Academic Torrents Python API

!! Not currently maintained !!

Issues reported with large files. Use https://aria2.github.io/ instead.

!! Not currently maintained !!

This repository is an implementation of the BitTorrent protocol written in Python and downloadable as a pip module. You can download datasets from AcademicTorrents.com in two lines of code in any Python script:

import academictorrents as at
path_of_giant_dataset = at.get("323a0048d87ca79b68f12a6350a57776b6a3b7fb") # Download mnist dataset

You can also use the at-get command to download datasets directly from your terminal:

at-get 323a0048d87ca79b68f12a6350a57776b6a3b7fb -o ~/Downloads

For people who want to download datasets

We are compatible with Python versions: 2.7, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6.

To install: pip install academictorrents

This package works with the academictorrents tracker. You can add a hash from academictorrents.com for your torrent, and download datasets into your project.

Python example

Here is a little example (it is implemented in examples/basic_test.py in case you want to play with our source code):

# Import the library
import academictorrents as at

# Download the data (or verify existing data)
filename = at.get("323a0048d87ca79b68f12a6350a57776b6a3b7fb")

# Then work with the data
import pickle, gzip
import sys, os, time

mnist = gzip.open(filename, 'rb')
train_set, valid_set, test_set = pickle.load(mnist, encoding='latin1')
mnist.close()

Command line options

Run at-get --help in the environment where academictorrents is installed to get more information about the CLI:

usage: at-get [-h] [-o DATASTORE] [-v] hash

Academic Torrents simple command line tool

positional arguments:
  hash                  Hash of the torrent to download

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -o DATASTORE, --datastore DATASTORE
                        Location where to place the files
  -v, --verbose         Show logs

For Contributors to the AcademicTorrents Python client

Introduction

We use Github issues and pull requests to manage development of this repository. The following is a guide for setting up the codebase to contribute PRs or try to debug issues.

Installation

Getting setup to work on this client is pretty easy. First, install the source code, then install the dependencies with pip:

git clone https://github.com/AcademicTorrents/at-python.git
cd at-python
pip install -r requirements.txt

or more direct:

python -m pip install git+https://github.com/AcademicTorrents/at-python.git

Done!

Testing

We have a test suite that you can run with pytest -s tests/. These tests also run on travis after every push to github. Some of our tests are empty -- usually in parts of the codebase that have been changing quickly -- but we should continue increasing our coverage. If you want to just run one little download, use python examples/basic_test.py (example code above).

Architecture

The academictorrents module only has one "public" function, .get. This function checks for the torrent data on the filesystem. If it is not present, then it initiates a Client to download the data for us.

Client is our main thread, it manages the lifecycle of our other threads including Tracker, PeerManager, PieceManager, and many WebSeedManager threads. The Client thread uses the PieceManager class (not thread) to keep track of all the pieces of data. The main thread makes socket requests to Peers, and enqueues jobs to request data from HttpPeers. Socket responses are handled by PeerManager, whereas a fleet of WebSeedManagers threads handles the HttpPeers.