Moneropedia
Address Book
The Basics
In order to browse @I2P sites or services with Kovri, you'll need an address book. An address book will allow you to translate @I2P websites/services that use the .i2p top-level domain into an address that @I2P network will understand.
Without an address book, you would be stuck using a @base32-address every time you visit an @I2P website/service - and that's not fun!
In-depth information
Since DNS does not exist on the @I2P network, Kovri also does not use DNS or any sort of Canonically unique host resolution. Instead, Kovri pairs a Locally unique host to a @base64-address Destination in a @subscription. Once your address book is filled with a @subscription, you can resolve your favorite .i2p domain site into a usable @I2P destination.
Creating an Address Book
By default, your installation will come with a default public @subscription called hosts.txt in your @data-directory. When Kovri starts, it loads this subscription and fetches any other subscriptions you've specified. Once loaded, your address book will be appropriately filled. For details on how to manage subscriptions, see @subscription.
Updating the Address Book
Currently, there are several ways to update your address book:
- Use a @jump-service to insert I2P addresses into your address book
- Use a @jump-service to copy/paste an address into your private @subscription
- Manually add or subtract from a private @subscription
Note: Kovri is in heavy development. In the future there will be easier ways to update the address book
Address Book / Naming specification
For specification details and more, visit the Address Book and Naming Specification