================= libtorrent manual ================= .. contents:: introduction ============ libtorrent is a C++ library that aims to be a good alternative to all the other bittorrent implementations around. It is a library and not a full featured client, although it comes with a working example client. The main goals of libtorrent are: * to be cpu efficient * to be memory efficient * to be very easy to use libtorrent is not finished. It is an ongoing project (including this documentation). The current state includes the following features: * multitracker extension support (as `described by TheShadow`__) * serves multiple torrents on a single port and a single thread * supports http proxies and proxy authentication * gzipped tracker-responses * piece picking on block-level (as opposed to piece-level) like in Azureus_ * queues torrents for file check, instead of checking all of them in parallel. * uses separate threads for checking files and for main downloader, with a fool-proof thread-safe library interface. (i.e. There's no way for the user to cause a deadlock). * can limit the upload and download bandwidth usage and the maximum number of unchoked peers * piece-wise, unordered, file allocation * implements fair trade. User settable trade-ratio, must at least be 1:1, but one can choose to trade 1 for 2 or any other ratio that isn't unfair to the other party. (i.e. real tit for tat) * fast resume support, a way to get rid of the costly piece check at the start of a resumed torrent. Saves the storage state, piece_picker state as well as all local peers in a separate fast-resume file. * supports the extension protocol `described by Nolar`__. See extensions_. * supports files > 2 gigabytes. * supports the ``no_peer_id=1`` extension that will ease the load off trackers. * supports the `udp-tracker protocol`__ by Olaf van der Spek. * possibility to limit the number of connections. * delays have messages if there's no other outgoing traffic to the peer, and doesn't send have messages to peers that already has the piece. This saves bandwidth. * does not have any requirements on the piece order in a torrent that it resumes. This means it can resume a torrent downloaded by any client. * adjusts the length of the request queue depending on download rate. * supports the ``compact=1`` tracker parameter. __ http://home.elp.rr.com/tur/multitracker-spec.txt .. _Azureus: http://azureus.sourceforge.net __ http://nolar.com/azureus/extended.htm __ udp_tracker_protocol.html Functions that are yet to be implemented: * large file support on linux and Mac OS X. * better identification of peers that send bad data * ip-filters * file-level priority libtorrent is portable at least among windows, macosx, and UNIX-systems. It uses boost.thread, boost.filesystem, boost.date_time and various other boost libraries as well as zlib. libtorrent has been successfully compiled and tested on: * Windows 2000 vc7.1 * Linux x86 (debian) GCC 3.0.4, GCC 3.2.3 * Windows 2000, msvc6 sp5 (does not support 64-bit values due to problems with operator<<(ostream&, __int64)) * MacOS X, GCC 3.3 Fails on: * GCC 2.95.4 (``std::ios_base`` is missing) * Cygwin GCC 3.3.1 (builds but crashes) libtorrent is released under the BSD-license_. .. _BSD-license: http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.php downloading and building ======================== To acquire the latest version of libtorrent, you'll have to grab it from CVS. You'll find instructions on how to do this here__ (see Anonymous CVS access). __ http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=79942 The easiest way to build libtorrent is probably to use `boost-build`_. Make sure you install it correctly by setting the environment variable ``BOOST_BUILD_PATH`` and modifying the ``user_config.jam`` to reflect the toolsets you have installed. .. _`boost-build`: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=7586&package_id=80982 You also need to install `boost 1.31.0`__. __ http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=7586&package_id=8041&release_id=214915 Before you invoke ``bjam`` you have to set the environment variable ``BOOST_ROOT`` to the path where you installed boost. This will be used to build and link against the required boost libraries as well as be used as include path for boost headers. To build you just have to run:: bjam link=static in the libtorrent directory. If you're building on a platform where dlls share the same heap, you can build libtorrent as a dll too, by typing ``link=shared`` instead of ``link=static``. To build on MacOS X, you need the latest version of boost-build, from the `boost cvs`__. __ http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=7586 If you're making your own project file, note that there are two versions of the file abstraction. There's one ``file_win.cpp`` which relies on windows file API that supports files larger than 2 Gigabytes. This does not work in vc6 for some reason, possibly because it may require windows NT and above. The other file, ``file.cpp`` is the default implementation that simply relies on the standard library's fstream, and as a result does not support files larger than 2 Gigabytes. cygwin and msvc --------------- Note that if you're building on windows using the ``msvc`` toolset, you cannot run it from a cygwin terminal, you'll have to run it from a ``cmd`` terminal. The same goes for cygwin, if you're building with gcc (mingw) you'll have to run it from a cygwin terminal. Also, make sure the paths are correct in the different environments. In cygwin, the paths (``BOOST_BUILD_PATH`` and ``BOOST_ROOT``) should be in the typical unix-format (e.g. ``/cygdrive/c/boost_1_31_0``). In the windows environment, they should have the typical windows format (``c:/boost_1_31_0``). If you're building in developer studio, you may have to set the compiler options "force conformance in for loop scope", "treat wchar_t as built-in type" and "Enable Run-Time Type Info" to Yes. If you're building in developer studio 6, you will probably have to use the previous version of boost, `boost 1.30.2`__. And you'll definately have to use the latest service pack (sp5). __ http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=7586&package_id=8041&release_id=178835 release and debug builds ------------------------ The ``Jamfile`` can build both a release and debug version of libtorrent. In debug mode, libtorrent will have pretty expensive invariant checks and asserts built into it. If you want to disable such checks (you want to do that in a release build) you can see the table below for which defines you can use to control the build. The ``Jamfile`` will define ``NDEBUG`` when it's building a release build. +-------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ | macro | description | +===============================+=================================================+ | ``NDEBUG`` | If you define this macro, all asserts, | | | invariant checks and general debug code will be | | | removed. This option takes precedence over | | | other debug settings. | +-------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ | ``TORRENT_VERBOSE_LOGGING`` | If you define this macro, every peer connection | | | will log its traffic to a log file. | | | This setting requires a debug build, i.e. | | | if you set ``NDEBUG`` aswell, no logs will be | | | written. | +-------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ | ``TORRENT_STORAGE_DEBUG`` | This will enable extra expensive invariant | | | checks in the storage, including logging of | | | piece sorting. | +-------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ If you experience that libtorrent uses unreasonable amounts of cpu, it will definately help to define ``NDEBUG``. using ===== The interface of libtorrent consists of a few classes. The main class is the ``session``, it contains the main loop that serves all torrents. The basic usage is as follows: * conststruct a session * parse .torrent-files and add them to the session * main loop * query the torrent_handles for progress * query the session for information * add and remove torrents from the session at run-time * destruct all torrent_handles * destruct session object Each class and function is described in this manual. session ======= The ``session`` class has the following synopsis:: class session: public boost::noncopyable { session(const fingerprint& print = libtorrent::fingerprint("LT, 0, 1, 0, 0)); session( const fingerprint& print , std::pair listen_port_range , const char* listen_interface = 0); torrent_handle add_torrent( const torrent_info& t , const boost::filesystem::path& save_path , const entry& resume_data = entry()); void remove_torrent(const torrent_handle& h); void set_http_settings(const http_settings& settings); void set_upload_rate_limit(int bytes_per_second); void set_download_rate_limit(int bytes_per_second); bool is_listening() const; unsigned short listen_port() const; bool listen_on( std::pair const& port_range , const char* interface = 0); std::auto_ptr pop_alert(); void set_severity_level(alert::severity_t s); }; Once it's created, it will spawn the main thread that will do all the work. The main thread will be idle as long it doesn't have any torrents to participate in. You add torrents through the ``add_torrent()``-function where you give an object representing the information found in the torrent file and the path where you want to save the files. The ``save_path`` will be prepended to the directory structure in the torrent-file. ``add_torrent`` will throw duplicate_torrent_ exception if the torrent already exists in the session. The optional last parameter, ``resume_data`` can be given if up to date fast-resume data is available. The fast-resume data can be acquired from a running torrent by calling ``torrent_handle::write_resume_data()``. See `fast resume`_. ``remove_torrent()`` will close all peer connections associated with the torrent and tell the tracker that we've stopped participating in the swarm. If the torrent you are trying to add already exists in the session (is either queued for checking, being checked or downloading) ``add_torrent()`` will throw duplicate_torrent_ which derives from ``std::exception``. The difference between the two constructors is that one of them takes a fingerprint as argument. If this is ommited, the client will get a default fingerprint stating the version of libtorrent. The fingerprint is a short string that will be used in the peer-id to identify the client and the client's version. For more details see the fingerprint class. The constructor that only takes a finger print will not open a listen port for the session, to get it running you'll have to call ``session::listen_on()``. The other constructor, that takes a port range and an interface as well as the fingerprint will automatically try to listen on a port on the given interface. For more information about the parameters, see ``listen_on()`` function. ``set_upload_rate_limit()`` set the maximum number of bytes allowed to be sent to peers per second. This bandwidth is distributed among all the peers. If you don't want to limit upload rate, you can set this to -1 (the default). ``set_download_rate_limit()`` works the same way but for download rate instead of upload rate. ``is_listening()`` will tell you wether or not the session has successfully opened a listening port. If it hasn't, this function will return false, and then you can use ``listen_on()`` to make another try. ``listen_port()`` returns the port we ended up listening on. Since you just pass a port-range to the constructor and to ``listen_on()``, to know which port it ended up using, you have to ask the session using this function. ``listen_on()`` will change the listen port and/or the listen interface. If the session is already listening on a port, this socket will be closed and a new socket will be opened with these new settings. The port range is the ports it will try to listen on, if the first port fails, it will continue trying the next port within the range and so on. The interface parameter can be left as 0, in that case the os will decide which interface to listen on, otherwise it should be the ip-address of the interface you want the listener socket bound to. ``listen_on()`` returns true if it managed to open the socket, and false if it failed. If it fails, it will also generate an appropriate alert (listen_failed_alert_). The interface parameter can also be a hostname that will resolve to the device you want to listen on. The destructor of session will notify all trackers that our torrents has been shut down. If some trackers are down, they will timout. All this before the destructor of session returns. So, it's adviced that any kind of interface (such as windows) are closed before destructing the sessoin object. Because it can take a few second for it to finish. The timeout can be set with ``set_http_settings()``. The torrent_handle_ returned by ``add_torrent`` can be used to retrieve information about the torrent's progress, its peers etc. It is also used to abort a torrent. The constructor takes a range of listen ports as argument, if the first port is busy it will increase the port number by one and try again. If it still fails it will continue increasing the port number until it succeeds or has reached the end of the range. If it fails with all ports, a listen_failed_alert_ will be posted and the session thread will exit. The only thing you can do with your session if this alert is posted is to destruct it and possibly try again or change the port range. The listen interaface string is the name (ip address) of the interface you want to listen on. If this is left as 0, the os will decide which interface to listen on (works in most cases). All torrents will use this interface to open outgoing connections on by default. You can change which interface to use for outgoing connections on a per torrent basis. See torrent_handle_. For information about the ``pop_alert()`` function, see alerts_. parsing torrent files ===================== The torrent files are bencoded__. There are two functions in libtorrent that can encode and decode bencoded data. They are:: template entry bdecode(InIt start, InIt end); template void bencode(OutIt out, const entry& e); __ http://wiki.theory.org/index.php/BitTorrentSpecification The entry_ class is the internal representation of the bencoded data and it can be used to retreive information, an entry_ can also be build by the program and given to ``bencode()`` to encode it into the ``OutIt`` iterator. The ``OutIt`` and ``InIt`` are iterators (``InputIterator_`` and ``OutputIterator_`` respectively). They are templates and are usually instantiated as ``ostream_iterator_``, ``back_insert_iterator_`` or ``istream_iterator_``. These functions will assume that the iterator refers to a character (``char``). So, if you want to encode entry ``e`` into a buffer in memory, you can do it like this:: std::vector buffer; bencode(std::back_insert_iterator >(buf), e); .. _InputIterator: http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl/InputIterator.html .. _OutputIterator: http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl/OutputIterator.html .. _ostream_iterator: http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl/ostream_iterator.html .. _back_insert_iterator: http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl/back_insert_iterator.html .. _istream_iterator: http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl/istream_iterator.html If you want to decode a torrent file from a buffer in memory, you can do it like this:: std::vector buffer; // ... entry e = bdecode(buf.begin(), buf.end()); Or, if you have a raw char buffer:: const char* buf; // ... entry e = bdecode(buf, buf + data_size); Now we just need to know how to retrieve information from the entry_. If ``bdecode()`` encounters invalid encoded data in the range given to it it will throw invalid_encoding_. entry ===== The ``entry`` class represents one node in a bencoded hierarchy. It works as a variant type, it can be either a list, a dictionary (``std::map``), an integer or a string. This is its synopsis:: class entry { public: typedef std::list > dictionary_type; typedef std::string string_type; typedef std::list list_type; typedef size_type integer_type; enum data_type { int_t, string_t, list_t, dictionary_t, undefined_t }; data_type type() const; entry(const dictionary_type&); entry(const string_type&); entry(const list_type&); entry(const integer_type&); entry(); entry(data_type t); entry(const entry& e); ~entry(); void operator=(const entry& e); void operator=(const dictionary_type&); void operator=(const string_type&); void operator=(const list_type&); void operator=(const integer_type&); integer_type& integer(); const integer_type& integer() const; string_type& string(); const string_type& string() const; list_type& list(); const list_type& list() const; dictionary_type& dict(); const dictionary_type& dict() const; // these functions requires that the entry // is a dictionary, otherwise they will throw entry& operator[](char const* key); entry& operator[](std::string const& key); const entry& operator[](char const* key) const; const entry& operator[](std::string const& key) const; entry* find_key(char const* key); entry const* find_key(char const* key) const; void print(std::ostream& os, int indent = 0) const; }; The ``integer()``, ``string()``, ``list()`` and ``dict()`` functions are accessorts that return the respecive type. If the ``entry`` object isn't of the type you request, the accessor will throw type_error_ (which derives from ``std::runtime_error``). You can ask an ``entry`` for its type through the ``type()`` function. The ``print()`` function is there for debug purposes only. If you want to create an ``entry`` you give it the type you want it to have in its constructor, and then use one of the non-const accessors to get a reference which you then can assign the value you want it to have. The typical code to get info from a torrent file will then look like this:: entry torrent_file; // ... const entry::dictionary_type& dict = torrent_file.dict(); entry::dictionary_type::const_iterator i; i = dict.find("announce"); if (i != dict.end()) { std::string tracker_url= i->second.string(); std::cout << tracker_url << "\n"; } To make it easier to extract information from a torren file, the class ``torrent_info`` exists. torrent_info ============ The ``torrent_info`` has the following synopsis:: class torrent_info { public: torrent_info(const entry& torrent_file) torrent_info(int piece_size, const char* name); entry create_torrent() const; void set_comment(char const* str); void set_creator(char const* str); void set_hash(int index, const sha1_hash& h); void add_tracker(std::string const& url, int tier = 0); void add_file(boost::filesystem::path file, size_type size); typedef std::vector>file_entry>::const_iterator file_iterator; typedef std::vector::const_reverse_iterator reverse_file_iterator; file_iterator begin_files() const; file_iterator end_files() const; reverse_file_iterator rbegin_files() const; reverse_file_iterator rend_files() const; int num_files() const; const file_entry& file_at(int index) const; const std::vector& trackers() const; int prioritize_tracker(int index); size_type total_size() const; size_type piece_length() const; int num_pieces() const; const sha1_hash& info_hash() const; const std::stirng& name() const; const std::string& comment() const; boost::optional creation_date() const; void print(std::ostream& os) const; size_type piece_size(unsigned int index) const; const sha1_hash& hash_for_piece(unsigned int index) const; }; This class will need some explanation. First of all, to get a list of all files in the torrent, you can use ``begin_files()``, ``end_files()``, ``rbegin_files()`` and ``rend_files()``. These will give you standard vector iterators with the type ``file_entry``. :: struct file_entry { boost::filesystem::path path; size_type size; }; If you need index-access to files you can use the ``num_files()`` and ``file_at()`` to access files using indices. The ``print()`` function is there for debug purposes only. It will print the info from the torrent file to the given outstream. ``name()`` returns the name of the torrent. The ``trackers()`` function will return a sorted vector of ``announce_entry``. Each announce entry contains a string, which is the tracker url, and a tier index. The tier index is the high-level priority. No matter which trackers that works or not, the ones with lower tier will always be tried before the one with higher tier number. :: struct announce_entry { std::string url; int tier; }; The ``prioritize_tracker()`` is used internally to move a tracker to the front of its tier group. i.e. It will never be moved pass a tracker with a different tier number. For more information about how multiple trackers are dealt with, see the specification_. .. _specification: http://home.elp.rr.com/tur/multitracker-spec.txt ``total_size()``, ``piece_length()`` and ``num_pieces()`` returns the total number of bytes the torrent-file represents (all the files in it), the number of byte for each piece and the total number of pieces, respectively. The difference between ``piece_size()`` and ``piece_length()`` is that ``piece_size()`` takes the piece index as argument and gives you the exact size of that piece. It will always be the same as ``piece_length()`` except in the case of the last piece, which may be smaller. ``hash_for_piece()`` takes a piece-index and returns the 20-bytes sha1-hash for that piece and ``info_hash()`` returns the 20-bytes sha1-hash for the info-section of the torrent file. For more information on the ``sha1_hash``, see the big_number_ class. ``comment()`` returns the comment associated with the torrent. If there's no comment, it will return an empty string. ``creation_date()`` returns a `boost::posix_time::ptime`__ object, representing the time when this torrent file was created. If there's no timestamp in the torrent file, this will return a date of january 1:st 1970. __ http://www.boost.org/libs/date_time/doc/class_ptime.html torrent_handle ============== You will usually have to store your torrent handles somewhere, since it's the object through which you retrieve infromation about the torrent and aborts the torrent. Its declaration looks like this:: struct torrent_handle { torrent_handle(); torrent_status status(); void get_download_queue(std::vector& queue); void get_peer_info(std::vector& v); const torrent_info& get_torrent_info(); bool is_valid(); entry write_resume_data(); void force_reannounce(); void connect_peer(const address& adr) const; void set_tracker_login(std::string const& username, std::string const& password); void set_ratio(float ratio); void set_max_uploads(int max_uploads); void set_max_connections(int max_connections); void set_upload_limit(int limit); void set_download_limit(int limit); void use_interface(const char* net_interface); void pause(); void resume(); bool is_paused() const; boost::filsystem::path save_path() const; sha1_hash info_hash() const; bool operator==(const torrent_handle&) const; bool operator!