Deluge (software)

Last updated
Deluge - BitTorrent client
Developer(s) Deluge BitTorrent client Team
Initial releaseSeptember 25, 2006;16 years ago (2006-09-25)
Stable release
2.1.1 [1]   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg / 10 July 2022
Repository git.deluge-torrent.org/deluge
Written in Python
Operating system FreeBSD, Linux, macOS, Windows
Type BitTorrent client
License GPL-3.0-or-later [lower-alpha 1]
Website deluge-torrent.org

Deluge BitTorrent Client is a free and open-source, cross-platform BitTorrent client written in Python. Deluge uses a front and back end architecture where libtorrent, a software library written in C++ which provides the application's networking logic, is connected to one of various front ends including a text console, the web interface and a graphical desktop interface using GTK through the project's own Python bindings.

Contents

Deluge is released under the terms of the GPL-3.0-or-later license.

Features

Older version of Deluge Deluge screenshot.png
Older version of Deluge

Deluge aims to be a lightweight, secure, and feature-rich client. [2] [3] [4] To help achieve this, most of its features are part of plugin modules which were written by various developers.

Starting with version 1.0, Deluge separated its core from its interface, running it instead in a daemon (server/service), allowing users to remotely manage the application over the web. [5] Deluge has supported magnet links since version 1.1.0 released in January 2009. [6]

History

Deluge was started by two members of ubuntuforums.org, Zach Tibbitts and Alon Zakai, who previously hosted and maintained the project at Google Code, but who subsequently moved it to its own website.

In its first stages, Deluge was originally titled gTorrent, to reflect that it was targeted for the GNOME desktop environment. When the first version was released on September 25, 2006, it was renamed to Deluge due to an existing project named gtorrent on SourceForge, in addition to the fact that it was finally coded to work not only on GNOME but on any platform which could support GTK. [7]

The 0.5.x release marked a complete rewrite from the 0.4.x code branch. The 0.5.x branch added support for encryption, peer exchange, binary prefix, and UPnP.

Nearing the time of the 0.5.1 release, the two original developers effectively left the project, leaving Rory Mobley and Andrew "andar" Resch to continue Deluge's development.

Version 0.5.4.1 saw support for both Mac OS X (via MacPorts) and Windows being introduced.

Around this time,[ when? ] Deluge became notable for its resistance to Comcast's bandwidth throttling without a change in code, while clients like Vuze (Azureus) and μTorrent had to borrow the method implemented by Deluge. [8]

From version 1.1.1 through version 1.1.3, Windows installers were unavailable due to the Windows packager leaving the project. Windows became unavailable following the move to GTK3 in 2019. However, Windows installers, supporting both libtorrent 1.2.x and 2.0.x, are once again available starting with version 2.1.0 released in 2022. [9]

Following 1.1.3, packages for all non-Windows operating systems are no longer provided by the developers; instead, source tars and community provided packages were released.

See also

Notes

  1. GPL-3.0-or-later with OpenSSL exception

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shareaza</span> Peer-to-peer file sharing application

Shareaza is a peer-to-peer file sharing client running under Microsoft Windows which supports the gnutella, Gnutella2 (G2), eDonkey, BitTorrent, FTP, HTTP and HTTPS network protocols and handles magnet links, ed2k links, and the now deprecated gnutella and Piolet links. It is available in 30 languages.

BitTorrent is a communication protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P), which enables users to distribute data and electronic files over the Internet in a decentralized manner.

wxWidgets Widget toolkit

wxWidgets is a widget toolkit and tools library for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for cross-platform applications. wxWidgets enables a program's GUI code to compile and run on several computer platforms with minimal or no code changes. A wide choice of compilers and other tools to use with wxWidgets facilitates development of sophisticated applications. wxWidgets supports a comprehensive range of popular operating systems and graphical libraries, both proprietary and free, and is widely deployed in prominent organizations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PyGTK</span> Set of Python wrappers for the GTK graphical user interface library

PyGTK is a set of Python wrappers for the GTK graphical user interface library. PyGTK is free software and licensed under the LGPL. It is analogous to PyQt/PySide and wxPython, the Python wrappers for Qt and wxWidgets, respectively. Its original author is GNOME developer James Henstridge. There are six people in the core development team, with various other people who have submitted patches and bug reports. PyGTK has been selected as the environment of choice for applications running on One Laptop Per Child systems.

In file sharing, super-seeding is an algorithm developed by John Hoffman for the BitTorrent communications protocol that helps downloaders become uploaders more quickly, but it introduces the danger of total seeding failure if there is only one downloader.

