01
Address exhaustion — solved
Each ASN holder receives 4,294,967,296 host addresses. The 64-bit r.r.r.r.n.n.n.n format ends CGNAT-driven scarcity without renumbering anything.
Internet-Draft · Intended status: Standards Track
Build the Branch, Ship the Solution.
IPv8 is a managed network protocol suite that resolves IPv4 exhaustion, unifies network management, and stays 100% backward compatible — no flag day, no forced migration. Help fund the kernel build and the first reference implementation of the addressing schema.
IPv8=ASN+IPv4// r.r.r.r + n.n.n.n
$ ipv8 addr showr.r.r.r.n.n.n.n// 64-bit · IPv4 ⊂ IPv8
2⁶⁴
address space
2³²
hosts per ASN
100%
IPv4 backward compat
0
flag day
§ 01 — Why IPv8
IPv6 fixed addresses. IPv8 fixes the operating model.
After 25 years of dual-stack effort, IPv6 still carries a minority of global traffic. IPv8 takes a different bet: ship a coherent management suite first, and make the address upgrade a side-effect of running it.
02
Management, unified
DHCP8, DNS8, NTP8, NetLog8, OAuth8, ACL8 and XLATE8 collapse into one Zone Server. One DHCP Discover delivers every service endpoint a device needs.
03
Security by protocol
East–west isolation via ACL8. North–south egress validated against DNS8 + WHOIS8. Hardcoded-IP malware C2 channels stop working by default.
04
A bounded routing table
/16 minimum injectable prefix and WHOIS8 route validation make the global BGP8 table structurally finite — bounded by ASN count, not prefix count.
05
Backward compatible
An IPv8 address with r.r.r.r = 0.0.0.0 is an IPv4 address. ARP8 dual-probe selects the correct version per neighbour. No IPv4 device ever sees a v8 header.
06
Operator familiar
Dotted-quad addressing extended, not replaced. ASN dot notation: 64496.192.0.2.1. Four lines of router config to enable IPv8.
§ 02 — Scope of work
What the funds build.
Two engineering tracks and one validation track, run by a dedicated project manager against the published Internet-Draft.
Branch
Kernel build of the IPv8 stack
- Linux kernel branch implementing the IPv8 packet header (RFC §6)
- AF_INET8 / sockaddr_in8 socket API surface
- ARP8 dual-probe neighbour capability discovery
- 8to4 tunnelling for IPv8-over-IPv4 transit
Reference
ZoneServer v1 reference implementation
- DHCP8 single-response service bundle
- DNS8 resolver with A8 record support
- OAuth8 local JWT validation cache
- Even/odd .254 / .253 active-active gateway pair
Proof
Addressing schema test
- End-to-end r.r.r.r.n.n.n.n routing across two test ASNs
- 127.x.x.x internal zone isolation verified across ~24M zones
- ASN-encoded WHOIS8 route validation in the loop
- Conformance report published under draft-thain-ipv8-02
§ 03 — Milestones
A sequenced build, publicly tracked.
- M101/05
Project manager onboarded
Spec triage, contributor RFC process, weekly public build log.
- M202/05
Kernel branch — header & sockets
IPv8 header parsing, AF_INET8 surface, ARP8 dual-probe in-tree.
- M303/05
ZoneServer v1 alpha
DHCP8 + DNS8 + OAuth8 active-active pair on a reference appliance.
- M404/05
Two-ASN test fabric
End-to-end r.r.r.r routing, WHOIS8 validation in the path.
- M505/05
Conformance report
Public results, packet captures, and -03 spec revision submitted.
§ 04 — Where the money goes
Every dollar tied to a deliverable.
Funds are routed through the GoFundMe campaign and disbursed against milestone acceptance. Quarterly statements are published alongside the build log.
Contribute to the campaignProject Manager (12 months)35%
Spec stewardship, RFC coordination, public reporting.
Kernel engineering — IPv8 branch35%
Header, sockets, ARP8, 8to4, upstream patches.
ZoneServer v1 reference build20%
DHCP8 / DNS8 / OAuth8 / XLATE8 services.
Test fabric & infrastructure10%
Two-ASN lab, WHOIS8 registry, CI, packet captures.
GoFundMe — Campaign live
Fund the kernel.
Validate the schema.
Back the IPv8 build branch and ZoneServer v1. Contributions are public, progress is public, packet captures are public.
§ 05 — FAQ
Common questions.
Is IPv8 a replacement for IPv6?
+
IPv8 is an alternative successor to IPv4 with a different design bet: integrated network management plus single-stack backward compatibility. IPv4 is a proper subset of IPv8 — r.r.r.r = 0.0.0.0 is an IPv4 address.
Do I need to upgrade my devices?
+
No. IPv4-only devices on a shared segment with IPv8 devices continue to operate unchanged. ARP8 dual-probe ensures an IPv8 sender transmits IPv4 to an IPv4 neighbour. No IPv4 device ever receives a packet with version 8 in the IP header.
What does the GoFundMe actually fund?
+
A dedicated project manager, a kernel build branch implementing the IPv8 stack, the first ZoneServer v1 reference implementation, and a two-ASN lab to validate the addressing schema end to end.
Will the work be open?
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Yes. Code lands on a public branch, the spec evolves under draft-thain-ipv8-* on the IETF datatracker, and milestone reports are published with packet captures.
Who is behind it?
+
J. Thain (One Limited), author of draft-thain-ipv8-02 and the companion specifications covering routing protocols, RINE, ZoneServer, WHOIS8, NetLog8, and Update8.