=(const torrent_handle&) const; bool operator<(const torrent_handle&) const; }; The default constructor will initialize the handle to an invalid state. Which means you cannot perform any operation on it, unless you first assign it a valid handle. If you try to perform any operation on an uninitialized handle, it will throw ``invalid_handle``. ``save_path()`` returns the path that was given to ``add_torrent()`` when this torrent was started. ``force_reannounce()`` will force this torrent to do another tracker request, to receive new peers. If the torrent is invalid, queued or in checking mode, this functions will throw invalid_handle_. ``connect_peer()`` is a way to manually connect to peers that one believe is a part of the torrent. If the peer does not respond, or is not a member of this torrent, it will simply be disconnected. No harm can be done by using this other than an unnecessary connection attempt is made. If the torrent is uninitialized or in queued or checking mode, this will throw invalid_handle_. ``set_ratio()`` sets the desired download / upload ratio. If set to 0, it is considered being infinite. i.e. the client will always upload as much as it can, no matter how much it gets back in return. With this setting it will work much like the standard clients. Besides 0, the ratio can be set to any number greater than or equal to 1. It means how much to attempt to upload in return for each download. e.g. if set to 2, the client will try to upload 2 bytes for every byte received. The default setting for this is 0, which will make it work as a standard client. ``set_upload_limit`` will limit the upload bandwidth used by this particular torrent to the limit you set. It is given as the number of bytes per second the torrent is allowed to upload. ``set_download_limit`` works the same way but for download bandwidth instead of upload bandwidth. Note that setting i higher limit on a torrent then the global limit (``session::set_upload_rate_limit``) will not override the global rate limit. The torrent can never upload more than the global rate limit. ``pause()``, and ``resume()`` will disconnect all peers and reconnect all peers respectively. When a torrent is paused, it will however remember all share ratios to all peers and remember all potential (not connected) peers. You can use ``is_paused()`` to determine if a torrent is currently paused. Torrents may be paused automatically if there is a file error (eg. disk full) or something similar. See file_error_alert_. ``set_tracker_login()`` sets a username and password that will be sent along in the HTTP-request of the tracker announce. Set this if the tracker requires authorization. ``use_interface()`` sets the network interface this torrent will use when it opens outgoing connections. By default, it uses the same interface as the session_ uses to listen on. ``info_hash()`` returns the info hash for the torrent. ``set_max_uploads()`` sets the maximum number of peers that's unchoked at the same time on this torrent. If you set this to -1, there will be no limit. ``set_max_connections()`` sets the maximum number of connection this torrent will open. If all connections are used up, incoming connections may be refused or poor connections may be closed. This must be at least 2. The default is unlimited number of connections. If -1 is given to the function, it means unlimited. ``write_resume_data()`` generates fast-resume data and returns it as an entry. This entry is suitable for being bencoded. For more information about how fast-resume works, see `fast resume`_. It may throw invalid_handle_ if the torrent handle is invalid. status() -------- ``status()`` will return a structure with information about the status of this torrent. If the torrent_handle_ is invalid, it will throw invalid_handle_ exception. It contains the following fields:: struct torrent_status { enum state_t { queued_for_checking, checking_files, connecting_to_tracker, downloading, seeding }; state_t state; bool paused; float progress; boost::posix_time::time_duration next_announce; boost::posix_time::time_duration announce_interval; std::string current_tracker; size_type total_download; size_type total_upload; size_type total_payload_download; size_type total_payload_upload; float download_rate; float upload_rate; int num_peers; const std::vector* pieces; size_type total_done; }; ``progress`` is a value in the range [0, 1], that represents the progress of the torrent's current task. It may be checking files or downloading. The torrent's current task is in the ``state`` member, it will be one of the following: +--------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------+ |``queued_for_checking`` |The torrent is in the queue for being checked. But there | | |currently is another torrent that are being checked. | | |This torrent will wait for its turn. | | | | +--------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------+ |``checking_files`` |The torrent has not started its download yet, and is | | |currently checking existing files. | | | | +--------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------+ |``connecting_to_tracker`` |The torrent has sent a request to the tracker and is | | |currently waiting for a response | | | | +--------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------+ |``downloading`` |The torrent is being downloaded. This is the state | | |most torrents will be in most of the time. The progress | | |meter will tell how much of the files that has been | | |downloaded. | | | | +--------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------+ |``seeding`` |In this state the torrent has finished downloading and | | |is a pure seeder. | | | | +--------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------+ ``paused`` is set to true if the torrent is paused and false otherwise. ``next_announce`` is the time until the torrent will announce itself to the tracker. And ``announce_interval`` is the time the tracker want us to wait until we announce ourself again the next time. ``current_tracker`` is the URL of the last working tracker. If no tracker request has been successful yet, it's set to an empty string. ``total_download`` and ``total_upload`` is the number of bytes downloaded and uploaded to all peers, accumulated, *this session* only. ``total_payload_download`` and ``total_payload_upload`` counts the amount of bytes send and received this session, but only the actual oayload data (i.e the interesting data), these counters ignore any protocol overhead. ``pieces`` is the bitmask that represents which pieces we have (set to true) and the pieces we don't have. It's a pointer and may be set to 0 if the torrent isn't downloading or seeding. ``download_rate`` and ``upload_rate`` are the total rates for all peers for this torrent. These will usually have better precision than summing the rates from all peers. The rates are given as the number of bytes per second. ``num_peers`` is the number of peers this torrent currently is connected to. ``total_done`` is the total number of bytes of the file(s) that we have. get_download_queue() -------------------- ``get_download_queue()`` takes a non-const reference to a vector which it will fill with information about pieces that are partially