UDP tracker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The UDP tracker protocol is a high-performance low-overhead BitTorrent tracker protocol. URLs for this protocol have the following format: udp://tracker:port. This protocol is supported by xbt-tracker.
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[edit] UDP vs. HTTP
The UDP tracker is better optimized and puts less strain on the tracking server, however it is not supported by all BitTorrent clients. On the other hand the HTTP tracker is supported by all BitTorrent clients, is more reliable for ratio updates, but more of a strain on the server. Neither tracker has any effect on transfer speeds.
[edit] Supported clients
- Azureus
- XBT Client
- KTorrent
- XBBT
- BitComet
- Turbo Torrent
- BitRocket
- BitLord
List is subject to changes. Other clients may add support or the exsisting ones may drop it. Please refer individual client's manual/help/support for more information.
[edit] Criticism
- No IPv6 support
- No mechanism for index sites to scrape an entire tracker
- No mechanism for trackers to enforce client restrictions
- No mechanism for trackers to send warning messages
[edit] Criticism Response
- No IPv6 support - Even IPv6 isn't a 'standard' at this point in time
- No mechanism for index sites to scrape an entire tracker - Somewhat false: "Up to about 74 torrents can be scraped at once. A full scrape can't be done with this protocol."
- No mechanism for trackers to enforce client restrictions - True. But blocking peers from accessing a tracker is against BitTorrent protocol as well.
- No mechanism for trackers to send warning messages - False. UDP supports error output including a text message describing the error.
