Blockchain-based Decentralized Source Code Repository Hosting Service with Middleware Approach

Abstract

Software developers must work together in order to provide a better product. As a result, many software developers use version control systems throughout project development since it helps them manage source code and enables them to keep track of the many versions they’ve worked on. Items are organized, regulated, and directed by this strategy. In spite of the fact that the version control system is generally decentralized, there is no properly defined practical method for remotely maintaining the code that is not centralized. For a distributed network of computers, we describe and explain our solution, which leverages a blockchain and smart contracts to authorize, monitor, and perform version control actions on a code repository. Using our strategy, there is no need to have a centralized authority that is trustworthy. The immutability of the code and the ownership information of the code writer are protected via the blockchain. A network of servers (IPFS) also maintains the security of the code repository and its content. In this system, the code is stored on a distributed network of servers, ensuring its availability and integrity, while a decentralized blockchain ensures ownership information and the immutability of the repository by encrypting information from the codebase’s remote location with a hash that combines the owner’s key and the entire code repository.