Bitdroid - Dedicated Android ROM Torrent Tracker

carngeX · Aug 27, 2012

Bitdroid - Home | Bitroid - Tracker | Bitdroid - Forum

Introducing Bitdroid! The dedicated torrent tracker for Android ROMs!

After a couple of weeks of trial-and-error, I have finally got a torrent tracker site setup and running for Android ROM developers; a place for them to create and track a torrent for their ROMs.

Why use a torrent tracker like Bitdroid.org versus regular download links? Easy: better flow of download traffic, which equates to faster downloads!

Peer-2-Peer, or P2P, (torrents in this case) are better for high-flow traffic compared to normal HTTP (sites like Mediafire) or FTP. In HTTP or FTP, users can only download, and it's only from a single server. The more people downloading a file from a single server, the slower the download for everybody on that server requesting the same file. This is not the case for P2P connections. Every user that's downloading, downloads from another user. All of the users download are also uploading to other users, so the traffic is not coming from a single source. It is coming from many sources, alleviating slow downloads, enabling higher traffic. P2P is a much superior way to distribute large files (such as Android ROMs).

So where did this idea come from? After the release of several popular ROMs, I saw people complaining about slow download speeds, and having to upload to several different download mirrors for others to download at a fast pace again, until those became "clogged" for a while as well. P2P, as previously mentioned, would have alleviated this and reduced (or even eliminated) the need for several HTTP / FTP mirrors. HTTP download links could still be provided, but torrent links could also be provided to help alleviate high traffic, congested downloads.

P2P also allows tracking and stats of an individual download. Each file is tracked by the amount of seeders (people uploading), leechers (people downloading), and total downloads.

I've searched, and I couldn't find a dedicated torrent tracker for Android ROMs; I could only find trackers for general use, or other specific uses (movies, games, etc.), of which not all of these are completely safe due to concern of possible copyrighted content. With Bitdroid, only Android ROMs are allowed, and it is preferred that the original developer of the ROM uploads the file (or with permission from the developer, a 3rd-party user could upload the ROM). Since Android is open-source, there aren't any legal concerns of piracy and such due the open-source licensing of the Android OS.

For an added layer of "security" only an approved member group is allowed to upload files. You must be manually added to the group before being able to upload torrents, to try and further discourage potential piracy or unauthorized uploading of ROMs.

I currently have a splash-page setup, that links to the actual tracker, as well as a forum (work-in-progress).

If you're a developer or know a developer, please sign up on the torrent tracker and/or forum and I can get you setup to upload your torrents, and don't forget to spread the word!

If you have any questions or comments, please either post here or on the website! Come and check it out!

Note: I have permission from both YZ and af974 to post this.

Kratz17 · Aug 27, 2012

So nice I been waiting for this for so long. Thanks a lot

con247 · Aug 27, 2012

The majority of devs don't want their roms on torrents.

carngeX · Aug 27, 2012

con247 said:
The majority of devs don't want their roms on torrents.

Why exactly is that reasoning? It's not illegal, and its a tracker for only android ROMs. Download stats could also be viewed which can be a little bonus if the dev was wondering how many downloads they were getting.. Torrents > HTTP / FTP for mass distribution of large files.

con247 · Aug 27, 2012

We have full control over the links.

carngeX · Aug 27, 2012

con247 said:
We have full control over the links.

Elaborate please. You have control over the links on a tracker as well. Its setup so you can delete the torrent if you really want to.

Like I said.. P2P > HTTP / FTP.

Devs don't only have to distribute via Torrent either... can still have HTTP / FTP mirrors for users that don't want to use a torrent client.

Kratz17 said:
So nice I been waiting for this for so long. Thanks a lot

No problem. I've been waiting for one too, and couldn't find one so I decided to bite the bullet.

guystyles · Aug 27, 2012

don't let the haters get you down.

I want to assure you the initial negative feedback and opposition is generally a common experience among anyone pitching a new idea that hasn't really been done yet.

I mean, what did you expect to hear?
'yeah! do it!' or 'why didn't I think of that? you're genius is astonishing!' No. Naturally our ego's tell us to reply with 'why I haven't done that yet, and won't', or 'big hurdle I foresee'.

So, make like a nike, and just do it!

Believe me, after watching a few of my favorite devs in the vivow community lose past versions of roms they had stored and backed up forever (almost*) lost with the goo.im epic fail recently. They wish they used torrents instead of having control over the downloads with just one server.

Don't let the haters get you down. The only reason they hate on you is because they don't want to like you, but they do.

