Managing friends
To share files on the friend-to-friend network, you need to first add some friends. Importing friends in OneSwarm is a two step process. First, you need to import the OneSwarm ''key'' of your friend. Importing your friend's key tells your OneSwarm client how to contact your friend securely. Next, your friend needs to import your key. Only after both you and your friend have imported one another will you be able to connect.
OneSwarm supports several methods of importing friends and exchanging keys.
- You can obtain a random set of friends from a community server. Many different community servers are maintained by OneSwarm users, and we describe how to subscribe to a public community server running at UW below.
- If you and a friend are on the same network (for example, a home network or at a coffee shop), use LAN importing.
- If you and a friend communicate via Google Talk, use Google Talk import.
- In other cases, you and a friend should exchange keys manually.
If you want to add a friend, click the 'Add friend' button at the bottom of the friends list. If a friend has added you to their friend list but you have not yet added them, a friend notification will appear at the top of the friend list. ''Note:'' friend notifications will appear only when you friend has used Google Talk or LAN friend importing. Manual exchange does not produce notifications.
After clicking either the add friend button or the friend notification link, the following window appears.
In this case, the friend notification is from a friend using Google Talk. We'll describe friend import using Google Talk next.
Subscribing to a community server
OneSwarm can easily import your Google Talk friends that are also OneSwarm users. During setup, OneSwarm connects to the Google Talk service and communicates with a gTalk bot running at the University of Washington, notifying the bot that you use OneSwarm and receiving a list of your friends that are also OneSwarm users. Note: The OneSwarm client does not store your Google password.
After exchanging information, your new Google Talk friends will be listed in a response. Your friend's default name will be the computer nickname they specified when import gTalk friends, but you specify a new name if desired.
Although you can define visibility for individual files for each friend, OneSwarm supports a special class of friends for which none of your files are visible. We call these 'Limited friends'. If specify a friend as limited, they will not be able to view your list of files, but you will still forward their data and search requests in the friend-to-friend network.
If you and a friend are on the same local network, the LAN friend finder provides an easy way of importing friends via network broadcast. When selected, a list of local OneSwarm users will be shown with their LAN IPs.
To import a friend, select from the list. Note that your friend will also need to import you before you can connect. If this hasn't yet occurred, your friend will receive a friend notification.
If other methods don't apply, any friend can be imported using manual key exchange. In this case, you and a friend exchange OneSwarm identifiers, called public keys, that allow your clients to locate and communicate with one another securely. This a multi-step process that's reflected in the manual import interface.
- First, choose a nickname for your friend.
- Next, copy all of the text in the 'local public key' text box and send it to your friend. (via email, instant message, etc.)
- Finally, you need to paste your friend's public key in the bottom text box. This is your friend's public key that they will copy from step 2.
As with other imported friends, you can specify whether a manually imported friend has limited access (i.e., cannot see your file list). Before a connection can occur, your friend will also need to complete the manual friend import process.