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Isn't IPFS based on bitcoin technologies? Does it have the problem that bitcoin had (still has?) where you have to download the entire blockchain -- which in this case is the entire network? I'm guessing this has been solved since I last heard about the issue...

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Not at all. It's more like a giant bittorrent full of everyone's git repos.

Any place where I could read a good introduction to IPFS ?

I would start at our webpage here: https://ipfs.io/

Though admittedly it needs work. If youre the video watching type, the stanford talk on that page is very good (i recommend setting the speed to 1.5 or so).

Beyond that, come check out our git repos: ipfs whitepaper and general protocol discussion: https://github.com/ipfs/ipfs go-ipfs codebase: https://github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs And the FAQ: https://github.com/ipfs/faq

There's also a (very WIP) "IPFS Textbook": https://github.com/RichardLitt/ipfs-textbook/

Ok, so my question still stands, does this mean I will be eventually downloading the entire IPFS network onto my computer? What is the solution to that problem?

Currently no, you only download content you have requested, and you can remove any content you have not pinned to hold onto via a garbage collection command. When bitswap is more mature you may get more content on your system, but that will probably be configurable.

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