downloaded or not downloaded at all but partially requested. The entry in the vector (``partial_piece_info``) looks like this:: struct partial_piece_info { enum { max_blocks_per_piece }; int piece_index; int blocks_in_piece; std::bitset requested_blocks; std::bitset finished_blocks; peer_id peer[max_blocks_per_piece]; int num_downloads[max_blocks_per_piece]; }; ``piece_index`` is the index of the piece in question. ``blocks_in_piece`` is the number of blocks in this particular piece. This number will be the same for most pieces, but the last piece may have fewer blocks than the standard pieces. ``requested_blocks`` is a bitset with one bit per block in the piece. If a bit is set, it means that that block has been requested, but not necessarily fully downloaded yet. To know from whom the block has been requested, have a look in the ``peer`` array. The bit-index in the ``requested_blocks`` and ``finished_blocks`` correspons to the array-index into ``peers`` and ``num_downloads``. The array of peers is contains the id of the peer the piece was requested from. If a piece hasn't been requested (the bit in ``requested_blocks`` is not set) the peer array entry will be undefined. The ``finished_blocks`` is a bitset where each bit says if the block is fully downloaded or not. And the ``num_downloads`` array says how many times that block has been downloaded. When a piece fails a hash verification, single blocks may be redownloaded to see if the hash teast may pass then. get_peer_info() --------------- ``get_peer_info()`` takes a reference to a vector that will be cleared and filled with one entry for each peer connected to this torrent, given the handle is valid. If the torrent_handle_ is invalid, it will throw invalid_handle_ exception. Each entry in the vector contains information about that particular peer. It contains the following fields:: struct peer_info { enum { interesting = 0x1, choked = 0x2, remote_interested = 0x4, remote_choked = 0x8, supports_extensions = 0x10, local_connection = 0x20 }; unsigned int flags; address ip; float up_speed; float down_speed; size_type total_download; size_type total_upload; peer_id id; std::vector pieces; int upload_limit; int upload_ceiling; size_type load_balancing; int download_queue_length; int upload_queue_length; int downloading_piece_index; int downloading_block_index; int downloading_progress; int downloading_total; }; The ``flags`` attribute tells you in which state the peer is. It is set to any combination of the enums above. The following table describes each flag: +-------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------+ | ``interesting`` | we are interested in pieces from this peer. | +-------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------+ | ``choked`` | **we** have choked this peer. | +-------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------+ | ``remote_interested`` | means the same thing but that the peer is interested | | ``remote_choked`` | in pieces from us and the peer has choked **us**. | +-------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------+ | ``support_extensions`` | means that this peer supports the `extension protocol | | | as described by nolar`__. | +-------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------+ | ``local_connection`` | The connection was initiated by us, the peer has a | | | listen port open, and that port is the same is in the | | | address_ of this peer. If this flag is not set, this | | | peer connection was opened by this peer connecting to | | | us. | +-------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------+ __ http://nolar.com/azureus/extended.htm The ``ip`` field is the IP-address to this peer. Its type is a wrapper around the actual address and the port number. See address_ class. ``up_speed`` and ``down_speed`` is the current upload and download speed we have to and from this peer. These figures are updated aproximately once every second. ``total_download`` and ``total_upload`` are the total number of bytes downloaded from and uploaded to this peer. These numbers do not include the protocol chatter, but only the payload data. ``id`` is the peer's id as used in the bit torrent protocol. This id can be used to extract 'fingerprints' from the peer. Sometimes it can tell you which client the peer is using. See identify_client_ ``pieces`` is a vector of booleans that has as many entries as there are pieces in the torrent. Each boolean tells you if the peer has that piece (if it's set to true) or if the peer miss that piece (set to false). ``upload_limit`` is the number of bytes per second we are allowed to send to this peer every second. It may be -1 if there's no limit. The upload limits of all peers should sum up to the upload limit set by ``session::set_upload_limit``. ``upload_ceiling`` is the current maximum allowed upload rate given the cownload rate and share ratio. If the global upload rate is inlimited, the ``upload_limit`` for every peer will be the same as their ``upload_ceiling``. ``load_balancing`` is a measurment of the balancing of free download (that we get) and free upload that we give. Every peer gets a certain amount of free upload, but this member says how much *extra* free upload this peer has got. If it is a negative number it means that this was a peer from which we have got this amount of free download. ``download_queue_length`` is the number of piece-requests we have sent to this peer that hasn't been answered with a piece yet. ``upload_queue_length`` is the number of piece-requests we have received from this peer that we haven't answered with a piece yet. You can know which piece, and which part of that piece, that is currently being downloaded from a specific peer by looking at the next four members. ``downloading_piece_index`` is the index of the piece that is currently being downloaded. This may be set to -1 if there's currently no piece downloading from this peer. If it is >= 0, the other three members are valid. ``downloading_block_index`` is the index of the block (or sub-piece) that is being downloaded. ``downloading_progress`` is the number of bytes of this block we have received from the peer, and ``downloading_total`` is the total number of bytes in this block. get_torrent_info() ------------------ Returns a const reference to the torrent_info_ object associated with this torrent. This reference is valid as long as the torrent_handle_ is valid, no longer. If the torrent_handle_ is invalid, invalid_handle_ exception will be thrown. is_valid() ---------- Returns true if this handle refers to a valid torrent and false if it hasn't been initialized or if the torrent it refers to has been aborted. Note that a handle may become invalid after it has been added to the session. Usually this is because the storage for the torrent is somehow invalid or if the filenames are not allowed (and hence cannot be opened/created) on your filesystem. If such an error occurs, a file_error_alert_ is generated and all handles that refers to that torrent will become invalid. address ======= The ``address`` class represents a name of a network endpoint (usually referred to as IP-address) and a port number. This is the same thing as a ``sockaddr_in`` would contain. Its declaration looks like this:: class address { public: address(); address(unsigned char a , unsigned char b , unsigned char c , unsigned char d , unsigned short port); address(unsigned int addr, unsigned short port); address(const std::string& addr, unsigned short port); address(const address& a); ~address(); std::string as_string() const; unsigned int ip() const; unsigned short port() const; bool operator<(const address& a) const; bool operator!