What is the address book?
The address book application is part of your I2P installation. You can use it to connect human-readable names, like i2p-projekt.i2p, to I2P Destinations.
It regularly updates your hosts.txt file from distributed sources or "subscriptions". In the default configuration, the address book is only subscribed to i2p-projekt.i2p. Subscribing to additional sites is easy, just add them to your subscriptions.
For more information on naming in I2P, see the overview.
How to use the Address Book?
The I2P Address Book allows you to manage addresses by sorting them into categories. You may use these categories according to how you intend to use the address.
- Router: These addresses are added automatically, by your subscriptions. If you publish an address book, the router address book will be shared with other I2P users.
- Local: This is your personal address book, for hosts which you publish and share with others.
- Private: This address book if used for addresses which you do not want to share with other I2P users.
How does the address book application work?
The address book application regularly polls your subscriptions and merges their content into your "router" address book. Then it merges your "local" address book into the router address book as well. If configured, the router address book is now written to the "published" address book, which will be publicly available if you are running an I2P Site.
The router also uses a private address book, which is not merged or published. Hosts in the private address book can be accessed by you but their addresses are never distributed to others. The private address book can also be used for aliases of hosts in your other address books.