P2P local file transfer based on WebRTC

by halb • 7 days ago

61 23 7 days ago

jech2• 7 days ago

Nice design, but that's the kind of functionality that's best integrated within a chat or videoconferencing application, since within a conference you can be pretty sure that you send the file to the right person.

For a demo, go to <https://galene.org:8443/group/public/hn/>. Login twice in two different browser tabs (leave the password field empty). Click on the username of your partner, and choose Send file.

alhadrad• 7 days ago

I don't agree with this.

felooboolooomba2• 7 days ago

No, it's best to write the data on a USB stick and see the person in real life. Ask for ID and do a retina scan. Then you can be pretty sure that you give the file to the right person. Make sure to cryptographically sign the data so the recipient can be sure it's you.

ssl-32• 7 days ago

I used your demo. It does not do what you say that it does.

I opened a tab and signed in as "username".

Then I opened another tab and signed in as "username" there, too.

Thus a shared chat exists with two users named "username".

Whatever this is, it is not the path of disambiguation.

Orphis• 7 days ago

In modern conferencing applications, users are not connected with each other, they are connected with a central server.

Transferring files shouldn't involve that central server, so you'd need to establish a direct connection between the users, and with network topologies those days, it will most likely require a relay between the two. It's not great.

jech2• 6 days ago

Transferring files shouldn't involve that central server, so you'd need to establish a direct connection between the users

That's exactly what Galene does when a user requests a file transfer.

with network topologies those days, it will most likely require a relay between the two

We perform NAT traversal by using the server to punch holes in both NATs. Only if that fails (due to a symmetric NAT or to an overly restrictive firewall) do we fall back to relaying through the server.

als0• 7 days ago

Reminds me of https://sharedrop.io

julkali• 7 days ago

It's apparently a fork (Github Readme)

chaosharmonic• 7 days ago

Yeah, I'm pretty sure these are all descendants of SnapDrop, but development or hosting or both seem to keep dying off the various forks every few years.

That one is, apparently, now owned by whoever also owns the zombie brand of LimeWire.

ButlerianJihad• 7 days ago

File Transfer https://m.xkcd.com/949/

felooboolooomba2• 7 days ago

It's crazy that in 2026, transferring files between two random, willing, devices is still a hassle.

mikeweiss• 7 days ago

Not anymore with this?

TheRoque• 7 days ago

Solution I've been using for a while is KDE Connect. Works on windows, linux, android

skeledrew• 7 days ago

I was using it for a while, then something somewhere broke (now it's unable to pair). I haven't really looked into it again since.

supertrope• 7 days ago

Operating system makers would rather sell you a subscription to OneDrive, iCloud, or Google Drive.

lardosaurusrex• 7 days ago

It was easy for all of 6 or 7 months on android until someone at google realised their quick share feature prevented them from getting your data and subscription money and proceeded to immediately shoot themselves in the foot.

thank konqi for kde connect.

saidinesh5• 7 days ago

Wait, what happened to quick share?

theNotFractured• 7 days ago

Try localsend https://localsend.org/

Saris• 6 days ago

Localsend is great, I use it a lot for random stuff!

ssl-32• 7 days ago

Seems to work well, at least between my Linux desktop and my wifi-connected Android phone; both showed up without any hassle, and sending files each way was boring in the best of ways.

It also supports something it calls "Private Room," which doesn't require the endpoints to be on the same LAN. This also works well, at least with my phone on 5G and the Linux box ultimately connected with DOCSIS.

No idea how many intermediaries, if any, are involved with any of this, and for my normal purposes I don't care at all.

bear330• 7 days ago

This is a similar tool, but it's more like a Swiss Army knife: https://github.com/nuwainfo/ffl

y42• 7 days ago

shameles self promotion: I posted similar thing a couple of days ago:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48773805

https://9.1-1-1.de

P2P local file transfer based on WebRTC

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