BitTorrent is a proprietary adware BitTorrent client developed by Bram Cohen and Rainberry, Inc. used for uploading and downloading files via the BitTorrent protocol. BitTorrent was the first client written for the protocol. It is often nicknamed Mainline by developers denoting its official origins. Since version 6.0 the BitTorrent client has been a rebranded version of μTorrent. As a result, it is no longer open source. It is currently available for Microsoft Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android. There are currently two versions of the software, "BitTorrent Classic" which inherits the historical version numbering, and "BitTorrent Web", which uses its own version numbering.

rTorrent BitTorrent library and text-based client

rTorrent is a text-based BitTorrent client written in C++, based on the ncurses and libTorrent libraries for Unix, whose author's goal is "a focus on high performance and good code".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FrostWire</span> Free and open-source BitTorrent client

FrostWire is a free and open-source BitTorrent client first released in September 2004, as a fork of LimeWire. It was initially very similar to LimeWire in appearance and functionality, but over time developers added more features, including support for the BitTorrent protocol. In version 5, support for the Gnutella network was dropped entirely, and FrostWire became a BitTorrent-only client.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transmission (BitTorrent client)</span> BitTorrent client

Transmission is a BitTorrent client which features a variety of user interfaces on top of a cross-platform back-end. Transmission is free software licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License, with parts under the MIT License.

Protocol encryption (PE), message stream encryption (MSE) or protocol header encrypt (PHE) are related features of some peer-to-peer file-sharing clients, including BitTorrent clients. They attempt to enhance privacy and confidentiality. In addition, they attempt to make traffic harder to identify by third parties including internet service providers (ISPs). However, encryption will not protect one from DMCA notices from sharing not legal content, as one is still uploading material and the monitoring firms can merely connect to the swarm.

Peer exchange or PEX is a communications protocol that augments the BitTorrent file sharing protocol. It allows a group of users that are collaborating to share a given file to do so more swiftly and efficiently.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miro (video software)</span>

Miro was an audio, video player and Internet television application developed by the Participatory Culture Foundation. It runs on Microsoft Windows, macOS, FreeBSD and Linux and supports most known video file formats. It offers both audio and video, some in HD quality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vuze</span> BitTorrent client

Vuze is a BitTorrent client used to transfer files via the BitTorrent protocol. Vuze is written in Java, and uses the Azureus Engine. In addition to downloading data linked to .torrent files, Azureus allows users to view, publish and share original DVD and HD quality video content. Content is presented through channels and categories containing TV shows, music videos, movies, video games, series and others. Additionally, if users prefer to publish their original content, they may earn money from it.

The following is a general comparison of BitTorrent clients, which are computer programs designed for peer-to-peer file sharing using the BitTorrent protocol.

Micro Transport Protocol or μTP is an open UDP-based variant of the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file sharing protocol intended to mitigate poor latency and other congestion control problems found in conventional BitTorrent over TCP, while providing reliable, ordered delivery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GTK</span> Free and open-source cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces

GTK is a free and open-source cross-platform widget toolkit for creating graphical user interfaces (GUIs). It is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, allowing both free and proprietary software to use it. It is one of the most popular toolkits for the Wayland and X11 windowing systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mono (software)</span> Computer software project

Mono is a free and open-source .NET Framework-compatible software framework. Originally by Ximian, it was later acquired by Novell, and is now being led by Xamarin, a subsidiary of Microsoft and the .NET Foundation. Mono can be run on many software systems.

μTorrent Proprietary adware BitTorrent client

μTorrent, or uTorrent is a proprietary adware BitTorrent client owned and developed by Rainberry, Inc. The "μ" in its name comes from the SI prefix "micro-", referring to the program's small memory footprint: the program was designed to use minimal computer resources while offering functionality comparable to larger BitTorrent clients such as Vuze or BitComet. μTorrent became controversial in 2015 when many users unknowingly accepted a default option during installation which also installed a cryptocurrency miner.

References

  1. https://git.deluge-torrent.org/deluge/tag/?h=deluge-2.1.1.
  2. Kereki, Federico (December 27, 2007). "After torrents? Try Deluge!". Linux.com. SourceForge, Inc. Archived from the original on 2009-05-31. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
  3. enigmax (June 14, 2007). "Deluge Torrent Client Aims to Thwart ISP Traffic Shaping". TorrentFreak. Archived from the original on November 30, 2010. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
  4. Wong, Chin (November 9, 2009). "Good Karma". Digital Life. Archived from the original on November 25, 2009. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
  5. andar (September 28, 2008). "Deluge 1.0.0 - "Sharks Are Bulletproof" Released!". Deluge. Archived from the original on July 25, 2011. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
  6. "Deluge 1.1.0_RC/ChangeLog". Deluge. June 15, 2009. Archived from the original (plain text) on April 30, 2011. Retrieved December 10, 2010.
  7. Ty (September 26, 2006). "gTorrent becomes Deluge: Version 0.1.0 Released". Deluge. Ubuntu Forums. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved December 20, 2010.
  8. amc1 (January 3, 2008). "Re: Better encryption". uTorrent.com. p. 4. Archived from the original on June 11, 2014. Retrieved December 10, 2010. If there's anyone out there willing to help - we (Azureus devs) worked with alus to see what Deluge was doing differently to avoid being throttled... we've made changes as well, but we don't have anyone to test with. So if there's anyone who belongs to one of the affected ISPs, and they're willing to spend a few minutes helping us test our changes, that'd be appreciated.
  9. "Download – Deluge". Archived from the original on 2009-02-19. Retrieved 2022-07-09.