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Ask HN: Why aren't system libraries/packages distributed using torrents?

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Ask HN: Why aren't system libraries/packages distributed using torrents?

#1
This looks like an ideal scenario for torrents, everyone has a copy of packages on the server so seeding will be through the roof, usually on the same network.

No more breaking the world because PyPi/NPM/apt mirror is down.

One tool could support every type of package repository, and then the main mirror will be 'constant' seeds that simply proxy the current locations e.g.:

https://pypi.python.org/whatever-4.3 => torrent://pypi.whatever-4.3

So that you can always get a copy.

Re: Ask HN: Why aren't system libraries/packages distributed using torrents?

#3
Please don't confuse system packages (as in DEB, RPM) with your language's packages (e.g. npm).

And you're not the first one to think of this. In fact, there was some work in Debian around this idea. Like, a decade ago.

https://wiki.debian.org/DebTorrent