IPFS versioning - How to get all files from the IPFS key?

Question

Based on the below code, im able to add a file**(dataobj.txt --QmUUHKjR5ZdrrYmxpXyPrYP3eMyhv9FnRKo1Duv9stzmmw)** and publish a file and then assign to the key "myIPFSKey".

Step 1: ipfs add -r ipfs/dataobj.txt
Step 2: ipfs name publish QmUUHKjR5ZdrrYmxpXyPrYP3eMyhv9FnRKo1Duv9stzmmw
Result: Published to QmVHUPh6TJKZpXjQ4gL2rZU5YYi7Eb3cUsh4xvSfMrZfhU: /ipfs/QmUUHKjR5ZdrrYmxpXyPrYP3eMyhv9FnRKo1Duv9stzmmw
Step 3: ipfs name publish --key=myIPFSKey QmVHUPh6TJKZpXjQ4gL2rZU5YYi7Eb3cUsh4xvSfMrZfhU
http://localhost:8080/ipns/QmVHUPh6TJKZpXjQ4gL2rZU5YYi7Eb3cUsh4xvSfMrZfhU

Now i want to update some text on the file(dataobj.txt) and uploaded to the IPFS again. it has returned the new IPFS hash**(QmfKtQh2apaM9eQM3ohwgfrr3zfSSXd1wsQhMJtvXTurUg)**. So again i have published the new hash to the IPFS key "myIPFSKey". so far everything goes well.

Here i want to get the list of all the files published to the particular key(myIPFSKey) like versioning. Is it possible to achieve it?

Command:   ipfs key list myIPFSKey
Expected O/P:  QmUUHKjR5ZdrrYmxpXyPrYP3eMyhv9FnRKo1Duv9stzmmw dataObj.txt
               QmfKtQh2apaM9eQM3ohwgfrr3zfSSXd1wsQhMJtvXTurUg dataObj.txt

Here I'm trying to get both versions of the files from IPFS key(myIPFSKey)

Regards Mani

Answer 1

I don't think you can use IPNS to store more than one CID (hash) but however you can use IPLD (IPFS Linked Data) to generate a JSON bundle that will reference each version and only the CID of the bundle will be store on IPNS.

Let's do an example:

i. Create a file myfile.txt containing first version and store it on IPFS

$ echo "first version" > myfile.txt 
$ ipfs add myfile.txt 
added QmUCr8K6pNZib5TZ2KAPupdjCqEjpgrm94DJ4UtEQQsuqz myfile.txt

ii. Generate an IPFS bundle referencing this file as version 1

Basically IPLD allows you to store a JSON object on IPFS where leaves can contain data or links.

$ echo '{"version1": {"content": {"/": "QmUCr8K6pNZib5TZ2KAPupdjCqEjpgrm94DJ4UtEQQsuqz"}, "author": "greg"}}' | ipfs dag put
zdpuAqidKVQqA36feYLTLyWV9s4eajMtSmVFJxWpa65o5VFPU

Then we can explore the IPLD bundle like this

o Get the entire bundle

$ ipfs dag get zdpuAqidKVQqA36feYLTLyWV9s4eajMtSmVFJxWpa65o5VFPU
{"version1":{"author":"greg","content":{"/":"QmUCr8K6pNZib5TZ2KAPupdjCqEjpgrm94DJ4UtEQQsuqz"}}}

o Get a specific data within the object

$ ipfs dag get zdpuAqidKVQqA36feYLTLyWV9s4eajMtSmVFJxWpa65o5VFPU/version1/author
"greg"

o Get a specific content through a link

$ ipfs cat zdpuAqidKVQqA36feYLTLyWV9s4eajMtSmVFJxWpa65o5VFPU/version1/content
first version

iii. Store the IPLD hash on IPNS

This IPLD CID has a content addressable hash zdpuAqidKVQqA36feYLTLyWV9s4eajMtSmVFJxWpa65o5VFPU like any other objects on IPFS and can be stored on IPNS

