ipfs, merkledag and block

Block

Block, protobuf encoded

$ ipfs block get QmbJG7NjeMKifAnLzbdLbbRbDtVvK1o5Y4tENAaLzh3UDb
╗║123
║

Block service will try to get block data from blockStore --> bs.Get(cid), if cid not found, then try to get it from Exchange.Fetch (bitswap)

func getBlock(ctx context.Context, c cid.Cid, bs blockstore.Blockstore, fget func() exchange.Fetcher) (blocks.Block, error) {
	err := verifcid.ValidateCid(c) // hash security
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	block, err := bs.Get(c)
	if err == nil {
		return block, nil
	}

	if err == blockstore.ErrNotFound && fget != nil {
		f := fget() // Don't load the exchange until we have to

		// TODO be careful checking ErrNotFound. If the underlying
		// implementation changes, this will break.
		log.Debug("Blockservice: Searching bitswap")
		blk, err := f.GetBlock(ctx, c)
		if err != nil {
			if err == blockstore.ErrNotFound {
				return nil, ErrNotFound
			}
			return nil, err
		}
		log.Event(ctx, "BlockService.BlockFetched", c)
		return blk, nil
	}

	log.Debug("Blockservice GetBlock: Not found")
	if err == blockstore.ErrNotFound {
		return nil, ErrNotFound
	}

	return nil, err
}

DAG

$ ipfs dag get QmbJG7NjeMKifAnLzbdLbbRbDtVvK1o5Y4tENAaLzh3UDb
{"data":"CAISBTEyMw0KGAU=","links":[]}

dagService invike blockService to get block, then decode the block into IPLD format.

// Get retrieves a node from the dagService, fetching the block in the BlockService
func (n *dagService) Get(ctx context.Context, c cid.Cid) (ipld.Node, error) {
	if n == nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("dagService is nil")
	}

	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(ctx)
	defer cancel()

	b, err := n.Blocks.GetBlock(ctx, c)
	if err != nil {
		if err == bserv.ErrNotFound {
			return nil, ipld.ErrNotFound
		}
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to get block for %s: %v", c, err)
	}

	return ipld.Decode(b)
}

UnixFs

unixFs API will reorganize the IPLD into a file…

$ipfs cat QmbJG7NjeMKifAnLzbdLbbRbDtVvK1o5Y4tENAaLzh3UDb
123