Using Debtorrent in frequently updated system

[Cameron Dale]

Sorry, forgot to CC the list.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Cameron Dale <camrdale at gmail.com>
Date: Jan 19, 2008 11:23 AM
Subject: Re: Using Debtorrent in frequently updated system
To: Voker57 <voker57 at gmail.com>


On 1/19/08, Voker57 <voker57 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Ok, thanks for nice and clear explanation :). This, pitifully, renders
> debtorrent nearly useless on my distro. Hope unique pieces will get
> implemented soon.

If you do an apt-get update right before trying to download some files
you should be able to find some peers. There seems to be a few who are
always tracking the latest update. I did a recent major upgrade and
was able to download 903 MB out of a total 1.5 GB (61%) from peers
rather than mirrors. Of course the other files downloaded fine from
the mirrors, but I just saved my mirror almost 1 GB of bandwidth! That
was on amd64 too, which doesn't have as many peers as i386 does. I
don't think that makes it useless, but YMMV.

In particular, if you're using an unpopular architecture (i.e. not
i386, powerpc, or amd64), then you may not be able to find any peers.
If you want to see how many you'll get, just do an apt-get update,
then check the debtorrent web statistics for your local machine. It
should list the number of peers you can contact. If you want to see
how many are actually in the torrent you're using, you can look at the
'info hash' on the web statistics page, then go to the tracker page
[1] and search for the hash there (only the first 6 or 8 characters
should be sufficient). Currently the largest swarms have 15-17 peers
in them.

The numbers may be different due to people not having there ports
forwarded properly (NATed), which is also something that would limit
the number of peers you can contact. If your ports are forwarded
properly, then you will be able to contact all the peers within about
30 minutes (as the NATed peers will get your address from the tracker
and contact you). You can find more information on port forwarding in
the FAQ [2].

[1]: http://dttracker.debian.net:6969/
[2]: http://debtorrent.alioth.debian.org/FAQ/#index3h3

Thanks,
Cameron