o Generate the key key

$ ipfs key gen --type=rsa --size=2048 key
QmPU6xFfHykL7HBNbckzB9pCCeVFUx2HD4KxvkQmcYAV6a

o Publish the IPLD CID under this name

$ ipfs name publish --key=key zdpuAqidKVQqA36feYLTLyWV9s4eajMtSmVFJxWpa65o5VFPU
Published to QmPU6xFfHykL7HBNbckzB9pCCeVFUx2HD4KxvkQmcYAV6a: /ipfs/zdpuAqidKVQqA36feYLTLyWV9s4eajMtSmVFJxWpa65o5VFPU

o You can then resolve the name and access the version

$ ipfs dag get $(ipfs name resolve QmPU6xFfHykL7HBNbckzB9pCCeVFUx2HD4KxvkQmcYAV6a)/version1/author
"greg"

$ ipfs cat $(ipfs name resolve QmPU6xFfHykL7HBNbckzB9pCCeVFUx2HD4KxvkQmcYAV6a)/version1/content
first version

---

iv. Let's now create a second version and upload it on IPFS

$ echo "second version" > myfile.txt 
$ ipfs add myfile.txt 
added QmNs9wW2s3fVR3aRJS62Ak8honGdB6PEDjF15FnTWnFeu8 myfile.txt

v. We can recreate a new bundle with the second version

$ echo '{"version1":{"author":"greg","content":{"/":"QmUCr8K6pNZib5TZ2KAPupdjCqEjpgrm94DJ4UtEQQsuqz"}}, "version2":{"author":"mani2020","content":{"/":"QmNs9wW2s3fVR3aRJS62Ak8honGdB6PEDjF15FnTWnFeu8"}}}' | ipfs dag put
zdpuAvKvo6QuvQnwtwYhQrsG82iwgGH4bxZpvKY4hrPuKWxaj

And access the data and links

$ ipfs dag get zdpuAvKvo6QuvQnwtwYhQrsG82iwgGH4bxZpvKY4hrPuKWxaj/version1/author
"greg"
$ ipfs cat zdpuAvKvo6QuvQnwtwYhQrsG82iwgGH4bxZpvKY4hrPuKWxaj/version1/content
first version
$ ipfs dag get zdpuAvKvo6QuvQnwtwYhQrsG82iwgGH4bxZpvKY4hrPuKWxaj/version2/author
"mani2020"
$ ipfs cat zdpuAvKvo6QuvQnwtwYhQrsG82iwgGH4bxZpvKY4hrPuKWxaj/version2/content
second version

vi. Finally we only need to republish the new hash of the second bundle

$ ipfs name publish --key=key zdpuAvKvo6QuvQnwtwYhQrsG82iwgGH4bxZpvKY4hrPuKWxaj
Published to QmPU6xFfHykL7HBNbckzB9pCCeVFUx2HD4KxvkQmcYAV6a: /ipfs/zdpuAvKvo6QuvQnwtwYhQrsG82iwgGH4bxZpvKY4hrPuKWxaj

$ ipfs dag get $(ipfs name resolve QmPU6xFfHykL7HBNbckzB9pCCeVFUx2HD4KxvkQmcYAV6a)/version1/author
"greg"
$ ipfs cat $(ipfs name resolve QmPU6xFfHykL7HBNbckzB9pCCeVFUx2HD4KxvkQmcYAV6a)/version1/content
first version
$ ipfs dag get $(ipfs name resolve QmPU6xFfHykL7HBNbckzB9pCCeVFUx2HD4KxvkQmcYAV6a)/version2/author
"mani2020"
$ ipfs cat $(ipfs name resolve QmPU6xFfHykL7HBNbckzB9pCCeVFUx2HD4KxvkQmcYAV6a)/version2/content
second version

And so on and so forth !

---

Notes:

• Pinning: If you pin the IPLD Bundle, all linked data will be pinned.

Answer 2

An alternative to IPLD (and somewhat simpler) is https://www.npmjs.com/package/ipvfs.