Good luck!

nrfitchett4 · Aug 27, 2012

agree with con on this one.
How stable is a torrent? I would be leary of flashing a ROM that came from 500 different sources at the same time. If a Dev uses a good hosting site, I have noticed no problems with downloads.

GrayBoltWolf · Aug 27, 2012

nrfitchett4 said:
agree with con on this one.
How stable is a torrent? I would be leary of flashing a ROM that came from 500 different sources at the same time. If a Dev uses a good hosting site, I have noticed no problems with downloads.

MD5.

phuckwithfire · Aug 27, 2012

I, also, have been waiting ages for this. Glad to see it finally coming to fruition.

blestsol · Aug 27, 2012

Been waiting on this. I hope devs hop abroad. There's potential pitfalls of course but the outcome could be good.

Synergized GS3

carngeX · Aug 27, 2012

guystyles said:
I want to assure you the initial negative feedback and opposition is generally a common experience among anyone pitching a new idea that hasn't really been done yet.

I mean, what did you expect to hear?
'yeah! do it!' or 'why didn't I think of that? you're genius is astonishing!' No. Naturally our ego's tell us to reply with 'why I haven't done that yet, and won't', or 'big hurdle I foresee'.

So, make like a nike, and just do it!

Believe me, after watching a few of my favorite devs in the vivow community lose past versions of roms they had stored and backed up forever (almost*) lost with the goo.im epic fail recently. They wish they used torrents instead of having control over the downloads with just one server.

Don't let the haters get you down. The only reason they hate on you is because they don't want to like you, but they do.

Good luck!

Oh I'm not letting them get me down. I just want actual opinions and reasons as to why they don't think it's a good idea, not any stereotypical-XDA "*****ing like little kids" posts. I want constructive criticism, or actual reasons as to why people don't think it's a good idea.

nrfitchett4 said:
agree with con on this one.
How stable is a torrent? I would be leary of flashing a ROM that came from 500 different sources at the same time. If a Dev uses a good hosting site, I have noticed no problems with downloads.

Torrents are very stable. They download tiny pieces at a time (few MB if that) and then verify it. If the piece fails a hash check, then it's disposed of an re-downloaded from users. I've had this happen to me a few times, and you can see in your torrent client that X amount of pieces have failed hash checks. IMO, it's MUCH more stable and safe than HTTP / FTP. I VERY rarely ever get a bad download from torrents since each piece is hash checked.

As far as using the good hosting site... yes, it can be stable for less people, but what about when they first release a ROM and they're a popular dev? They have how many people downloading from a SINGLE link, until people upload more mirrors (which get buried in the mass posting spree anyway). I got the idea for this after watching this go down in the Viper ROM thread. Tons of people were complaining about slow downloads, and a bunch of people had to post mirrors. Instead of doing that... why not just use torrents and avoid the hassle of waiting for external mirrors from random people? I could say the same thing about being leary about flashing a ROM from an external mirror from somebody other than the dev... they could have corrupted it, inserted malware, etc..

GrayTheWolf said:
MD5.

This. Include a text file with the torrent, or in the description, containing the MD5 sum. It's NO different at all than a normal download other than potential for faster downloads if a lot of users are using it. When less users are using it... go back to the HTTP download if the torrent isn't fast enough.

blestsol said:
Been waiting on this. I hope devs hop abroad. There's potential pitfalls of course but the outcome could be good.

Synergized GS3

Thanks. I'm hoping devs do hop on because IMO it could become quite successful.

Help spread the word if you like! I may make a smaller sig banner button if people want one, so they can put it in their sigs to help spread the word to devs.

Reaper0294 · Aug 27, 2012

I like this idea. I feel like Devs may not jump on it right away (although they should) but will definitely be successful later on. I have used many many torrents (for things like anime etc) and they are very successful. I believe i have also never had a bad download from a torrent. Speeds can be somewhat iffy (the only problem i may see) because i feel like many users here would not want to always be sharing their speeds. Many big open source linux clients however still have good speeds always. This could be because they have a few dedicated seeders, but I'm not sure.

carngeX · Aug 27, 2012

Reaper0294 said:
I like this idea. I feel like Devs may not jump on it right away (although they should) but will definitely be successful later on. I have used many many torrents (for things like anime etc) and they are very successful. I believe i have also never had a bad download from a torrent. Speeds can be somewhat iffy (the only problem i may see) because i feel like many users here would not want to always be sharing their speeds. Many big open source linux clients however still have good speeds always. This could be because they have a few dedicated seeders, but I'm not sure.

