained from creating and maintaining the Python implementation, a number of implementation decisions can be made differently to produce a more efficient, more flexible, simpler implementation and API. Also, the Python implementation claims no public library API for users outside of the Tahoe-LAFS project itself.