The AVSIM File Library Mirror

On Tue, 04 May 2004 18:41:06 -0400, Tom Allensworth wrote:

Greg,

Ain't going to happen. There are many issues involved in using a system like
"Bit Torrent", but the most important of them is that we, that is, the AVSIM
Library Management team, loses total control of the distribution system. We
have a strong commitment to the authors who upload to AVSIM to maintain
control of what is in the library at all times. For instance, if one of the
authors asked us to remove a specific version of a file, we could do that
with the base AVSIM library and the mirror. If we introduce Bit Torrent into
the equation, that control would be lost as we could not remove the file as
requested. We honor our commitment to authors, and BT would not allow us to
do that. That is only one of many issues with BT.

Based on what you have stated, I'm guessing you don't understand how BT
works. Think of BT as an HTTP or FTP server where YOU are still THE
source for the material. The primary difference is that others help share
the bandwidth burden.

When you offer a file, you still have to provide a link for it on your
website. Furthermore, the link has to be known by the BT upload manager
(called a tracker), which YOU or a mirror site runs. If you look here
(http://bitconjurer.org/BitTorrent/introduction.html), notice that there
is a centralized server in each diagram. That centralized server would be
you or a mirror site. Once you remove a file from the tracker, the file
is no longer available for download. Furthermore, once you remove the BT
resource link from your website, the file will no longer be generally
available. If you will be serving files by FTP or HTTP, then BT is a
valid and vaiable option.

BT is NOT P2P software. It is a file distribution method which allows
many people to help share the bandwidth load. Often, the resulting
available bandwidth exceeds that of the serving site. You stated that
there are multiple problems with BT but thus far, you have yet to identify
one, as far as I can see, based on what you've stated.

If you have any questions on BT, please ask. I'm happy to help correct
any other misconceptions you might have.

Cheers!