Live data from Hacker News

Direct file transfer via browser with no server involvement

cend.me

61–70 of 134 posts

Re: Direct file transfer via browser with no server involvement

#62
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Whatsapp for that purpose. 1. create a group with some one on your contact list. 2. Kick the other person out of group 3. now, attach any file you want to the group and access it via whatsapp web. Pretty simple to setup and use. for larger files, i would use ftp client on Mobile and use it to transfer files

FYI you can even text yourself on WhatsApp without needing a group

I tried looking for it. but i couldn't find how to do it. how does one do that?

Re: Direct file transfer via browser with no server involvement

#63
post #8

Seems to be using WebRTC, so presumably it's using STUN servers to do the NAT hole-punching. So not really "no server involvement". But I suppose that would be basically impossible on today's internet. Hopefully it's not also using TURN servers if STUN fails...

You can inspect the source, there seem to be STUN servers only. "No server involvement" part is probably just regarding the actual file transfer.

Re: Direct file transfer via browser with no server involvement

#64

Why would anyone use this service when you can just transfer files by temporarely opening a TCP port and starting a netcat listener that you pipe into the file you want? It's as simple as nc -lvnp 1234 > myfile.txt The other party then only needs to pipe the file into a netcat socket from their commandline. nc -w 3 IP Jokes aside I'm intrigued at the "no server involvement". I'm assuming they mean the file isn't tran…

I don't think transferring a file via netcat without any form of encryption is something i would recommend, unless you are on a network you 100% trust. EDIT: it seems like this service doesn't even support HTTPS...

Why? I can encrypt the file before sending it

Re: Direct file transfer via browser with no server involvement

#65
post #37
post #15

Used to use sharedrop.io but found the “saved messages” option in Telegram is just the most zero friction option for mobile desktop transfers.

I use Whatsapp for that purpose. 1. create a group with some one on your contact list. 2. Kick the other person out of group 3. now, attach any file you want to the group and access it via whatsapp web. Pretty simple to setup and use. for larger files, i would use ftp client on Mobile and use it to transfer files

Seems to me that this strategy requires blind trust in Mark Zuckerberg.

Re: Direct file transfer via browser with no server involvement

#66
post #8

Seems to be using WebRTC, so presumably it's using STUN servers to do the NAT hole-punching. So not really "no server involvement". But I suppose that would be basically impossible on today's internet. Hopefully it's not also using TURN servers if STUN fails...

Not even, the application is making GET, POST and PUT requests to send the file to a /link endpoint which also the receiving side is hitting. How is this even close to being "no server involvement"? It's misleading, because the server is very much involved here. > But I suppose that would be basically impossible on today's internet. P2P is possible on the internet (100% without centralized servers), but it's not poss…

>the application is making GET, POST and PUT requests to send the file

Have you looked at the actual payload of the POST/GET/PUT requests? It only contains the WebRTC offers/answers. Actual file transfer is via local WebRTC.

The site also claims that it only work for "devices on the same network", so there's no need for any STUN/TURN because there's no wall to punch.

Re: Direct file transfer via browser with no server involvement

#67
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI you can even text yourself on WhatsApp without needing a group

I tried looking for it. but i couldn't find how to do it. how does one do that?

You basically have to start a conversation with yourself.

AFAIK, there is no way to do that in the mobile app, so you will need to use those Whatsapp redirectors, and redirect to your own number.

I made this phone number -> Whatsapp redirector that you can try. Zero server interactions, only JS.

https://altbdoor.github.io/whatsapp-redir/

Re: Direct file transfer via browser with no server involvement

#68
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, today it's much harder to transfer files in a local network without using cloud (or external coordinator), for some reason.

Samba, NFS, SSH, scp, there are tons of ways to locally transfer files without a server if you know the IP address.

Samba without a server? Maybe this is a new feature, I must look into it.

Re: Direct file transfer via browser with no server involvement

#69
post #9

Alternatively, using the same technology: https://www.sharedrop.io/ and actually multiple others. Quite convincing to transfer files between devices in LAN, instead of looking for USB cable to connect the phone or trying to establish (never working and much slower) Bluetooth connection.

You find it easier than just using your phone's file manager to access shared drives?
Post reply on HN