This article is excerpted from the newly published book A Practical Guide to Linux Commands, Editors, and Shell Programming
The BitTorrent protocol implements a hybrid client/server and P2P file transfer mechanism. BitTorrent efficiently distributes large amounts of static data, such as installation ISO images. It can replace protocols such as anonymous FTP, where client authentication is not required. Each BitTorrent client that downloads a file provides additional bandwidth for uploading the file, reducing the load on the initial source. In general BitTorrent downloads proceed more rapidly than FTP downloads.
Unlike protocols such as FTP, BitTorrent groups multiple files into a single package called a torrent. For example, you can typically download several installation ISO images as a single torrent.
Like other P2P systems, BitTorrent does not use a dedicated server. Instead, the functions of a server are performed by the tracker, peers, and seeds. The tracker allows clients to communicate with each other. A client — called a peer when it has downloaded part of the torrent and a seed once it has downloaded the entire torrent — acts as an additional source for the torrent. As with a P2P network, each peer and seed that downloads a torrent uploads to other clients the sections of the torrent it already has. There is nothing special about a seed: It can be removed at any time once the torrent is available for download from other seeds.
After you download and install BitTorrent, the first step in downloading a torrent using BitTorrent is to locate or acquire a .torrent file. A .torrent file contains the information about the torrent, such as its size and the location of the tracker. You can use a .torrent file using its URI or you can acquire it via the Web, an email attachment, or other means. The next step is for the BitTorrent client to connect to the tracker to learn the locations of other clients that it can download the torrent from.
Once you have downloaded a torrent, it is good manners to allow BitTorrent to continue to run so other clients can upload at least as much information as you have downloaded.
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