Tribler

Last updated
Developer(s) The Tribler Team at Delft University of Technology and VU University Amsterdam
Initial release28 February 2006;18 years ago (2006-02-28) [1]
Stable release
7.13.3 [2]   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg / 13 March 2024;23 days ago (13 March 2024)
Repository
Written in Python
Operating system Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, Android
Platform ARM, IA-32, MIPS, PowerPC, x86-64
Size 110.58 MiB
Available inEnglish
Type BitTorrent client
License GPL-3.0-only [3]
Website www.tribler.org

Tribler is an open source decentralized BitTorrent client which allows anonymous peer-to-peer by default. Tribler is based on the BitTorrent protocol and uses an overlay network for content searching. [4] Due to this overlay network, Tribler does not require an external website or indexing service to discover content. [5] The user interface of Tribler is very basic and focused on ease of use instead of diversity of features. [6] Tribler is available for Linux, Windows, and OS X. [7]

Contents

Tribler has run trials for a video streamer known as SwarmPlayer. [8]

History

The name Tribler stems from the word tribe[ citation needed ], referring to the usage of social networks in this P2P client. The first version of Tribler was an enhancement of ABC aka Yet Another BitTorrent Client.

In 2009, the development team behind Tribler stated that their efforts for the coming years were focused on the integration of Tribler with television hardware.[ citation needed ]

In 2014, with the release of version 6.3.1, a custom built-in onion routing network was introduced as part of Tribler. [9] Users can load any clearnet torrent, and by leaving the box for anonymity ticked, the files will be routed through other Tribler. [10] Because the custom onion network does not use Tor exit nodes, it is enhanced to make every Tribler user to function as a relay. [11]

Features

Tribler adds keyword search ability to the BitTorrent file download protocol using a gossip protocol, somewhat similar to the eXeem network which was shut down in 2005. The software includes the ability to recommend content. After a dozen downloads the Tribler software can roughly estimate the download taste of the user and recommends content. [12] This feature is based on collaborative filtering, also featured on websites such as Last.fm and Amazon.com. Another feature of Tribler is a limited form of social networking and donation of upload capacity. Tribler borrows bandwidth capacity from connected nodes regarded as helpful to boost the download speed of files. [13]

SwarmPlayer

The SwarmPlayer is a Python-based BitTorrent Internet TV viewer. It allows one to watch BitTorrent-hosted peer-to-peer digital media distribution of video on demand and plays live Tribler streaming media. It is based on the same core as the Tribler TV application.

The core software is free and open source software based on the Tribler platform, licensed under the LGPL 2.1.

Development

Tribler was created by university researchers at the Delft University of Technology, who are trying to improve peer-to-peer technology. [14] Tribler is designed to enhance BitTorrent by removing the need for central elements such as the websites for finding content, as well as being anonymous.

The European Union's P2P-Next project to develop an Internet television distribution standard builds on Tribler technology. [15]

Reception

After a news article on TorrentFreak in February 2012 mentioned Tribler's decentralization and the fact that its index is impossible to take down, the website became hugely popular, causing it to be reduced to just the download page to satisfy demand. [16] A warning about Tribler security appeared on the tor-dev mailing list on Dec. 20, 2014 [17] [ self-published source? ] and was addressed shortly thereafter via GitHub. [18] [ non-primary source needed ]. Daniel Aleksandersen has pointed out in 2021 some privacy concerns due to the project's goals and priorities. [19] He considers these issues are still not addressed in 2023. [20]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peer-to-peer</span> Type of decentralized and distributed network architecture

Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network, forming a peer-to-peer network of nodes.

Uploading refers to transmitting data from one computer system to another through means of a network. Common methods of uploading include: uploading via web browsers, FTP clients], and terminals (SCP/SFTP). Uploading can be used in the context of clients that send files to a central server. While uploading can also be defined in the context of sending files between distributed clients, such as with a peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing protocol like BitTorrent, the term file sharing is more often used in this case. Moving files within a computer system, as opposed to over a network, is called file copying.

BitTorrent, also referred to as simply torrent, 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. The protocol is developed and maintained by Rainberry, Inc., and was first released in 2001. A 2004 study by Cachelogic found that one third of all internet traffic was BitTorrent traffic.

An anonymous P2P communication system is a peer-to-peer distributed application in which the nodes, which are used to share resources, or participants are anonymous or pseudonymous. Anonymity of participants is usually achieved by special routing overlay networks that hide the physical location of each node from other participants.

The Invisible Internet Project (I2P) is an anonymous network layer that allows for censorship-resistant, peer-to-peer communication. Anonymous connections are achieved by encrypting the user's traffic, and sending it through a volunteer-run network of roughly 55,000 computers distributed around the world. Given the high number of possible paths the traffic can transit, a third party watching a full connection is unlikely. The software that implements this layer is called an "I2P router", and a computer running I2P is called an "I2P node". I2P is free and open sourced, and is published under multiple licenses.

Broadcatching is the downloading of digital content that has been made available over the Internet using RSS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnet URI scheme</span> Scheme that defines the format of magnet links

Magnet is a URI scheme that defines the format of magnet links, a de facto standard for identifying files (URN) by their content, via cryptographic hash value rather than by their location.

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.

