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- About BitTorrent:
- =================
-
- BitTorrent is a tool for distributing files. It's extremely easy to
- use - downloads are started by clicking on hyperlinks. Whenever more
- than one person is downloading at once they send pieces of the file(s)
- to each other, thus relieving the central server's bandwidth
- burden. Even with many simultaneous downloads, the upload burden on
- the central server remains quite small, since each new downloader
- introduces new upload capacity.
-
-
- Instructions for users:
- =======================
-
- Once you install BitTorrent, you should be able to download .torrent
- files. If you have any questions, please read the FAQ:
-
- http://www.bittorrent.com/FAQ.html
-
- If you find a bug, check the FAQ for your bug. If your bug is not in
- the FAQ, please send email to:
-
- bugs at bittorrent.com
-
-
- Instructions for publishers:
- ============================
-
- Instructions for trackerless operation are in TRACKERLESS.txt.
-
- To start hosting -
-
- 1) start running a tracker
-
- First, you need a tracker. If you're on a dynamic IP or otherwise
- unreliable connection, you should find someone else's tracker and
- use that. Otherwise, follow the rest of this step.
-
- Trackers refer downloaders to each other. The load on the tracker
- is very small, so you only need one for all your files.
-
- To run a tracker, execute the command bittorrent-tracker.py Here is an
- example -
-
- ./bittorrent-tracker.py --port 6969 --dfile dstate
-
- --dfile is where persistent information is kept on the tracker across
- invocations. It makes everything start working again immediately if
- you restart the tracker. A new one will be created if it doesn't exist
- already.
-
- The tracker must be on a net-addressable box, and you must know the
- ip number or dns name of it.
-
- The tracker outputs web logs to standard out. You can get information
- about the files it's currently serving by getting its index page.
-
- 2) create a torrent file using maketorrent.py (GUI) or
- maketorrent-console.py. The GUI version, maketorrent.py is preferred.
-
- To generate a torrent file using maketorrent-console.py and give it the file
- you want a torrent for and the url of the tracker
-
- ./maketorrent-console.py myfile.ext http://my.tracker:6969/announce
-
- This will generate a file called myfile.ext.torrent
-
- Make sure to include the port number in the tracker url if it isn't 80.
-
- (You may also use maketorrent.py to create trackerless torrents. See
- the file TRACKERLESS.txt for information about trackerless operation.)
-
- This command may take a while to scan over the whole file hashing it.
-
- The /announce path is special and hard-coded into the tracker.
- Make sure to give the domain or ip your tracker is on instead of
- my.tracker.
-
- You can use either a dns name or an IP address in the tracker url.
-
- 3) associate .torrent with application/x-bittorrent on your web server
-
- The way you do this is dependent on the particular web server you're using.
-
- You must have a web server which can serve ordinary static files and is
- addressable from the internet at large.
-
- 4) put the newly made .torrent file on your web server
-
- Note that the file name you choose on the server must end in .torrent, so
- it gets associated with the right mimetype.
-
- 5) put up a static page which links to the location you uploaded to in step 4
-
- The file you uploaded in step 4 is linked to using an ordinary url.
-
- 6) start a downloader as a resume on the complete file
-
- You have to run a downloader which already has the complete file,
- so new downloaders have a place to get it from. Here's an example -
-
- ./bittorrent-console.py --url http://my.server/myfile.torrent --save_as myfile.ext
-
- Make sure the saveas argument points to the already complete file.
-
- If you're running the complete downloader on the same machine or LAN as
- the tracker, give a --ip parameter to the complete downloader. The --ip
- parameter can be either an IP address or DNS name.
-
- BitTorrent defaults to port 6881. If it can't use 6881, (probably because
- another download is happening) it tries 6882, then 6883, etc. It gives up
- after 6889.
-
- 7) you're done!
-
- Now you just have to get people downloading! Refer them to the page you
- created in step 5.
-
- BitTorrent can also publish whole directories - simply point
- btmaketorrent.py at the directory with files in it, they'll be
- published as one unit. All files in subdirectories will be included,
- although files and directories named 'CVS', 'core', 'Thumbs.db',
- 'desktop.ini' and beginning with a dot ('.') are ignored.
-
-
- Instructions for installation:
- ==============================
-
- Instructions for Unix installation are in INSTALL.unix.txt
-
- Instructions for Windows installation and creating Windows installers
- are in BUILD.windows.txt
-