Backup links in profile data

Apps Identity
#1

I added a backup of the zonefile (which only was on my server until now) with GitHub Gist in case my server is down.

I’m now wondering: Is there a possibility to add backup locations for things like the avatar picture (sourced in the profile json data) too?

#2

Hi @vsund,

The task of interpreting profile.json as your personal information is handled by the Onename application, not by Blockstack. To Blockstack, profile.json is just an opaque JSON blob (and need not be a profile). Information that the profile.json file links is outside of Blockstack, and managed by Onename.

Nevertheless, we’re adding a generic data storage system to Blockstack in 0.14.1. You will be able to use it to store arbitrary data in a filesystem-like structure. However, applications will need to be designed to use it for backing up application-specific data (like avatar pictures).

We will be doing this exact thing with Onename once 0.14.1 goes live, as you saw on this page: Blockstack, Onename, and future applications

#3

Yeah, I know the difference (I guess :D). I mainly meant whether I can add for an avatar https://website.tld/some-avatar a backup https://another-website.tld//backup-location-for-avatar and specify this in my profile.json.

Is there a specification that would allow that? (Has to be somewhere in schema.org or something own, I guess)

Maybe an example clears some things up:

{
    "contentUrl": [
        "https://vsund.de/blockstack-data/vsund.id/img/bg.jpg", 
        "https://another-host.tld/backup/bg.jpg"
    ],
    "@type": "ImageObject", 
    "name": "cover"
}
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#4

Okay, cool! I definitely agree that it’s a good idea to have multiple copies of avatars, just as long as Onename knows how to use them. When we refactor Onename to run as a local application, we’ll add support for this.

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#5

Great idea @vsund! Would we also want to have optional hashes of the avatar data stored in the profile so apps can verify the integrity of the data the user intended to point to?

#6

Sounds great! Authenticate all the things :smiley: :thumbsup:

1 Like