torrent-web-tools

This is a Work-In-Progress collection of tools for use with the Maelstrom browser. They will allow the creation and seeding of torrent files that contain static websites.

Generator

generator.py -- Requires Python 2.7

Generates optimized torrent files from static website files.

positional arguments:

• INPUT -- One or more files or directories. 'index.html' must be in the root path of the torrent to automatically render a web page in the browser.

optional arguments:

• -h, --help -- show this help message and exit
• --output OUTPUT, -o OUTPUT -- Path for torrent file to be output. Defaults to the torrent name, as specified, or detected.
• --name NAME -- Name of the torrent, not seen in the browser. If not specified, detected from the torrent file name or directory.
• --tracker [TRACKER [TRACKER ...]] -- One or more trackers to include in the torrent. Not including a tracker means that the torrent can only be shared via magnet-link.
• --comment COMMENT -- A description or comment about the torrent. Not seen in the browser.
• --webseed [URL [URL ...]] One or more URLs that contain all of the files present in the torrent. Used if normal BitTorrent seeds are unavailable. NOTE: Not compatible with magnet-links, must be used with a tracker.
• --piece-length PIECE_LENGTH -- Number of bytes in each piece of the torrent. MUST be a power of two (2^n). Smaller piece sizes allow web pages to load more quickly. Larger sizes hash more quickly. Default: 16384
• --include-hidden-files -- Includes files whose names begin with a '.', or are marked hidden in the filesystem.
• --no-optimize-file-order -- Disables intelligent reordering of files.
• -v, --verbose -- Enable verbose mode.

Examples

Basic usage example Most basic way to run, defining only an input directory. The contents of the directory are recursively included. The output torrent name will be automatically set to that of the input dir. No tracker or webseed is defined, and file order will be optimized.

> generator.py path/to/input/directory_name

You can specify an input directory, one or multiple individual files to include, or use a filesystem glob ( *.html).

Output:

Resolved input file(s) to:
	/path/to/input/directory_name
Detected torrent root folder: /path/to/input/directory_name
Magnet link (trackerless):   magnet:?xt=urn%3Abtih%3A<SOMEHASH>
Browser link (trackerless):  bittorrent://<SOMEHASH>
Output torrent: /current/path/directory_name.torrent

Either the magnet link or the browser link can be used in Maelstrom browser to view the page.

If you don't have an index.html in the torrent directory, you will receive a warning message.

Seeding

TODO

Once you've generated a torrent, you'll need to seed it in order for other people to view its contents. To do so, add the torrent to uTorrent, set to find the files in their original location.

Note that seeding a torrent using clients other than uTorrent or BitTorrent may result in it not being reachable in the Maelstrom browser via magnet link.

Optimizations

In order to have torrent based websites load as quickly as possible, the Generator tool makes a number of optimizations.

• Small piece length - The default piece length of 16,384 bytes means that small files (like HTML) are retrieved efficiently. This can impact performance with very large files, however.
• Root path files - Files in the root of the torrent are moved to the front of the torrent.
• File order - 'index.html' is always moved to the front of the torrent. The Generator then checks the HTML file for references to other files that are in the torrent, and moves those to the front of the torrent.

To disable order optimization, use the --no-optimize-file-order command line flag.

License

The contents of this repository are subject to the BitTorrent Open Source License Version 1.2 (the License). You may not copy or use this file, in either source code or executable form, except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at http://www.bittorrent.com/license.

Software distributed under the License is distributed on an AS IS basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing rights and limitations under the License.