=(const address& a) const; bool operator==(const address& a) const; }; It is less-than comparable to make it possible to use it as a key in a map. ``as_string()`` may block while it does the DNS lookup, it returns a string that points to the address represented by the object. ``ip()`` will return the 32-bit ip-address as an integer. ``port()`` returns the port number. http_settings ============= You have some control over tracker requests through the ``http_settings`` object. You create it and fill it with your settings and the use ``session::set_http_settings()`` to apply them. You have control over proxy and authorization settings and also the user-agent that will be sent to the tracker. The user-agent is a good way to identify your client. :: struct http_settings { http_settings(); std::string proxy_ip; int proxy_port; std::string proxy_login; std::string proxy_password; std::string user_agent; int tracker_timeout; int tracker_maximum_response_length; }; ``proxy_ip`` may be a hostname or ip to a http proxy to use. If this is an empty string, no http proxy will be used. ``proxy_port`` is the port on which the http proxy listens. If ``proxy_ip`` is empty, this will be ignored. ``proxy_login`` should be the login username for the http proxy, if this empty, the http proxy will be trid to be used without authentication. ``proxy_password`` the password string for the http proxy. ``user_agent`` this is the client identification to the tracker. It will be followed by the string "(libtorrent)" to identify that this library is being used. This should be set to your client's name and version number. ``tracker_timeout`` is the number of seconds the tracker connection will wait until it considers the tracker to have timed-out. Default value is 10 seconds. ``tracker_maximum_response_length`` is the maximum number of bytes in a tracker response. If a response size passes this number it will be rejected and the connection will be closed. On gzipped responses this size is measured on the uncompressed data. So, if you get 20 bytes of gzip response that'll expand to 2 megs, it will be interrupted before the entire response has been uncompressed (given your limit is lower than 2 megs). Default limit is 1 megabyte. big_number ========== Both the ``peer_id`` and ``sha1_hash`` types are typedefs of the class ``big_number``. It represents 20 bytes of data. Its synopsis follows:: class big_number { public: bool operator==(const big_number& n) const; bool operator!=(const big_number& n) const; bool operator<(const big_number& n) const; const unsigned char* begin() const; const unsigned char* end() const; unsigned char* begin(); unsigned char* end(); }; The iterators gives you access to individual bytes. hasher ====== This class creates sha1-hashes. Its declaration looks like this:: class hasher { public: hasher(); void update(const char* data, unsigned int len); sha1_hash final(); void reset(); }; You use it by first instantiating it, then call ``update()`` to feed it with data. i.e. you don't have to keep the entire buffer of which you want to create the hash in memory. You can feed the hasher parts of it at a time. When You have fed the hasher with all the data, you call ``final()`` and it will return the sha1-hash of the data. If you want to reuse the hasher object once you have created a hash, you have to call ``reset()`` to reinitialize it. The sha1-algorithm used was implemented by Steve Reid and released as public domain. For more info, see ``src/sha1.c``. fingerprint =========== The fingerprint class represents information about a client and its version. It is used to encode this information into the client's peer id. This is the class declaration:: struct fingerprint { fingerprint(const char* id_string, int major, int minor, int revision, int tag); std::string to_string() const; char id[2]; char major_version; char minor_version; char revision_version; char tag_version; }; The constructor takes a ``const char*`` that should point to a string constant containing exactly two characters. These are the characters that should be unique for your client. Make sure not to clash with anybody else. Here are some taken id's: +----------+-----------------------+ | id chars | client | +==========+=======================+ | 'AZ' | Azureus | +----------+-----------------------+ | 'LT' | libtorrent (default) | +----------+-----------------------+ | 'BX' | BittorrentX | +----------+-----------------------+ | 'MT' | Moonlight Torrent | +----------+-----------------------+ The ``major``, ``minor``, ``revision`` and ``tag`` parameters are used to identify the version of your client. All these numbers must be within the range [0, 9]. ``to_string()`` will generate the actual string put in the peer-id, and return it. identify_client --------------- There's a function, in the header ``libtorrent/identify_client.hpp``, that can be used to extract a string describing a client version from its peer-id. It has the following declaration:: std::string identify_client(const peer_id& id); It will recognize most clients that have this kind of identification in the peer-id. alerts ====== The ``pop_alert()`` function on session is the interface for retrieving alerts, warnings, messages and errors from libtorrent. If there hasn't occured any errors (matching your severity level) ``pop_alert()`` will return a zero pointer. If there has been some error, it will return a pointer to an alert object describing it. You can then use the alert object and query it for information about the error or message. To retrieve any alerts, you have to select a severity level using ``session::set_severity_level()``. It defaults to ``alert::none``, which means that you don't get any messages at all, ever. You have the following levels to select among: +--------------+----------------------------------------------------------+ | ``none`` | No alert will ever have this severity level, which | | | effectively filters all messages. | | | | +--------------+----------------------------------------------------------+ | ``fatal`` | Fatal errors will have this severity level. Examples can | | | be disk full or something else that will make it | | | impossible to continue normal execution. | | | | +--------------+----------------------------------------------------------+ | ``critical`` | Signals errors that requires user interaction or | | | messages that almost never should be ignored. For | | | example, a chat message received from another peer is | | | announced as severity ``critical``. | | | | +--------------+----------------------------------------------------------+ | ``warning`` | Messages with the warning severity can be a tracker that | | | times out or responds with invalid data. It will be | | | retried automatically, and the possible next tracker in | | | a multitracker sequence will be tried. It does not | | | require any user interaction. | | | | +--------------+----------------------------------------------------------+ | ``info`` | Events that can be considered normal, but still deserves | | | an event. This could be a piece hash that fails. | | | | +--------------+----------------------------------------------------------+ | ``debug`` | This will include alot of debug events that can be used | | | both for debugging libtorrent but also when debugging | | | other clients that are connected to libtorrent. It will | | | report strange behaviors among the connected peers. | | | | +--------------+----------------------------------------------------------+ When setting a severity level, you