[JDEV] Re: OOB filetransfer negotiation

[Sebastiaan 'CBAS' Deckers]

> > Or you could do the same thing that just about every P2P filesharing
> > protocol known to man does:
> > Step 1: ask for the non-firewalled user's IP and an opened port
> > Step 2: the firewalled user uploads the file directly to that port and
IP
>
> How does the negotiation work to determine which (if any) side is not
firewalled?

Well if a client has an IP of 192.168.x.x, 10.x.x.x or any of those, it's
probably firewalled.
Or/And you could set an option in the configuration screen where users can
say they are firewalled.
Then the client would send the firewalled flag along with the first
filetransfer IQ message.

If that's not good enough you could have the server check if the client is
firewalled.

> The problem [with FTP or WebDav] is that you have to configure your Jabber
> client by giving it the correct protocol and address, which is a hassle.

That would be insane for new users ... and advanced users will be too lazy
;-)
And it kind of kills the idea of direct transfer (imagine sending a 700 MB
movie: where will you upload it to?)

Maybe Jabber servers should have a service/transport/channel/whatever that
clients can use to send binary data (or encoded within the XML).
But only as an option and only to be used when both parties are firewalled
(or when you _really_ don't want to share your IP).
Does anything like that exist?

Bye,
Sebastiaan