This is a timeline of events in the history of networked file sharing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">P2PTV</span> Video distribution method

P2PTV refers to peer-to-peer (P2P) software applications designed to redistribute video streams in real time on a P2P network; the distributed video streams are typically TV channels from all over the world but may also come from other sources. The draw to these applications is significant because they have the potential to make any TV channel globally available by any individual feeding the stream into the network where each peer joining to watch the video is a relay to other peer viewers, allowing a scalable distribution among a large audience with no incremental cost for the source.

File sharing is a method of distributing electronically stored information such as computer programs and digital media. Below is a list of file sharing applications, most of them make use of peer-to-peer file sharing technologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peer-to-peer file sharing</span> Data distribution using P2P networking technology

Peer-to-peer file sharing is the distribution and sharing of digital media using peer-to-peer (P2P) networking technology. P2P file sharing allows users to access media files such as books, music, movies, and games using a P2P software program that searches for other connected computers on a P2P network to locate the desired content. The nodes (peers) of such networks are end-user computers and distribution servers.

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

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

Phex is a peer-to-peer file sharing client for the gnutella network, released under the terms of the GNU General Public License, so Phex is free software. Phex is based on Java SE 5.0 or later.

libtorrent

libtorrent is an open-source implementation of the BitTorrent protocol. It is written in and has its main library interface in C++. Its most notable features are support for Mainline DHT, IPv6, HTTP seeds and μTorrent's peer exchange. libtorrent uses Boost, specifically Boost.Asio to gain its platform independence. It is known to build on Windows and most Unix-like operating systems.

Peer-to-peer web hosting is using peer-to-peer networking to distribute access to webpages. This is differentiated from the client–server model which involves the distribution of web data between dedicated web servers and user-end client computers. Peer-to-peer web hosting may also take the form of P2P web caches and content delivery networks.

The usage share of BitTorrent clients is the percentage of users that use a particular BitTorrent client, regardless of version.

In the BitTorrent file distribution system, a torrent file or meta-info file is a computer file that contains metadata about files and folders to be distributed, and usually also a list of the network locations of trackers, which are computers that help participants in the system find each other and form efficient distribution groups called swarms. Torrent files are normally named with the extension .torrent.

Torrent poisoning is intentionally sharing corrupt data or data with misleading file names using the BitTorrent protocol. This practice of uploading fake torrents is sometimes carried out by anti-infringement organisations as an attempt to prevent the peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing of copyrighted content, and to gather the IP addresses of downloaders.

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. ↑ Van der Sar, Ernesto (2006-02-28). "Tribler: Social BitTorrent Beta version Leaked". near Amsterdam: torrentfreak.com. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
  2. ↑ "Release 7.13.3" . Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  3. ↑ tribler/LICENSE at devel · Tribler/tribler, GitHub, archived from the original on 2020-12-22, retrieved 2019-09-04
  4. ↑ "The Bittorrent Overlay Swarm". tribler.org. Archived from the original on 2008-07-05. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  5. ↑ whatIsTribler/2 Archived 2013-07-28 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ Milestone Tribler V5.0 | Tribler.org Archived 2011-07-28 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ "Download Tribler". Archived from the original on 2012-02-11. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
  8. ↑ "Tribler". Archived from the original on 2021-06-17. Retrieved 2019-12-21.
  9. ↑ "Researchers Make Bittorrent Anonymous and Impossible to Shut Down". Torrentfreak. 18 December 2014. Archived from the original on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  10. ↑ "Tribler - Anonymity" Archived 2015-08-22 at the Wayback Machine . tribler.org.
  11. ↑ ""Our custom onion network is enhanced to allow everyone to function as a relay."". Archived from the original on 2015-08-22. Retrieved 2015-08-21.
  12. ↑ "Decentralized Recommendation". Archived from the original on 2008-12-02. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  13. ↑ "Cooperative Download". Archived from the original on 2008-12-10. Retrieved 2009-06-12.
  14. ↑ J. A. Pouwelse; P. Garbacki; J. Wang; A. Bakker; J. Yang; A. Iosup; D.H.J. Epema; M. Reinders; M.R. van Steen; H. J. Sips (30 January 2007). "Tribler: a social-based peer-to-peer system" (PDF). Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience. 20 (2). Wiley InterScience, Department of Computer Science: Delft University of Technology; Vrije Universiteit, The Netherlands: 127–138. doi:10.1002/cpe.1189. S2CID   757169. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  15. ↑ "Europe funds internet TV standard". BBC News. February 25, 2008. Archived from the original on 2021-05-07. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  16. ↑ "Tribler Makes BitTorrent Impossible to Shut Down". TorrentFreak. 2012-02-08. Archived from the original on 2012-02-09. Retrieved 2012-02-09.
  17. ↑ Yawning Angel (20 Dec 2014). "N reasons why the spooks love Tribler (Number N' will surprise you)". tor-dev mailing list. Archived from the original on 30 April 2015. Retrieved 15 Jun 2015.
  18. ↑ synctext (22 Dec 2014). "Addressing the various security improvements #1066". Github. Archived from the original on 30 January 2018. Retrieved 15 Jun 2015.
  19. ↑ Daniel Aleksandersen (17 August 2021). "A privacy review of Tribler, the onion-routed BitTorrent app" . Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  20. ↑ Daniel Aleksandersen (2 July 2023). "Comments on A privacy review of Tribler, the onion-routed BitTorrent app" . Retrieved 6 November 2023.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.