will receive messages of that severity and all messages that are more sever. If you set ``alert::none`` (the default) you will not recieve any events at all. When you set a severuty level other than ``none``, you have the responsibility to call ``pop_alert()`` from time to time. If you don't do that, the alert queue will just grow. When you get an alert, you can use ``typeid()`` or ``dynamic_cast<>`` to get more detailed information on exactly which type it is. i.e. what kind of error it is. You can also use a dispatcher_ mechanism that's available in libtorrent. All alert types are defined in the ```` header file. The ``alert`` class is the base class that specific messages are derived from. This is its synopsis:: class alert { public: enum severity_t { debug, info, warning, critital, fatal, none }; alert(severity_t severity, const std::string& msg); virtual ~alert(); const std::string& msg() const; severity_t severity() const; virtual std::auto_ptr clone() const = 0; }; This means that all alerts have at least a string describing it. They also have a severity leve that can be used to sort them or present them to the user in different ways. The specific alerts, that all derives from ``alert``, are: listen_failed_alert ------------------- This alert is generated when none of the ports, given in the port range, to session_ can be opened for listening. This alert is generated as severity level ``fatal``. :: struct listen_failed_alert: alert { listen_failed_alert(const std::string& msg); virtual std::auto_ptr clone() const; }; file_error_alert ---------------- If the storage fails to read or write files that it needs access to, this alert is generated and the torrent is paused. It is generated as severity level ``fatal``. :: struct file_error_alert: alert { file_error_alert( const torrent_handle& h , const std::string& msg); virtual std::auto_ptr clone() const; torrent_handle handle; }; tracker_alert ------------- This alert is generated on tracker time outs, premature disconnects, invalid response or a HTTP response other than "200 OK". From the alert you can get the handle to the torrent the tracker belongs to. This alert is generated as severity level ``warning``. :: struct tracker_alert: alert { tracker_alert(const torrent_handle& h, const std::string& msg); virtual std::auto_ptr clone() const; torrent_handle handle; }; hash_failed_alert ----------------- This alert is generated when a finished piece fails its hash check. You can get the handle to the torrent which got the failed piece and the index of the piece itself from the alert. This alert is generated as severity level ``info``. :: struct hash_failed_alert: alert { hash_failed_alert( const torrent_handle& h , int index , const std::string& msg); virtual std::auto_ptr clone() const; torrent_handle handle; int piece_index; }; peer_ban_alert -------------- This alert is generated when a peer is banned because it has sent too many corrupt pieces to us. It is generated at severity level ``info``. The ``handle`` member is a torrent_handle_ to the torrent that this peer was a member of. :: struct peer_ban_alert: alert { peer_ban_alert( address const& pip , torrent_handle h , const std::string& msg); virtual std::auto_ptr clone() const; address ip; torrent_handle handle; }; peer_error_alert ---------------- This alert is generated when a peer sends invalid data over the peer-peer protocol. The peer will be disconnected, but you get its ip address from the alert, to identify it. This alert is generated as severity level ``debug``. :: struct peer_error_alert: alert { peer_error_alert( address const& pip , peer_id const& pid , const std::string& msg); virtual std::auto_ptr clone() const; address ip; peer_id id; }; invalid_request_alert --------------------- This is a debug alert that is generated by an incoming invalid piece request. The ``handle`` is a handle to the torrent the peer is a member of. ``ìp`` is the address of the peer and the ``request`` is the actual incoming request from the peer. The alert is generated as severity level ``debug``. :: struct invalid_request_alert: alert { invalid_request_alert( peer_request const& r , torrent_handle const& h , address const& send , peer_id const& pid , std::string const& msg); virtual std::auto_ptr clone() const; torrent_handle handle; address ip; peer_request request; peer_id id; }; struct peer_request { int piece; int start; int length; bool operator==(peer_request const& r) const; }; The ``peer_request`` contains the values the client sent in its ``request`` message. ``piece`` is the index of the piece it want data from, ``start`` is the offset within the piece where the data should be read, and ``length`` is the amount of data it wants. torrent_finished_alert ---------------------- This alert is generated when a torrent switches from being a downloader to a seed. It will only be generated once per torrent. It contains a torrent_handle to the torrent in question. This alert is generated as severity level ``info``. :: struct torrent_finished_alert: alert { torrent_finished_alert( const torrent_handle& h , const std::string& msg); virtual std::auto_ptr clone() const; torrent_handle handle; }; .. chat_message_alert ------------------ This alert is generated when you receive a chat message from another peer. Chat messages are supported as an extension ("chat"). It is generated as severity level ``critical``, even though it doesn't necessarily require any user intervention, it's high priority since you would almost never want to ignore such a message. The alert class contain a torrent_handle_ to the torrent in which the sender-peer is a member and the ip of the sending peer. :: struct chat_message_alert: alert { chat_message_alert(const torrent_handle& h , const address& sender , const std::string& msg); virtual std::auto_ptr clone() const; torrent_handle handle; address ip; }; dispatcher ---------- TODO: describe the dispatcher mechanism exceptions ========== There are a number of exceptions that can be thrown from different places in libtorrent, here's a complete list with description. invalid_handle -------------- This exception is thrown when querying information from a torrent_handle_ that hasn't been initialized or that has become invalid. :: struct invalid_handle: std::exception { const char* what() const throw(); }; duplicate_torrent ----------------- This is thrown by ``session::add_torrent()`` if the torrent already has been added to the session. :: struct duplicate_torrent: std::exception { const char* what() const throw(); }; invalid_encoding ---------------- This is thrown by ``bdecode()`` if the input data is not a valid bencoding. :: struct invalid_encoding: std::exception { const char* what() const throw(); }; type_error ---------- This is thrown from the accessors of ``entry`` if the data type of the ``entry`` doesn't match the type you want to extract from it. :: struct type_error: std::runtime_error { type_error(const char* error); }; invalid_torrent_file -------------------- This exception is thrown from the constructor of ``torrent_info`` if the given bencoded information doesn't meet the requirements on what information has to be present in a torrent file. :: struct invalid_torrent_file: std::exception { const char* what() const throw(); }; examples ======== dump_torrent ------------ This is an example of a program that will take a torrent-file as a parameter and print information about it to std out:: #include #include #include #include #include #include "libtorrent/entry.hpp" #include "libtorrent/bencode.hpp" #include "libtorrent/torrent_info.hpp" int main(int