ssb handbook

A work-in-progress guide to the ssb-verse and key concepts and influences

What Is Scuttlebutt?

Historically, sea-slang for gossip - a scuttlebutt is basically a watercooler on a ship.

Scuttlebutt is a decent(ralised) secure gossip platform.

This seems like a silly name, but I assure you, this is real science. Read this: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/rvr/papers/flowgossip.pdf

Or, if you're lazy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuttlebutt (laziness will get you nowhere, btw)

How To Get Started

The easiest way to get started is using patchwork, a classic social networking application.

Easy path

1. Download an Installer for Windows, macOS and Linux
2. Get a pub invite code
3. Use the pub invite : in Patchwork click + Join Pub and paste the invite code

Step 2 is important if you want to be able to find people further than your local network - it sets you up with a robot friend on the internet which helps you find and communicate with people. Read more about Pubs and their role here.

Build from Source

This is more technical than the easy path, mainly useful if you're interested in developing Patchwork.

On Linux you'll need some more dependencies. On Debian:

sudo apt-get install libxext-dev libxtst-dev libxkbfile-dev g++ m4 automake libtool

With node (>= 4) and npm (>= 2) installed:

$ git clone https://github.com/ssbc/patchwork
$ cd patchwork
$ npm install
$ npm start

Follow steps 2. and 3. above to connect to the network.

Join The Community

Check out the following channels by typing their name (with #) in the search bar:

• #new-people: introduce yourself
• #faq: first impressions, what is confusing as a new user?
• #patchwork: report bugs, suggestions, etc
• #scuttlebutt: protocol related discussion

Here are some other favourites:

• #boats: people living on, hacking, and bulding boats
• #cooking-channel: nerds sharing recipes
• #solarpunk: step into the future
• #gardening: get some gardening on with your off-grid
• #anarchitecture: decentralise all the things

About This Handbook

To view the public handbook, browse to scuttlebutt.nz

The handbook is organized by topics:

• Contributing
• Talks
• Applications
• Principles
• FAQ
• Stories
• Modules
• Concepts
• Guides
• Glossary

Other documentation

Over time we have scattered documentation around in a few places:

• scuttlebot.io
• ssbc.github.io

Please help us consolidate this here!

Other Projects

Scuttlebutt is not the only dex project:

• Matrix
• Bitcoin
• Ethereum
• Zerocoin
• MaidSafe
• IPFS
• Dat
• Solid
• cjdns
• Syncthing
• Indie
• Twister
• WebTorrent
• StrongLink
• RetroShare
• ZeroNet