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[Fediverse BackUp]

Could an ActivityPub / ActivityStreams file be a "good" format for backing up a post?

(I.e., what I call an "Activity File". I.e., the file that has a media-type of "application/activity+json".)

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#ActivityPub #ActivityStreams #BackUp #BackUps #FediBackUp #FediDev #FediDevs #Fediverse

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[Fediverse BackUp]

So, I think an (ActivityPub / ActivityStreams) Activity File COULD be a "good" format for backing-up a single post on the Fediverse, but —

Most (maybe all) extant Fediverse software would need to change a bit. Fediverse software would need to support embedding "everything" in a single Activity File (rather than referring to "everything" else by URLs).

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#ActivityPub #ActivityStreams #BackUp #BackUps #FediBackUp #FediDev #FediDevs #Fediverse

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[Fediverse BackUp]

Also — what about comments / replies —

Someone people (including me) would want at least some of the comments / replies to be included in a BackUp for a post.

So, for an Activity File to be a "good" format for a BackUp, a single Activity File would also need to contain (all or selected) the comments / replies to the post.

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#ActivityPub #ActivityStreams #BackUp #BackUps #FediBackUp #FediDev #FediDevs #Fediverse

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[Fediverse BackUp]

Also — we would need to consider Threads / Storms —

Where people reply to their own post to make a larger post made up of smaller posts.

(I.e., what I have been doing here 🙂 )

For an Activity File to be a "good" format for a BackUp, a single Activity File would need to contain all the posts in the Thread / Storm.

Also —

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#ActivityPub #ActivityStreams #BackUp #BackUps #FediBackUp #FediDev #FediDevs #Fediverse

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[Fediverse BackUp]

Also — we would need to consider Threads / Storms —

Where people reply to their own post to make a larger post made up of smaller posts.

(I.e., what I have been doing here 🙂 )

for an Activity File to be a "good" format for a BackUp, a single Activity File would need to contain all the posts in the Thread / Storm.

Also —

...

#ActivityPub #ActivityStreams #BackUp #BackUps #FediBackUp #FediDev #FediDevs #Fediverse

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[Fediverse BackUp]

But — for an Activity File to be a "good" format for a BackUp, there would need to be a way to get the Fediverse software to embed the (non-text) media (such as images, audio, video, etc) into an Activity File.

Also —

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#ActivityPub #ActivityStreams #BackUp #BackUps #FediBackUp #FediDev #FediDevs #Fediverse

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[Fediverse BackUp]

Now, having said that, I don't think there is anything about ActivityPub / ActivityStreams that "prevents" Fediverse software from not embedding (non-text) media (such as images, audio, video, etc) into an Activity File —

For example, an "Image" Object can contain a ("mediaType" and a) "content" field (rather than an "href" field).

But —

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#ActivityPub #ActivityStreams #BackUp #BackUps #FediBackUp #FediDev #FediDevs #Fediverse

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[Fediverse BackUp]

If you wanted to BackUp a post on the Fediverse, and all you download was the Activity File (with URLs pointing to the non-text media), then — you lost all the (non-text) media (such as images, audio, video, etc) that were part of the post.

Which would be bad.

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#ActivityPub #ActivityStreams #BackUp #BackUps #FediBackUp #FediDev #FediDevs #Fediverse

2/

[Fediverse BackUp]

I think one challenge, in practice, with using an Activity File as a BackUp Format is that — a lot of Fediverse software does NOT embed (non-text) media (such images, audio, video, etc) in the Activity File.

But, instead references them using URLs.

(And, by "URL" I mean "URI", "IRI", etc.)

Usually this is probably a good thing, but —

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#ActivityPub #ActivityStreams #BackUp #BackUps #FediBackUp #FediDev #FediDevs #Fediverse

1/

[Fediverse BackUp]

Could an ActivityPub / ActivityStreams file be a "good" format for backing up a post?

(I.e., what I call an "Activity File". I.e., the file that has a media-type of "application/activity+json".)

...

#ActivityPub #ActivityStreams #BackUp #BackUps #FediBackUp #FediDev #FediDevs #Fediverse