argc, char* argv[]) { using namespace libtorrent; if (argc != 2) { std::cerr << "usage: dump_torrent torrent-file\n"; return 1; } try { std::ifstream in(argv[1], std::ios_base::binary); in.unsetf(std::ios_base::skipws); entry e = bdecode(std::istream_iterator(in), std::istream_iterator()); torrent_info t(e); // print info about torrent std::cout << "\n\n----- torrent file info -----\n\n"; std::cout << "trackers:\n"; for (std::vector::const_iterator i = t.trackers().begin(); i != t.trackers().end(); ++i) { std::cout << i->tier << ": " << i->url << "\n"; } std::cout << "number of pieces: " << t.num_pieces() << "\n"; std::cout << "piece length: " << t.piece_length() << "\n"; std::cout << "files:\n"; for (torrent_info::file_iterator i = t.begin_files(); i != t.end_files(); ++i) { std::cout << " " << std::setw(11) << i->size << " " << i->path << " " << i->filename << "\n"; } } catch (std::exception& e) { std::cout << e.what() << "\n"; } return 0; } simple client ------------- This is a simple client. It doesn't have much output to keep it simple:: #include #include #include #include #include #include #include "libtorrent/entry.hpp" #include "libtorrent/bencode.hpp" #include "libtorrent/session.hpp" #include "libtorrent/http_settings.hpp" int main(int argc, char* argv[]) { using namespace libtorrent; if (argc != 2) { std::cerr << "usage: ./simple_cient torrent-file\n" "to stop the client, press return.\n"; return 1; } try { session s(std::make_pair(6881, 6889)); std::ifstream in(argv[1], std::ios_base::binary); in.unsetf(std::ios_base::skipws); entry e = bdecode(std::istream_iterator(in), std::istream_iterator()); torrent_info t(e); s.add_torrent(t, ""); // wait for the user to end char a; std::cin.unsetf(std::ios_base::skipws); std::cin >> a; } catch (std::exception& e) { std::cout << e.what() << "\n"; } return 0; } fast resume =========== The fast resume mechanism is a way to remember which pieces are downloaded and where they are put between sessions. You can generate fast resume data by calling ``torrent_handle::write_resume_data()`` on torrent_handle_. You can then save this data to disk and use it when resuming the torrent. libtorrent will not check the piece hashes then, and rely on the information given in the fast-resume data. The fast-resume data also contains information about which blocks, in the unfinished pieces, were downloaded, so it will not have to start from scratch on the partially downloaded pieces. To use the fast-resume data you simply give it to ``session::add_torrent()``, and it will skip the time consuming checks. It may have to do the checking anyway, if the fast-resume data is corrupt or doesn't fit the storage for that torrent, then it will not trust the fast-resume data and just do the checking. file format ----------- The file format is a bencoded dictionary containing the following fields: +----------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | ``file-format`` | string: "libtorrent resume file" | | | | +----------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | ``file-version`` | integer: 1 | | | | +----------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | ``info-hash`` | string, the info hash of the torrent this data is saved for. | | | | +----------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | ``blocks per piece`` | integer, the number of blocks per piece. Must be: piece_size | | | / (16 * 1024). Clamped to be within the range [1, 256]. It | | | is the number of blocks per (normal sized) piece. Usually | | | each block is 16 * 1024 bytes in size. But if piece size is | | | greater than 4 megabytes, the block size will increase. | | | | +----------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | ``slots`` | list of integers. The list mappes slots ti piece indices. It | | | tells which piece is on which slot. If piece index is -2 it | | | means it is free, that there's no piece there. If it is -1, | | | means the slot isn't allocated on disk yet. The pieces have | | | to meet the following requirement: | | | | | | If there's a slot at the position of the piece index, | | | the piece must be located in that slot. | | | | +----------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | ``peers`` | list of dictionaries. Each dictionary has the following | | | layout: | | | | | | +----------+-----------------------------------------------+ | | | | ``ip`` | string, the ip address of the peer. | | | | +----------+-----------------------------------------------+ | | | | ``port`` | integer, the listen port of the peer | | | | +----------+-----------------------------------------------+ | | | | | | These are the local peers we were connected to when this | | | fast-resume data was saved. | | | | +----------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | ``unfinished`` | list of dictionaries. Each dictionary represents an | | | piece, and has the following layout: | | | | | | +-------------+--------------------------------------------+ | | | | ``piece`` | integer, the index of the piece this entry | | | | | | refers to. | | | | +-------------+--------------------------------------------+ | | | | ``bitmask`` | string, a binary bitmask representing the | | | | | | blocks that have been downloaded in this | | | | | | piece. | | | | +-------------+--------------------------------------------+ | | | | +----------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------+ extensions ========== These extensions all operates within the `extension protocol`__. The name of the extension is the name used in the extension-list packets, and the payload is the data in the extended message (not counting the length-prefix, message-id nor extension-id). __ http://nolar.com/azureus/extended.html The extension protocol is currently disabled, since it may not be compatible with future versions of bittorrent. .. These are the extensions that are currently implemented. .. chat messages .. ------------- .. Extension name: "chat" .. The payload in the packet is a bencoded dictionary with any .. combination of the following entries: .. +----------+--------------------------------------------------------+ | "msg" | This is a string that contains a message that | | | should be displayed to the user. | +----------+--------------------------------------------------------+ | "ctrl" | This is a control string that can tell a client that | | | it is ignored (to make the user aware of that) and | | | it can also tell a client that it is no longer ignored.| | | These notifications are encoded as the strings: | | | "ignored" and "not ignored". | | | Any unrecognized strings should be ignored. | +----------+--------------------------------------------------------+ filenames checks ================ Boost.Filesystem will by default check all its paths to make sure they conform to filename requirements on many platforms. If you don't want this check, you can set it to either only check for native filesystem requirements or turn it off alltogether. You can use: ``boost::filesystem::path::default_name_check(boost::filesystem::native)`` for example. For more information, see the `Boost.Filesystem docs`__. __ http://www.boost.org/libs/filesystem/doc/index.htm aknowledgements =============== Written by Arvid Norberg. Copyright (c) 2003 Contributions by Magnus Jonsson and Daniel Wallin Thanks to Reimond Retz for bugfixes, suggestions and testing Thanks to `University of Umeå`__ for providing development and test hardware. Project is hosted by sourceforge. |sf_logo|__ __ http://www.cs.umu.se .. |sf_logo| image:: http://sourceforge.net/sflogo.php?group_id=7994 __ http://sourceforge.net