Distributed search engine YaCy version 1.0

Free software activists have launched a new project: the search engine YaCy , which in the future can compete with Google, Yahoo / Bing, Yandex and other closed commercial search engines. Version YaCy 1.0 was released after five years of development, and now anyone can finally join the network.

The YaCy search engine works on the P2P principle, that is, the storage of the search index and the processing of search queries are carried out not on the central server, but on the Freeworld distributed peer network. Any user who installs software under GNU / Linux, Windows or MacOS can log in to the network, now there are about a thousand nodes on the network.

Real-time Freeworld peers network diagram

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If you have your own website, then at least index it and place the index on your own Freeworld site. To do this, after indexing, disable the DHT Distribution and DHT Receive functions in the program. If you wish, you can index all interesting sites and use your local search engine ( screenshot )

The distributed network of peers and open code guarantee the stability of the search engine, protect it from attempts at censorship (see SOPA, PROTECT IP, etc.) or charges of subjectivity, as well as reliably protect users' private information. No storage of request history, no tracking cookies.

The demo version of the search engine is now experiencing a heavy load in connection with the release of the press release. To help the portal withstand a couple of days, after installing the program, please provide your static IP on the forum , it will redirect search requests from the portal to it.

According to the authors of the project, search engines are a key element in the web infrastructure, an important link between billions of users and the information they are looking for.



“For such an important function, we cannot rely on several large companies and sacrifice our own privacy,” says Michael Christen, the leader of the YaCy project.



In some way, YaCy is an analogue of the free social network Diaspora , which is positioned as an alternative to closed centralized Facebook / Google + / etc. YaCy is supported by the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE).

Project FAQ
API for external access to the YaCy search server