# torrents.freebsd.org



## mix_room (Nov 12, 2012)

It seems as though torrents.freebsd.org is no longer active. 

Does anyone know if this is a permanent change, or only temporary?


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## MumbleFysh (Nov 12, 2012)

Went to download FreeBSD memstick image today, it seems the tracker is down altogether.


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## wblock@ (Nov 13, 2012)

Please enter a PR for this.


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## mix_room (Nov 13, 2012)

wblock@ said:
			
		

> Please enter a PR for this.



Done


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## Uniballer (Nov 13, 2012)

I couldn't find it.  What was the PR number?


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## Pushrod (Nov 13, 2012)

wblock@ said:
			
		

> Please enter a PR for this.



Seriously? Isn't there monitoring (Nagios, etc) for something like that?


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## wblock@ (Nov 14, 2012)

There might be; I don't know.  Recently there was a mass move of servers to a different data center.  That stirred up many old issues which were fixed, and no doubt others that have not yet been noticed.


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## dave (Nov 17, 2012)

*Torrent Tracker Down?*

Unable to load this page for the last day or so...  Anyone know what's going on?

http://torrents.freebsd.org:8080/


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## graudeejs (Nov 17, 2012)

Could be related to http://www.freebsd.org/news/2012-compromise.html


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## gordon@ (Nov 22, 2012)

Not related to the intrusion. It is due to the data center migration. Not sure of an ETA on restoring service.


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## UNIXgod (Nov 22, 2012)

Someone want to post the .torrent files? Maybe post it on the bay for now =)


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## maintain3r (Dec 11, 2012)

*torrents.FreeBSD.org is offline. It will probably will not be back.*

why?

http://torrents.freebsd.org/

```
Error 503 torrents.FreeBSD.org is offline. It will probably will not be back.
torrents.FreeBSD.org is offline. It will probably will not be back.
Guru Meditation:
XID: 2128897814
```


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## Beastie (Dec 11, 2012)

Not that I used it much, but I remember the last time I went there I saw it was heavily used. Too bad. :\


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## mix_room (Dec 11, 2012)

http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=173665


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## jackp (Dec 11, 2012)

Why even bother with the .torrent files? It'd be much simpler to use magnet links instead.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet_URI_scheme


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## Uniballer (Dec 11, 2012)

jackp said:
			
		

> Why even bother with the .torrent files? It'd be much simpler to use magnet links instead.



So what does it take to get this started?  How can the FreeBSD community be assured that the magnet link they have acquired will provide the real files and not malware?


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## kpa (Dec 11, 2012)

You have the exact same authenticity concerns with .torrent files, magnet links are no different. They are just a convenient way to refer to a torrent trough its DHT (distributed hash table) id.


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## Uniballer (Dec 11, 2012)

That wasn't a critique of magnet links, per se, but merely pointing out an issue with the distribution process.

Who packages the files into a torrent?

Who begins seeding the torrent?

Who distributes the magnet link?

How does Joe Average FreeBSD user get the magnet link?  Hopefully he gets it from someplace that gives him assurance that this is a good link.  I assume that after he downloads the distribution files he can verify them with a cryptographically secure hash (if he takes the time).

Getting a torrent file from torrents.freebsd.org perhaps didn't resolve all of these issues but it at least made the process understandable to torrent newbies.


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## Beastie (Dec 12, 2012)

If you're worried about security and reliability you can always generate the SHA256 or MD5 checksum of the ISO you've just downloaded and compare it to the one on the main FTP server. It's just that if the file happens to be corrupt/modified you'd have just wasted hundreds of MB of bandwidth for nothing.

As for the distribution, we could just as well upload the torrents on PirateBay or any other index-tracker. But it just felt "more right" to have an official index-tracker the Project can fully control.


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## eadler@ (Dec 12, 2012)

I've been told that there is a chance of having this service return, but not in the same form it used to.  The old software was riddled with security holes and wasn't maintained. 
There isn't an ETA on the return date (and it isn't guaranteed).


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## jackp (Dec 12, 2012)

Uniballer said:
			
		

> Who packages the files into a torrent?



I don't think there's any packaging to be done, really -- just run 'rhash' to create a BTIH (BitTorrent Info Hash) magnet link: http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/rhash/index.php?title=Usage_examples



			
				Uniballer said:
			
		

> Who begins seeding the torrent?



Perhaps the FTP servers could seed the torrents as well? That way there's no additional distribution required.



			
				Uniballer said:
			
		

> Who distributes the magnet link?