If I can scrounge up some money to put another drive in my server, I can have it as a bit of a seedbox as well. I can download the ROMs and help seed them when the user count is low.

The tracker base I'm using (phpMyBittorrent) also supports a "seed request" system I believe, so users can request reseeds of dead / low seeded torrents.

johnwaynegacy · Aug 27, 2012

The only issue I have with this (not that my opinion matters) is that people will download to their phones and not seed. I have my torrent client set not to seed, for the sake of battery life.

carngeX · Aug 27, 2012

johnwaynegacy said:
The only issue I have with this (not that my opinion matters) is that people will download to their phones and not seed. I have my torrent client set not to seed, for the sake of battery life.

Quite the contrary.. your opinion does matter. I want to hear everybody's concerns so I can address them if they are something to be considered to help develop this. I believe this would probably be a minority issue. Not many people have a torrent client on their phone. If anything, you can setup web access from uTorrent and manage your torrents from your mobile that way, as well, so that you can still seed.

squidder · Aug 28, 2012

Torrents are much more stable than http. But ur main point in doing this (faster speeds due to http being congested when a lot of people download at same time) is flawed.Unless devs have a very fast upload speed or seedbox, torrents will be even slower (waaaay slower) until many people have the file. This will result in much more *****ing than there is now.Also this wouldn't be a good way for devs to keep their rom stored because as soon as a rom is outdated nobody will seed it. And like somebody else said nobody is going to want to seed every single rom the decide to download. If people aren't required to seed for fear of being banned from a private site then the majority won't seed. Simple as that. With that being said when a torrent has a healthy amount of seeders its by far the fastest way to download files. I wish this would work but unfortunately I don't think the demand is enough to support it.

Sent from my HTC Rezound using xda app-developers app

carngeX · Aug 28, 2012

squidder said:
Torrents are much more stable than http. But ur main point in doing this (faster speeds due to http being congested when a lot of people download at same time) is flawed.Unless devs have a very fast upload speed or seedbox, torrents will be even slower (waaaay slower) until many people have the file.

I know this; which is pretty much what I said in a couple posts. And also like I said, devs could still pick HTTP mirrors besides a torrent; I'm not saying get rid of HTTP / FTP, I'm just saying add this on as an option.

This will result in much more *****ing than there is now.Also this wouldn't be a good way for devs to keep their rom stored because as soon as a rom is outdated nobody will seed it.

If I get more extra cash (college + an apartment is expensive), I will add a larger HDD in my server to store ROMs on. I'm not really counting on this as a way for ROM storage; just as a way for ROM distribution.

And like somebody else said nobody is going to want to seed every single rom the decide to download. If people aren't required to seed for fear of being banned from a private site then the majority won't seed. Simple as that. With that being said when a torrent has a healthy amount of seeders its by far the fastest way to download files. I wish this would work but unfortunately I don't think the demand is enough to support it.

Sent from my HTC Rezound using xda app-developers app

The tracker base I'm using supports private tracker / ratio-based functions. Right now I have it set to freeleech, but I can always set it to ratio-based. And like I said previously, it also has a request system built into it, which could be used to request a ROM be started up again for seeding.

feralicious · Aug 28, 2012

I don't think stability is an issue with torrents, but the issue I see is that if there's a bug found and the dev wants that rom pulled, or if it gets outdated quickly, you can't stop people from sharing it even if you take it off the tracker. Any open connections will continue, so as long as people are up and running and someone is seeding, a "bad" release could keep being shared and people might not know of an update if they're not keeping up with it.

carngeX · Aug 28, 2012

feralicious said:
I don't think stability is an issue with torrents, but the issue I see is that if there's a bug found and the dev wants that rom pulled, or if it gets outdated quickly, you can't stop people from sharing it even if you take it off the tracker. Any open connections will continue, so as long as people are up and running and someone is seeding, a "bad" release could keep being shared and people might not know of an update if they're not keeping up with it.

The Dev can delete the torrent, which removes it from the tracker, and sets the status in the torrent client to unregistered. The only way it can still be distributed is through other trackers and/or DHT. I believe I can disable the use of external trackers; not sure if I can disable the use of DHT with the tracker software I'm using, though. I'll have to look into that if it really comes down to that. But, like I said, the dev can remove the ROM by deleting the torrent which should stop sharing (because there is no communication between the tracker once it updates...most clients auto-update the tracker every few minutes... I believe mine is set to every 5-10 minutes at the moment).

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