Is it important to be a seeder of Bitcoin Core torrent?

[sergiorus]

So I'm actually an avid torrent user. I love watching old movies and series that are not very popular and can't be found elsewhere and I keep seeding them for as long as I can (oftentimes I am the sole seeder).

I just realised there are barely any seeders for the Bitcoin Core torrent, link to which is at the top of this forum's page and it made me a bit sad.


I mean I know the whole torrents thing is dying, but I expected it to be a bit different. I'm going to download it and seed for as long as possible just for the culture (primarily torrent culture).


But do you think it even makes sense or do you think torrents as a way to download Bitcoin Core will be completely dead soon and cannot be saved?
How would it affect the Bitcoin network, its decentralisation, popularisation and the onboarding process?

[Antidote47k]

I don’t think torrents need to be the most popular way to download Bitcoin Core to still be worth keeping around.

Most people will naturally use the official download page because it’s quick and convenient. But having another way to distribute the software still has value. If the community is willing to share the bandwidth instead of relying entirely on a few servers, that’s a good thing in my view.

It also fits quite well with Bitcoin’s philosophy. We often talk about reducing unnecessary points of dependence, and I don’t see software distribution as being any different.

The only thing I’d stress is that downloading via torrent shouldn’t change anyone’s security habits. Whether the file comes from the website or a torrent, verifying the release signatures is still the part that really matters.

[OmegaStarScream]

Internet speeds have only gotten faster over the years. So I don't see the advantage torrenting would provide to someone, unless they have a really crappy internet connection, and for those who do, they probably rather use a lightweight wallet like Electrum instead of running a full node.

[aoluain]

But isnt providing a torrent download for Bitcoin Core providing another access point
for anyone to download? surely its actually a good move or at least a positive move?

Im my mind providing as many download options for Bitcoin Core as possible is slightly
related to having as many Bitcoin Nodes as possible.


Torrents - I had actually forgotten about them.

I used to use them ALOT back in the day, and I never managed to download any malware
(that I know of)

[ABCbits]

But do you think it even makes sense or do you think torrents as a way to download Bitcoin Core will be completely dead soon and cannot be saved?

I doubt it'll be dead. At least on Bitcoin community, i can find at least one people who have concern bitcoincore.org server could be down or it's domain hijacked.

Internet speeds have only gotten faster over the years. So I don't see the advantage torrenting would provide to someone, unless they have a really crappy internet connection, and for those who do, they probably rather use a lightweight wallet like Electrum instead of running a full node.

For people who torrent regularly, i expect some of them find it's more convenient to download things through their torrent application.

[joniboini]

For people who torrent regularly, i expect some of them find it's more convenient to download things through their torrent application.

What might be the reason for that? As far as I'm concerned, I usually use torrent if the files I downloaded are only hosted on premium hosting as the only available alternative. In the past the ability to resume anytime is convenient due to slow speed, but as of now even 100GB is not really a big deal for my network. It's still the most convenient ways for sailing the seas I guess.

[sergiorus]

But do you think it even makes sense or do you think torrents as a way to download Bitcoin Core will be completely dead soon and cannot be saved?

I doubt it'll be dead. At least on Bitcoin community, i can find at least one people who have concern bitcoincore.org server could be down or it's domain hijacked.

Sure the torrent option should be maintained, simply to as a back up for when there are issues with the server. But one or even a few people is not enough, unless, of course, at least one of them is seeding 24/7.

I think it's a good idea to keep seeding it at least when you use your PC.

FWIW, over the last day I've observed a number of active seeders at different times from 1 to 9, which is not that bad actually.

[FP91G]

The Bitcoin Core archive is no more than 40 megabytes in size. Torrents distribute larger files. I encountered a problem: the latest version of Bitcoin Core doesn't support older wallets created with version 20. I haven't encountered such problems with Electrum, but Electrum installs very quickly, unlike Bitcoin Core.

