Make sure it runs in the background. When you download any files via IPFS, the process continues running so it can distribute that file to peers too. Hence you don't need a central server.

Be sure to check your package manager for IPFS if you have one.

Install IPFS

2 | Pick any podcast client

Any podcast client will do, but keep in mind some don't support video. gPodder is a simple client focused on audio and video, and NewsFlash is an attractive client for articles.

There are many available clients, but you only need one, and you may already have one installed.

gPodder: audio/video NewsFlash: text

3 | Find some subscriptions

This may be the hardest part. There's no central server keeping up with all the channels. So you'll need to find them some other way, maybe from a friend or another website. Some of these may link to localhost:8080, which means the feed also has no server, but instead will run through your IPFS installation.

http://localhost:8080/ipns/k2k4r8liyjxanmri70a0rbw7u2dy03078cj4ssijex5cjjizc7628bi5

1| Install ipfspod and create your channel

If you're on Linux you may already have Python installed. Otherwise, you can find it on the Python website

This will create a new directory by the same name, and fill it with some templates you can change to your liking.

python3 -m pip install ipfspod
python3 -m ipfspod new my-channel-name
cd my-channel-name

2 | Prepare your video

• Consider encoding your video as webm, so anyone can open them, even with Chrome and Firefox, for free.
• License your work with a open license since IPFS depends on people sharing copies.
• Keep your videos under a few GB so people can still open them on old devices

If you need to reencode your video, consider Handbrake for an attractive and easy to use GUI consider, or ffmpeg for a powerful command line encoder.

Handbrake (GUI) FFMpeg (CLI)

3 | Add your post and publish your work

There are two steps because publishing can take around a minute. However, publishing takes about the same amount time regardless how many videos are involved. Feel free to add many videos and publish once.

Adding a new post is highly configurable, and if you want to further customize it, the posts are stored a JSON so they are easy to edit automatically or manually.

python3 -m ipfspod add . "My Post Title"
python3 -m ipfspod publish .

1 | Make a new channel key

IPFS files are immutable, but it does include a name system named IPNS that allows you to create updatable links. This is the link you'll give your subscribers so that their clients can check for updates.

To do this, you create a new cryptographic key. The name is just for you, so you can keep track of a lot of links if necessary. IPFS will handle storing the key for you. You may also want to export it and keep a backup. If you lose it, you will have to give your subscribers a new link.

ipfs key gen my-channel-name

2 | Summarize the channel

It's called Really Simple Syndication for a reason. Start with this example and edit it to match your new channel. Then save it as my-channel-name.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
 <title>Mooresville Trailcam</title>
 <description>A trail camera in the woods of North Carolina</description>
 <link>http://localhost:8080/ipns/k2k4r8liyjxanmri70a0rbw7u2dy03078cj4ssijex5cjjizc7628bi5</link>
 <copyright>Creative Commons - Attribution</copyright>
 <lastBuildDate>Sun, 10 Jan 2021 10:20:00 +0400</lastBuildDate>
 <pubDate>Sun, 10 Jan 2021 10:20:00 +0400</pubDate>
 <ttl>1800</ttl>

VIDEO DETAILS

</channel>
</rss>

3 | Prepare your video

• Consider encoding your video as webm, so anyone can open them, even with Chrome and Firefox, for free.
• License your work with a open license since IPFS depends on people sharing copies.
• Keep your videos under a few GB so people can still open them on old devices

If you need to reencode your video, consider Handbrake for an attractive and easy to use GUI consider, or ffmpeg for a powerful command line encoder.

Handbrake (GUI) FFMpeg (CLI)

4 | Add your video

You'll need to index your new video with ipfs add so you get a hash you can include in your enclosure link. At this point your file is technically available on the Internet but no one can really find it.

ipfs add -Q my-new-video.webm

5 | Add video details

Once you're created the information for your channel, add the videos you want to share by replacing VIDEO DETAILS with stanzas like the following, one stanza for each video you want to add.

<item>
  <title>Back Wall Trailcam - Mooresville NC</title>
  <description>A video slideshow from a trailcam in Mooresville NC</description>
  <pubDate>Sun, 10 Jan 2021 16:29:15 -0500</pubDate>
  <guid>QmbZNHsJX81WTECJrzeRErc5bfkAcFpFfjoNUTSn1hMr65</guid>
  <enclosure
    url="http://localhost:8080/ipfs/QmbZNHsJX81WTECJrzeRErc5bfkAcFpFfjoNUTSn1hMr65"
    length="35638786"
    type="video/webm" />
</item>

6 | Publish your channel

Once you have your file ready, upload your new episode list with ipfs add and then update your IPNS link with ipfs name. Now your RSS feed is public and updated!

IPNS is not the fastest algorithm in the world so expect to wait here for about a minute.

FEED_HASH=`ipfs add -Q my-channel-name.xml`
ipfs name publish --key my-channel-name $FEED_HASH