Dummy needs help creating a torrent

December 6, 2006 1:25 PM

I need some help creating a bit torrent and then sharing it with a limited number of people

I have a video file that I'd like to share with fewer than a dozen people. I've finally figured out how to create the torrent using Azureus but I can't figure out how to create a link to send to others so they can join the torrent. Can anyone help me figure this out?

posted by buggzzee23 to computers & internet (10 comments total)

You need to submit your torrent to a tracker (most likely belonging to a torrent site), or run your own tracker.
posted by utsutsu at 1:54 PM on December 6, 2006

I've used blogtorrent with minimal effort and much success.
posted by tdischino at 2:02 PM on December 6, 2006

If you've already got the tracker part working, or you created a trackerless torrent (DHT), then you simply need to upload the .torrent file to some webspace and distribute the link. Alternately, email the .torrent file to everyone.
posted by utsutsu at 2:05 PM on December 6, 2006

You need to submit your torrent to a tracker (most likely belonging to a torrent site), or run your own tracker.
posted by utsutsu

Is there a torrent site where I can submit the torrent without being a registered user? And is it possible to sybmit the torrent to a site and not have it listed in their mist revcently submitted list?

I've used blogtorrent with minimal effort and much success.
posted by tdischino

Ot looks like you need a website for that to work and I don't have a website, so that's out. But thanks for the suggestion.
posted by buggzzee23 at 2:16 PM on December 6, 2006

If you've already got the tracker part working, or you created a trackerless torrent (DHT), then you simply need to upload the .torrent file to some webspace and distribute the link. Alternately, email the .torrent file to everyone.
posted by utsutsu

I've created a DHT and submitted the .torrent file to demonoid, but I can't figure out where to go from there. Is the DHT the link I need to send to everyone? If so, how do they use it?
posted by buggzzee23 at 2:17 PM on December 6, 2006

If you've submitted it to demonoid, then you are likely using their tracker. If that's the case, demonoid is a private site and everyone you want to share with will need a login. Demonoid does allow the posting of torrents from other trackers, but I think your friends will still need a login to get the .torrent file. Also, I don't believe there is any way to stop your torrent from being listed with all the other public torrents. Your friends need to go to the torrent listing on demonoid.com, download the .torrent file and open it in their bittorrent clients.

If you've created a DHT torrent, and are seeding it, I think that's all you need to do. The only thing left is to get the .torrent file to people. This means either simply emailing it to them, or posting it to some webspace and distributing the URL. A lot of ISP's give you some small amount of webspace with every email address. Or you could use a site like YouSendIt.
posted by utsutsu at 2:26 PM on December 6, 2006

From Azureus' website regarding trackerless torrents:

For torrents that are tracked decentrally, Azureus can export a "Magnet Link". This is of the form "magnet:?xt=urn:btih:..." and can be used to download the torrent from the distributed database via the "open->url" menu item.

I've got zero experience with trackerless torrents but Azureus should know what to do. Make sure you're seeding and are connectable (i.e. all green in Azureus) and things should work.

If you're going with a normal, tracked torrent you'll need a public tracker and some way to get the .torrent file that you created when you made the torrent to the people who want the file(s). If you have a decent connection and can open ports to the outside, Azureus has a built in tracker which can simplify things enormously.
posted by Skorgu at 3:06 PM on December 6, 2006

Thanks everyone for the help. Is there a torrent site that doesn't require a login where I could upload the torrent to?
posted by buggzzee23 at 4:51 PM on December 6, 2006

Why are you resisting simply emailing it? That sounds like by far the least work to me. .torrent files are really small.
posted by flabdablet at 6:19 PM on December 6, 2006

try mininova (contains links to four open trackers).
posted by MyDocuments at 9:49 PM on December 6, 2006