Re: Torrents

["Lennart Sorensen" <lsorense@csclub.uwaterloo.ca>]

On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 02:36:17AM -0300, Mariano Lazzaro wrote:
> Hi, I was wondering if there is a way to download Debian
> CDs/DVDs/Blu-rays via torrents, because I consider that way easier
> than any other alternative, since torrents nowadays are very widely
> used.
> 
> This would also contribute greatly to the Debian Project because it
> would reduce bandwidth usage from Debian Mirrors, so users help
> users and becomes a true community effort by using torrents.
> 
> Thanks for reading, thanks for your time.

The debian mirrors have vastly better bandwidth than people running
bittorrent.  Also bittorrent is not an efficient distribution method
compared to a good distribution network which Debian has.  Remember
Debian's mirrors are different companies and universities donating
rack space and bandwidth (and often servers) to the Debian project.
It isn't costing Debian anything.

jigdo on the other hand is briliant since it means the mirrors don't have
to waste space on the iso images, but instead just store the packages
everyone uses anyhow.

https://www.kernel.org/doc/ols/2008/ols2008v1-pages-173-182.pdf is a
great presentation on why bittorrent isn't a good idea for large scale
distribution (it is fine for small projects that don't have a good way
to distribute things).

But I do believe debian does have bittorrent available, but it's a waste
of time to use compared to jigdo

-- 
Len Sorensen