git-annex/doc/special_remotes/bittorrent.mdwn
Joey Hess 8d06930c88
web special remote is no longer a singleton
Allow initremote of additional special remotes with type=web, in addition
to the default web special remote.

When --sameas=web is used, these provide additional names for the web
special remote, and may also have their own additional configuration
(once there is any for the web special remote) and cost.

Sponsored-by: Dartmouth College's DANDI project
2023-01-09 15:49:20 -04:00

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Markdown

Similar to the [[web]] special remote, git-annex can use BitTorrent as
a source for files that are added to the git-annex repository.
It supports both `.torrent` files, and `magnet:` links. When you run `git
annex addurl` with either of these, it will download the contents of the
torrent and add it to the git annex repository.
See [[tips/using_the_web_as_a_special_remote]] for usage examples.
git-annex uses [aria2](http://aria2.sourceforge.net/) to download torrents.
If git-annex is not built using the haskell torrent library to parse
torrents, it also needs the `btshowmetainfo` program, from either
bittornado or the original BitTorrent client.
The bittorrent special remote is always enabled, without any manual setup being
needed. Its name is "bittorrent".
## notes
Currently git-annex only supports downloading content from a torrent;
it cannot upload or remove content.
Multi-file torrents are supported; to handle them, `git annex addurl`
will add a directory containing all the files from the torrent.
It's hard to say if a torrent is healthy enough to let a file be downloaded
from it, and harder to predict if a torrent will stay healthy. So,
git-annex takes a cautious approach and when dropping a file, won't
treat this special remote as one of the required [[copies]]. It's probably
a good idea to configure git-annex to fully distrust this remote, by
running `git annex untrust bittorrent`