[ANN] Bitcoin blockchain data torrent

[felipelalli]

Thank you! Could you try to verify the original post to see if it is a copy/paste problem or if it was hacked or something like that? I know is highly improbable, but I already saw everything in Bitcoin world.

Thank you again!

Felipe.

[jsgayo]

Seeding this as much as possible!

[jgarzik]

Yes, "moar please"!  Seeding is very helpful on release day, of all days.

[escrowguy]

i'll just say that i've been maintaining a few torrent sites since Jeff started this thread.  activity was initially zilch.

in the last couple of weeks the upload bandwidth has skyrocketed.

link?

[Kazimir]

Does Bitcoin Core 0.9.0 support (recognize) newer bootstrap data, beyond 279000 blocks?

[jgarzik]

Does Bitcoin Core 0.9.0 support (recognize) newer bootstrap data, beyond 279000 blocks?

All bitcoin versions recognize any valid block.  If you build your own bootstrap.dat, it can go beyond 279000 blocks, yes.

[Sukrim]

Maybe it is soon time for a new checkpoint or at least updated bootstrap file? There has been over 1 GB of transactions since the last one in January and that takes already quite some time to get and verify for new nodes...

[jgarzik]

The rough standard is an update every 3 months or so, out of an over-abundance of caution.

[Kazimir]

Does Bitcoin Core 0.9.0 support (recognize) newer bootstrap data, beyond 279000 blocks?

All bitcoin versions recognize any valid block.  If you build your own bootstrap.dat, it can go beyond 279000 blocks, yes.

Oh, right, I thought I read somewhere that clients would only accept specific sets of bootstrap data (but that wouldn't serve any purpose now that I think of it). Thanks!

[roy7]

Is this the same torrent the official web site links at https://bitcoin.org/bin/blockchain/bootstrap.dat.torrent ?

[BaalMcKloud]

Is this the same torrent the official web site links at https://bitcoin.org/bin/blockchain/bootstrap.dat.torrent ?

checked...it is

[jgarzik]

Is this the same torrent the official web site links at https://bitcoin.org/bin/blockchain/bootstrap.dat.torrent ?

Yes.  bitcoin.org will be the new official site.  It was "soft launched" (without announcement) as I was travelling and did not have time to adequately test, and then make updates.

It is also about time to roll another torrent.

I've also been considering adding a second torrent, which contains blocks/blk*.dat as you might find created by Bitcoin Core.  New installations could download this blk*.dat torrent, restart with "-reindex" option.  This will perform a zero-trust revalidation of all data, while eliminating the redundant copy of the bitcoin data (vs. bootstrap.dat).

[jgarzik]

Calling for pre-seeding of the new bootstrap.dat torrent: http://gtf.org/garzik/bitcoin/bootstrap.dat.torrent

The old 14G bootstrap.dat is 81% of the new 17G one, so remember not to erase the old file.

[BaalMcKloud]

Calling for pre-seeding of the new bootstrap.dat torrent: http://gtf.org/garzik/bitcoin/bootstrap.dat.torrent

The old 14G bootstrap.dat is 81% of the new 17G one, so remember not to erase the old file.

100Mbit/s and 250Mbit/s+ Root added for seeding

[jgarzik]

The new torrent is now ready for public release.

Read the updated OP, and seed away!

Remember to reuse your old bootstrap.dat, which will start the new torrent at 81% (14G) of the new 17G torrent.

[FreddyFender]

81%
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thx Jeff!

[Sledge]

Could someone explain why it is preferable to seed a torrent of the blockchain rather than just run a bitcoin full node? I run a full node and it sends between 500GB to 1TB a month of data to at least 70-95 connected clients. Yes, I opened port 8333 on the firewall/router.

Am I doing it wrong?

[jgarzik]

Could someone explain why it is preferable to seed a torrent of the blockchain rather than just run a bitcoin full node? I run a full node and it sends between 500GB to 1TB a month of data to at least 70-95 connected clients. Yes, I opened port 8333 on the firewall/router.

It is preferable to run a full node.

The torrent is a workaround until "headers first sync" is implemented, at which point, it will be faster to download from the P2P network.

Today, the torrent makes some client syncs faster, and also lessens the load on the P2P network.  It is more useful for the P2P network to be used for distributing recent information.

[grahvity]

Holy crap! It's the fastest torrent I never downloaded

[jgarzik]

Holy crap! It's the fastest torrent I never downloaded

hehe, good!  The idea is to get many long-term seeders.  If we have enough, most downloaders will see an immediate, fast download.  The torrent remains idle the rest of the time.