# Release notes for beta-0.910


## Features

- Added optional IPFS-backed media distribution. Local storage remains
  authoritative, while public local media can also be added to a configured Kubo
  node and exposed with the Aktor-specific `AKT_IPFS_CID` URL hint.
- Added remote IPFS media import for federated Aktor instances. When an incoming
  attachment URL contains `AKT_IPFS_CID`, Aktor can fetch the bytes through its
  configured Kubo API, validate them through the normal media pipeline, store
  them locally, and then serve the attachment from the local fileserver.
- Introduced a modular remote media hint layer so IPFS is only the first backend
  implementation. The same structure can later support other content-addressed
  or remote distribution systems such as torrent-style hashes or Syncthing-like
  backends.
- Added generic remote media hint metadata to attachment storage while retaining
  compatibility with the IPFS-specific fields used by this release.
- Added explicit IPFS runtime observability. When IPFS mode is configured,
  startup logs now report Kubo RPC probe success or failure, and each local
  media processing job logs whether it was added to IPFS and which CID was
  produced.
- Added plain-text editor surfaces for post composition and administrative text
  fields, including terms and conditions, instance description, and profile bio
  editing. These editors preserve plain text, newlines, and blank lines without
  converting user text into HTML.
- Added EAL5+-style function and test preambles across several Go source
  batches, documenting function purpose, preconditions, postconditions,
  invariants, and test assertions to make the inherited GoToSocial code easier
  to audit and maintain.

## Fixes

- Fixed local follow lookup for newly approved local accounts by accepting local
  account handles in the follow lookup path. This keeps local follows from
  failing with a spurious `404` when the target account exists locally.
- Tightened signup approval so approval notifications and admin approval flow
  are gated on email confirmation. Unconfirmed accounts remain pending and can be
  cleaned up by the inactive-account cleanup task instead of becoming approved
  users too early.
- Improved public profile rendering so long post bodies are constrained by their
  frame instead of overflowing the containing layout.
- Improved public-page color contrast, including cases where red text on blue,
  white text on white, or similarly low-contrast combinations made public pages
  and blocked-server pages hard to read.
- Unified Settings people-list rendering to avoid inconsistent account/admin
  list behavior between panels.
- Rejected malicious remote media hints whose CID bytes do not validate as
  supported media. A URL that looks like an image but resolves to non-media or
  executable-like bytes now fails the normal media processing path instead of
  becoming a usable local attachment.

## Documentation

- Documented the IPFS/Kubo deployment model in `IPFS.md`, including a ready to
  use Docker Compose example, required Aktor environment variables, Kubo ports,
  and which ports must remain private.
- Documented the IPFS federation behavior: `AKT_IPFS_CID` is a fetch hint only;
  after a successful remote fetch, the receiving Aktor instance stores and
  serves the media locally.
- Documented the IPFS privacy/performance tradeoff. IPFS can behave like a
  distributed CDN for public media while reducing repeated origin-server
  downloads, but it is not anonymity; IPFS logs may reveal interest in a CID at
  the node/network level without reliably identifying the final user or the
  original publisher.
- Updated `INSTALL.md` and `IPFS.md` with the optional IPFS media mode, remote
  media hint configuration, local-storage authority model, and greppable `IPFS:`
  operational log markers.

## Tests and quality

- Added IPFS media contract smoke coverage for the happy path and failure path.
- Added regression coverage for non-media bytes fetched through a remote media
  hint.
- Added an end-to-end IPFS runtime smoke test that starts a real Kubo container,
  uploads media through Aktor, creates a public post, verifies that the
  serialized media URL contains `AKT_IPFS_CID`, and verifies that the server logs
  contain the `IPFS:` startup/add markers.
- Re-ran the full smoke suite during the IPFS implementation work and verified


## What's next to v1?

- torrent storage. Stop giving your data to S3 , f**k the new "european storage" someone is committed to. We want a distributed fediverse, we need a distributed storage/CDN
- syncthing backend storage: same as torrent and IPFS.
- maybe sftp. You buy a small instance in some hosting center, or even some cheap website space accessible with sftp, then you load there your pic, and there is your CDN.
- I2P transport: the possibility to use I2P darknet for communication among instances.