Map downloads as torrent

[sebastianschauenburg]

Found the full map-pack download link on the installation page and it currently directs to a subdirectory ( BAR maps / BYAR-maps ).

Would it be beneficial to have this content accessible as a torrent download? Because I would be willing to create a torrent for them. Note: although all (in this case) BYAR-map map files would be included, you can always choose/select which files you do or you do not want to download in your torrent client. (e.g. a subset of maps)

Looking at a bit longer term, a 'smart' directory layout would be beneficial. Ideally the torrent content would be as static as possible. If a map is updated, a version number in the filename would assist in keeping the files apart. So perhaps multiple map packs would be an idea for the future.

[p2004a]

I was thinking about this, also in the context of using torrent download method by the game downloader itself.

The main issue with having a single torrent file is that there are map updates almost every week, often multiple times per week. I don't know about any good system that will handle well such "often changing" torrent file of large content, including deduplication across versions etc: there is e.g. BEP 38, 39 but client implementations are not there.

Alternative, when we publish a list of torrents, one per map file, proves more promise, but still, there isn't an overall widely implemented to use standard how to do it so people can easily keep the list of maps up to date (best is something like rss with magnet links with support in some torrent clients). For individual map download files it would be fine though.

[SethDGamre]

Review requested: do we ever want to host via torrents? Is that secure?

[p2004a]

There aren't any security issues. It's feasible to implement, and it can be something that is desirable to have. If someone one would implement this cleanly we could deploy it.

[SethDGamre]

Follow up question: is this something that should go on the road map, or pull requests welcome?

[p2004a]

It is a "technical design proposal please" and follow up with pull requests.

It's also not a game issue repo, it fits into infrastructure repo.