<aside> đź“Ś The javascript implementation of Ceramic is getting its second major version bump! This is a guide for Ceramic node operators upgrading from js-ceramic v1 to js-ceramic v2. (If you are considering running a Ceramic node for the first time you can get started right away by reading our Run nodes documentation.)
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Go-ipfs support
If you’ve been running a Ceramic node you have also been running js-ipfs which js-ceramic v1 relies on. At 3Box Labs, we’ve found the JavaScript implementation of IPFS to be unsuitable for production environments due to memory leaks and lack of a scalable peer discovery mechanism. Furthermore, maintenance and feature development is not well supported in js-ipfs.
We’ve worked with Protocol Labs to update the Go implementation of IPFS so that it can support the features that the Ceramic protocol requires. In particular the dag-jose codec which is now supported in go-ipfs by default thanks to go-ipld-prime being merged into recent versions of go-ipfs. With the move to go-ipfs, we expect node operators to see improved stability of their IPFS node.
Improved decentralization
One of the biggest wins of moving to go-ipfs is that it is now simpler than ever before to run a Ceramic mainnet node. Thanks to the performance of the go-libp2p DHT (distributed hash table), we no longer require IPFS peers to be added to a centralized peerlist, which serves to further decentralize the Ceramic network.
Client support for newer javascript environments
We updated the Ceramic codebase to use ES2020, ESM modules, and run on Node.js version 16. This also affects the Ceramic http-client and the Glaze and Self.ID developer libraries. It is possible to upgrade your Ceramic node independently of the client (and vice versa), but once you upgrade the client you’ll have to upgrade all the client libraries at once.
We strongly urge node operators to upgrade as soon as possible. The 3Box Labs team is deprecating v1 packages, including the JavaScript ipfs-daemon, and we will not be able to provide further support for these versions. Version 2 of js-ceramic will work with go-ipfs v0.12 and later, but it will not work with js-ipfs.
IPFS keeps its data and configuration files in what’s called a “repo”. The $IPFS_PATH environment variable is used to set the location for your IPFS repo. It is generally one of the following:
ipfs directory located wherever you run IPFS$HOME/.jsipfs/root/.jsipfsWherever the repo is stored, you should see a subdirectories for blocks, datastore, keys, and pins, and files called config and version.
In the steps below, you will need to reference your existing IPFS repo.