Proposal: retire bittorrent

[Jon Ciesla]

> On 06/15/2011 01:37 PM, Jon Ciesla wrote:
>>
>>> I propose to retire bittorrent (the original python client) for the
>>> reasons outlined below. If anyone's interested in taking it over
>>> instead, please apply on the package database and I'll transfer
>>> ownership. Think carefully before you act though!
>>>
>>> Dead Upstream:
>>> ==============
>>> Well, not actually dead but upstream has gone closed-source as of
>>> version 6 so it's effectively dead.
>>>
>>> Old Version:
>>> ============
>>> Upstream's last open-source release (code dump really) was 5.3
>>> (http://download.bittorrent.com/dl/), which was little more than a GPL
>>> re-licensing of 5.2.2 and a dump of upstream VCS content. Fedora has
>>> been stuck with 4.4.0 though with its PyGTK GUI because the "new" GUI
>>> in
>>> version 5 was a rewrite with wxGTK but it didn't work with wxGTK>  2.6
>>> (http://bugzilla.redhat.com/223623) and so was unusable in Fedora.
>>>
>>> I believe Mandriva "solved" this problem by having transmission
>>> obsolete
>>> bittorrent-gui and just shipping the console version.
>>>
>>> Open Bugs:
>>> ==========
>>> http://bugzilla.redhat.com/189072 (bittorrent doesn't die gracefully)
>>> http://bugzilla.redhat.com/189295 (bittorrent is not utf-8 aware)
>>> http://bugzilla.redhat.com/237254 (translations not working since
>>> python
>>> 2.4)
>>> http://bugzilla.redhat.com/246879 (LSB-ize initscripts)
>>> http://bugzilla.redhat.com/489810 (bittorrent stops seeding files, even
>>> when "seed indefinitely" is checked)
>>> http://bugzilla.redhat.com/630569 (traceback due to argument parsing
>>> error)
>>> http://bugzilla.redhat.com/678710 (crash due to not running via
>>> provided
>>> initscript)
>>> http://bugzilla.redhat.com/707637 (RFE upgrade to 5.x)
>>>
>>> Some of these are probably quite easily fixed by someone that knows
>>> their python and is willing to dive into the code but they would have
>>> to
>>> be prepared to the de-facto new upstream maintainer if they wanted to
>>> take it on.
>>>
>>> Doesn't Obey Protocol:
>>> ======================
>>> The bittorrent client is actually blocked on at least one major site
>>> due
>>> to violating the protocol and hammering the tracker with announcements:
>>> http://wiki.dimeadozen.org/index.php/Mainline
>>>
>>> --
>>> devel mailing list
>>> devel at lists.fedoraproject.org
>>> https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/devel
>>>
>>
>> My only concern is that there be a command-line replacement available.
>> I
>> currently fetch my ISOs with bittorrent-curses and screen.  Can someone
>> with experience with any of them offer a recommendation?  Python, C and
>> C++ clients especially.  I've searched, but there are many out there.
>
> I personally use rtorrent.
>
> Paul.
>

Excellent, I'll check out rtorrent and transmission-cli.  Thanks all,
carry on!

-J

-- 
in your fear, seek only peace
in your fear, seek only love

-d. bowie