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Rationale
ADD BITTORRENT OPTION ON THE MAIN DOWNLOAD PAGE!
The Novell guys took the lead already: http://software.opensuse.org/
When Hardy Heron was released, the Ubuntu servers became overloaded with thousands of people trying to download it. Downloading rates of repositories and updates were so slow that some people had to leave the computer on at night only to find connection errors the next morning.
However, if Canonical had promoted the BitTorrent downloads, this wouldn't have happened. Everyone would have got a copy of Ubuntu without slowing the repository servers and producing a Denial-of-Service effect.
Moreover, BitTorrent has many advantages over direct downloads. For instance, the more people downloading at the same time, the more sources and lesser the wait. In addition, it ensures file integrity because it uses hash functions, that is, files cannot be corrupted (modified). Not to mention that transfers can be resumed if the connection is broken.
Therefore, BitTorrent downloading should be included in the Get Ubuntu page ( http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download ) with a succinct but clear explanation on how to use them.
The fact that this idea hasn't been implemented --despite all the votes in favour-- clearly shows a neglect and reluctance from Canonical decision-makers to do what is best for the community. The worst thing is that they aren't giving an explanation. I hope good ideas in this site don't come to die here in a puzzle of bureaucracy :(
The reason Ubuntu is the most popular Linux distribution is because developers listen to people. Let's keep that "humanity towards others" alive.
Download Desktop CD: http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.10/ubuntu-8.10-desktop-i386.iso.torrent
Download Desktop Alternate CD: http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.10/ubuntu-8.10-alternate-i386.iso.torrent
You can find all the torrents here: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/downloadmirrors#bt
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Developer comments
We do actually have a BitTorrent tracker and support BitTorrent downloads; you can see the .torrent files on releases.ubuntu.com, and every release features people eager to provide seeding.
I think the reason the torrents aren't prominent on getubuntu/download is that there are a lot of problems with the server-side tracker software; particularly around release time, it has to be restarted manually rather a lot as new files are made available, taking ages to reinitialise each time, and this makes our sysadmins unhappy. Our webmaster also wants the download page to be as simple as possible, and each option does add a level of complexity to the process.
That said, BitTorrent certainly can help to scale back server load (although so can using mirrors other than Canonical's - there's a reason there's a period before release when the images are available on our servers but we ask people to restrain themselves from posting links to them, and that's to give mirrors a chance to fetch the images first).
On 3 June, our webmaster added a note to the bottom of http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download on how to retrieve images by BitTorrent, which I believe was in response to this item. This ultimately takes you through to the releases.ubuntu.com page from which you can get the .torrent files.
Bearing in mind some of the constraints involved that lead to something of a compromise, I'm interested in whether that resolves this item.
Propose your solution
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Agreed. This is stressed enough in the forums, but not in the official page. +1
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glotz
wrote on the 22 Apr 08 at 12:47
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A very Ubuntu idea!
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I have to agree. I've always wondered why Ubuntu doesn't have a BT tracker. Downloading ISO's the "old fashioned" way is so inefficient. There is a lot of hype surrounding Hardy's release- and I suspect downloading it will be painful at best. I'm glad I already have the RC installed and will just need to deal with slow update times when the final packages hit the repositories.
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Wikzo
wrote on the 22 Apr 08 at 15:24
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Agree!
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My download manager splits the load amongst multiple mirror servers, so it's sort of like BitTorrent, without the delays. Even if I can theoretically download more pieces with BitTorrent, it's nowhere near as fast as splitting an ISO download between multiple FTP and HTTP servers.
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With BitTorrent, you take, but you also give. That goes more with the "humanity towards others" philosophy.
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Great! You could also implement dist-upgrade through BitTorrent, since there are already some implementations for apt on torrents
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Auzy
wrote on the 23 Apr 08 at 07:28
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Mystakill.. What your download manager wont do, is validate every piece of the download.
Bittorrent will validate per block so you dont end up with a 700mb corrupt iso with dodgy data in it.
So in that sense at least, bittorrent reduces redownloaded data.
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That's another advantage: security and reliability.
The BitTorrent protocol uses hash functions to ensure file integrity; thus, files cannot be corrupted (modified). Not to mention that files can be resumed if the connection is broken.
Truly, BitTorrent is the next generation technology in file distribution.
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loki
wrote on the 23 Apr 08 at 20:59
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agreed...
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fordplay
wrote on the 24 Apr 08 at 14:06
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Now that 8.04 is released.
Why wasn't the torrent link available on the main download page! I had to hunt for it!
