GSTorrent is client/server implementation of the bittorrent protocol. A background process handles all the connection and file transfer tasks, a gui client program allows to control the background process. GSTorrent needs at least Qt 4.3!
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I tried to compile the client part of GSTorrent with MinGW for Windows. Apart from the Qt libs for Windows, it needs openssl. The compilation succeeded without any problems. And the client runs fine under Windows XP. I never tried to compile the server part. There should be no problems, but it makes more sense to run it on a *nix flavour anyways.
Added functionality to create .torrent files
1. Important bug fix. In the traffic, which is reported to the tracker, no protocol overhead is included anymore. This traffic was not very high, and about the same for upload and download, but it might trigger cheater scripts of private and ratio aware trackers. 2. Upload/download traffic is made persistent between sessions, i.e. the amount of uploaded and downloaded bytes are not lost when the server is stopped/started. This feature is still a bit experimental. 3. Tracer messages 'incomplete' and 'completed' are implemented in the server, but not yet used in the client.
Of course, I would not upload a worse server, but what is the important difference? GSTorrent is based on the torrent example in the Trolltech Qt code. As an example this code is great, but as an actual usable bittorrent client it is lacking. Though it implements most of the official protocol, there are a few enhancements, which may not be in the official specs, but are absolutely necessary. One of those enhancements is the multitracker capability. The official specs allow one tracker per torrent file. The multitracker enhancement allows to add a list of different trackers for backup or load balancing purposes. How important this feature is can be seen, when someone downloads a torrent file and GSTorrent version < 14 remains in 'searching' forever. The torrent is broken? The tracker is down? So why is everybody on the community boards is so happy about fast downloads? Has GSTorrent been banned? Blocks the provider the connection? No, the explanation is much easier. The primary tracker was offline, perhaps permanently, and everybody was using a backup tracker. With version 14 GSTorrent has this ability, too. In a way it can be said, that GSTorrent 'grew up' since it now possesses at least the absolute minimum of features a usable bittorrent client must have.
1. Small bug fixes in the tracker protocol messages. 2. Implementation of the multitracker protocol (see: http://home.elp.rr.com/tur/multitracker-spec.txt). This is a very important enhancement since it allows to use backup trackers and therefore give access to sources, which where unreachable with previous server versions.
The tracker protocol has been fixed. The server did not report the amount of uploaded/downloaded bytes correctly to the tracker. Usually no problem, but some private ratio counting trackers might not like it. So everybody who don't want to risk a ban from his favorite community should upgrade.
I just uploaded a new server version (0012). And I have hidden all earlier versions. Why? *sic* They did not report their upload/download to the tracker. Under certain circumstances this could be used to leech. So if one wants to risk a quick ban from ones favorite private tracker, use server < v0012. Else please upgrade.
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