Re: [Gnu-arch-users] New feature at the mirror + request for help

[James Blackwell]

My original point has been lost.

The point isn't whether or not bittorrent is an effective file transfer
protocol and whether or not the protocol scales for transferring
something as massive as Debian. 

Arch has already solved the problem of file transfer. What we care about
in this discussion is a naming service. In that regard, bittorrent is
highly resistant.

Bittorrent has a multitude of powerful enemies such as the RIAA, the
MPAA and in certain contexts the FBI. These forces like nothing more
than to have a centralized authority that they can haul into court.

What we should from bittorrent isn't specifics like "how many files can
they transfer" or how scalable is the protocol.

Instead, we should be generalizing what p2p networks have shown us, and
from there, develop a standard for naming conventions that are serviced
by commodity servers. If we do this properly, we walk away with two
rules. The naming server should be:

   1. simple to install
   2. simple to manage
   3. independant of other servers
   4. non-authoritive of other servers

I request that you go back to my original post and reread the
hypothetical setup that arch *could* use.

Oversimplified, the hypothetical example looked like this:

  1. Agree on a simple format that describes an arch archive
  2. Store them in a networked filesystem such as http
  3. Teach arch clients to read those description files



> Combining Turnbull's reiteration and amplification of the
> "source-based-distro in arch" idea with asuffield's analysis of the
> suitability of BitTorrent.....  I would guess we are headed towards a
> kind of usenet (in the old uucp sense) scenario.  A P2P-ish flow
> (perhaps with more redundancy than usenet/uucp) but with hand-managed
> topology.

If its grown into that, (shrug). But I meant something much more
simpler. I only brought up bittorrent in the first place to show that
one can serve without centralization.

>
> Eventually, anyway.
>
>
> And, hey -- let's monetize that graph,

Whazzat mean?


-- 
James Blackwell          Please do not send me carbon copies of mailing
Smile more!              list posts. Such mail is unsolicited. Thank you!

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