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this should be the first option offered not hidden away!
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This clearly shows that Canonical decision-makers DO NOT WANT to implement this idea. The worst thing is that they aren't giving an explanation. I hope good ideas in this site don't come to die in a puzzle of bureaucracy :(
The reason Ubuntu is the most popular Linux distribution is because developers listen to people. Let's keep that humanity towards others alive.
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From what I can see most users will prefer to do their upgrades using the upgrade functionality of the package manager. I do not see mainstream users downloading an iso to manually add it to the sources list. Besides that - wouldn't many large packages be outdated rather quickly because of security updates so the bandwith consumption on the mirrors wouldn't be reduced much anyway? I also do not see most users doing a new install every six month to upgrade their system. I did it now for the Hoary release after doing sequential upgrades of Ubuntu since 5.04. I give it that it worked without data loss, but it still took me some hours afterwards to add the packages that I needed for DVD support and other things that I am used to. Ubuntu should take care to stay a distribution that mainstream users can use without too much hassle.
For first time users I agree - they can download their image using bittorrent pretty much as easily as they can download it using HTTP.
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I tried to use the upgrade functionality of the package manager and that resulted in my system being corrupted. I had to download an .iso and install as a first time user.
Anyway, the point here is that the webmasters of Ubuntu website aren't promoting the torrent files or making the accessible and visible.
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The best part of torrents is, when you have a ton of seeds, you can download at *your* capped speed, not the server. My school caps each computer at 1500 kb/s, but there are only a few mirrors that can match it.
Woudln't using torrents also relieve the stress on the servers during the release of the next version (every 6 months?) Using torrents would theoretically mean one full copy would have to be uploaded, and through the torrent style, it gets progressively faster the larger the swarm is.
Basically, using torrents during a major release would actually increase your download speed, because everyone else would be doing the same.
+1
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Sand Lee
wrote on the 20 Jun 08 at 04:13
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We should take a couple hints from openSUSE's download page, http://software.opensuse.org/ . We could give a radio for each option, Standard and BitTorrent (default); if the user selects standard then the location dialog appears - if not a single BitTorrent link is provided.
I'd be great to get a response on this. I'm wondering whether or not I should post this as a new idea - extending it to almost mimicking the way openSUSE's page works...
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Thanks for the reference. I hope this gets done soon.
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AleRi8
wrote on the 3 Aug 08 at 11:29
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-1 bcoz some uk isp's block torrent ports
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Auzy
wrote on the 3 Aug 08 at 12:32
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There are ways around it AleRi8. Top level encryption can. And it can always detect if bittorrent is being blocked, and return to http
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Endolith
wrote on the 15 Oct 08 at 04:38
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A little link at the bottom of the download page is not really good enough in my opinion...
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get over "making it dumb and simple"
of the 0.1% of computer users that do download ubuntu, i think at least some of them will be smart enough to not click the torrent link if they don't want to use torrent.
lol
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neomenlo
wrote on the 30 Oct 08 at 15:30
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This has been fixed!
In the very new (as of right now, 1 hour old) version of GetUbuntu, there are now links on the front page for:
* Text based “alternate installer” installation disk
* Bit Torrent
* The Windows based “Wubi” installer
* DVD images containing additional languages
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Endolith
wrote on the 30 Oct 08 at 21:17
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Look at OpenOffice's download page for another example:
Download OpenOffice.org
Click to start downloading OpenOffice.org 3.0.0 for Windows (US English)
Get more platforms and languages, order CD-ROM or P2P downloads
"P2P downloads" goes to their BitTorrent page.
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I agree that the torrents should be more visible, more used, and more preferred, but I may have a different motive: I think that torrent is currently viewed [incorrectly] by much of the corporate world, entertainment industry, and political world as a tool of use only to crackers, pirates, and thieves. I would like to see more valid/legal uses of P2P protocols (torrent being my personal favourite) implemented.
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Blech. Torrents. No thanks. I prefer something that isn't dependent on OTHER people for speed. Give me a direct download and I'll be happy.
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borsook
wrote on the 2 Jan 09 at 12:54
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@yaroman86 - actually with big releases is the other way around. With a traditional ftp solution, the more people downloading the file the slower the speed you get. With bit torrent the more people the faster the download. Plus with Ubuntu getting more and more popular relying on the direct download solution will force Canonical to spend more and more money on servers.
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@yaroman86:
Have you ever actually used a torrent? It's much faster than a direct download.
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Ubuntuforums.org thread #731282