[sergiorus]

I don’t think torrents need to be the most popular way to download Bitcoin Core to still be worth keeping around.

Most people will naturally use the official download page because it’s quick and convenient. But having another way to distribute the software still has value. If the community is willing to share the bandwidth instead of relying entirely on a few servers, that’s a good thing in my view.

It also fits quite well with Bitcoin’s philosophy. We often talk about reducing unnecessary points of dependence, and I don’t see software distribution as being any different.

The only thing I’d stress is that downloading via torrent shouldn’t change anyone’s security habits. Whether the file comes from the website or a torrent, verifying the release signatures is still the part that really matters.

Thanks for the reply, your post actually made me realise something...

Obviously torrenting doesn't need to and cannot be the most popular way to get Bitcoin Core on your pc, but the P2P nature of it is very Bitcoin-aligned and hence should be preserved if possible.

Besides it's always good to have reduced reliance on servers and hostings.

[KiaKia]

A hardcore fan here, I have fast internet connection but some things are just to hard to get (files, videos, software and others) so the best way to get them at times is torrent, it's not about the speed of my internet but for what I need.

Seeding is every important for torrent files to be easily available for others, if no one is seeding it can be almost impossible to download any files, I remember trying to get a Chinese tool that I can't find online elsewhere, it took me a week to download that file because of seed.

Somehow it works later and the download was very sluggish but I waited it out, the thing is Bitcoin core today is better download different for many, if there is no one wanting it through torrent then it's game over.

[Alphakilo]

A hardcore fan here, I have fast internet connection but some things are just to hard to get (files, videos, software and others) so the best way to get them at times is torrent, it's not about the speed of my internet but for what I need.

Seeding is every important for torrent files to be easily available for others, if no one is seeding it can be almost impossible to download any files, I remember trying to get a Chinese tool that I can't find online elsewhere, it took me a week to download that file because of seed.

Somehow it works later and the download was very sluggish but I waited it out, the thing is Bitcoin core today is better download different for many, if there is no one wanting it through torrent then it's game over.

BitTorrent is quite obsolete from a technical perspective even though it's good to seed some files as a historical reference, as alternatives or just for culture sake. Bitcoin's native architectural design does much more because of the global data sharing abilities it has which makes it as efficient as possible for all the heavy work persay.

It was around 2012 - 2014 that torrented files were a thing, not in this present dispensation anymore.
However, in 2015 everything changed so much so that one could easily download the Blockchain through native Bitcoin P2P protocol, directly without any need or thought of ever using BitTorrent.
This shows Bitcoin technological evolution and it's success in total.

[PrivacyG]

It is not IMPORTANT to be a seeder but it is not useless either.  You could help out by seeding it, it would not do any harm but rather help people.  It is important however to not rely on a single point of failure so a Bitcoin Core torrent adds one more possible download source which is great.

[nc50lc]

I just realised there are barely any seeders for the Bitcoin Core torrent, link to which is at the top of this forum's page and it made me a bit sad.

I think this is due users who've downloaded it being selective on which files to download since normally, you only need the specific binary for your system.
Since they only need one or three files, they wouldn't be able to seed to other users who needs the entire torrent or the other unwanted files.
E.g.: me, I only tick one binary file, then the "hashes" and "signatures" for verification, leaving the rest.

Normally, in other torrent files, users who use the default setting automatically become a seeder of the file they've downloaded.
This usually increases the seeders by a few or a lot depending on how famous it is.
But in this case, its limited to those users who actually decide to be a seeder by downloading the entire torrent.

At least, 2 seeders > one centralized server when it comes with decentralization no matter how seemingly insignificant it is.

However, in 2015 everything changed so much so that one could easily download the Blockchain through native Bitcoin P2P protocol, directly without any need or thought of ever using BitTorrent.
This shows Bitcoin technological evolution and it's success in total.

Take note that OP is talking about the binaries which is the torrent link above the forum, not the Bitcoin blockchain.