Ideally, the magnet link would be right there on the Getting FreeBSD page. My suggestion would be to put it in the "ISO" column; the existing "ISO" links for each platform would be changed to "FTP", with a "BitTorrent" magnet link below that. This approach simplifies things by putting all of the download links together -- so "Joe Average FreeBSD user" doesn't need to go hunting for a separate page to download via BitTorrent.


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## mix_room (Dec 12, 2012)

eadler@ said:
			
		

> I've been told that there is a chance of having this service return, but not in the same form it used to.



That would be great, it would give me something useful to do with my bandwidth.


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## jackp (Dec 12, 2012)

So, after a bit of searching, I found a much simpler solution to this problem.

I noticed that the FTP servers distributing the ISOs are also running HTTP (aside: why isn't there an HTTP link on the "Getting FreeBSD" page?). This means we can create .torrent files which use "web seeds" -- i.e., if your BitTorrent client can't find the swarm through DHT or a tracker, it'll just download the ISO via HTTP.

http://www.getright.com/seedtorrent.html
http://techie-buzz.com/how-to/what-are-web-seeds-bittorrent.html

Magnet links offer similar functionality -- though bizarrely, some clients (like uTorrent) support web seeds but only when loaded through .torrent files (they don't recognize the 'as' query parameter in magnet links).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet_URI_scheme#Normal_.28as.29

---
Some examples if you want to try them:

Magnet link (no trackers, no web seeds)
magnet:?xl=2524198912&dn=FreeBSD-9.1-RELEASE-i386-dvd1.iso&xt=urn:btih:2bgwexkvpzam3i55le357kfmk7bvct5i

Magnet link (no trackers, one (1) web seed)
magnet:?xl=2524198912&dn=FreeBSD-9.1-RELEASE-i386-dvd1.iso&xt=urn:btih:2bgwexkvpzam3i55le357kfmk7bvct5i&as=http%3A%2F%2Fftp.freebsd.org%2Fpub%2FFreeBSD%2Freleases%2Fi386%2Fi386%2FISO-IMAGES%2F9.1%2FFreeBSD-9.1-RELEASE-i386-dvd1.iso

.torrent (no trackers, three (3) web seeds)
(see attachment)


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## Uniballer (Dec 13, 2012)

I think that this could be a brilliant solution with a very low infrastructure impact.  Now how to get the release people on board?


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## eadler@ (Dec 13, 2012)

I will talk with them and see what I could do.


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## nakal (Dec 13, 2012)

You don't need to have a tracker running, if they are insecure, but provide magnet links and keep the torrents seeded. Torrent & DHT is great for cheap distribution technology, better than running hundreds of HTTP/FTP mirrors, in my opinion.


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## johnd (Dec 13, 2012)

nakal said:
			
		

> Torrent & DHT is great for cheap distribution technology, better than running hundreds of HTTP/FTP mirrors, in my opinion.



+1 :beer


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## eadler@ (Dec 13, 2012)

FWIW, I've brought it to the attention of the appropriate people.  Please don't expect a reply until *after* 9.1 is released.


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## Sebulon (Jan 21, 2013)

I was upset not to find any "official" torrents to download, because I want to support the project every way I can. After a little googling, I found these, courtesy of the PC-BSD project:
http://www.gotbsd.net/

/Sebulon


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## hmallett (Mar 3, 2013)

Just to bring this thread back to life, I've put a page of magnet links for all versions of FreeBSD that were on the old torrent tracker (all 343 GB of them) up at http://www.hmallett.co.uk/2013/02/bittorrent-magnet-links-for-freebsd/


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## dave (Mar 3, 2013)

hmallett said:
			
		

> Just to bring this thread back to life, I've put a page of magnet links for all versions of FreeBSD that were on the old torrent tracker (all 343 GB of them) up at http://www.hmallett.co.uk/2013/02/bittorrent-magnet-links-for-freebsd/



Looks like that page is down right now.


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## hmallett (Mar 3, 2013)

Working for me!


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## dave (Mar 3, 2013)

Yes, me too now.


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## alhirzel (Apr 18, 2013)

Torrents from http://gotbsd.net/ are nice and fast, in case someone comes to this thread from Google wanting a torrent.


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## GODhack (Feb 10, 2014)

So, can I get a FreeBSD 10.0 torrent/magnet link somewhere?


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## worldi (Feb 10, 2014)

Someone on the mailing lists suggested using btdigg.org.

The checksums (see end of page) look good.


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