NAME

       btmakemetafile — generates torrent meta-info files for use with bittorrent

SYNOPSIS

       btmakemetafile   trackerURL  file|directory  [file|directory ...]  [--piece_size_pow2 num]
       [--comment  comment]   [--target  file]   [--filesystem_encoding  encoding]   [--httpseeds
       seedURLlist]  [--announce_list announceURLlist]

DESCRIPTION

       This manual page documents briefly the btmakemetafile command.

       This manual page was written for the Debian distribution because the original program does
       not have a manual page.

       btmakemetafile is a program that is used to generate  the  torrent  info  files  that  are
       distributed  to  bittorrent  clients  (usually  over  http)  to  inform  them of where the
       designated tracker for the torrent is located, and to enable them  to  verify  the  file's
       contents.

       btmakemetafile requires two arguments. The first is the trackerURL which is the "announce"
       address of a tracker (ex. http://127.0.0.1:6969/announce),  the  second  is  the  file  or
       directory of files that are to be included in to torrent.

OPTIONS

       These  programs  follow the usual GNU command line syntax, with long options starting with
       two dashes (`--').  A summary of options is included below.

       --piece_size_pow2 num
                 set the piece size to this power of 2 (0 = automatic) (defaults to 0)

       --comment comment
                 optional human-readable comment to put in the torrent file (defaults to '')

       --target file
                 optional target file for the torrent (defaults to '')

       --filesystem_encoding encoding
                 an optional encoding specification for  the  filesystem  (set  automatically  in
                 recent Python versions) (defaults to '')

       --httpseeds seedURLlist
                 a  list of http seed URLs. These alternate URLs will be used to seed the file if
                 there are no other seeds available. The format of seedURLlist is as follows:

                 URL[|URL ...]

                 (defaults to '')

       --announce_list announceURLlist
                 a list of announce URLs. This is an optional list  of  redundant/backup  tracker
                 URLs. The format of announceURLlist is as follows:

                 URL[,URL ...][|URL[,URL ...] ...]

                 where  the  URLs separated by commas are tried randomly, then the groups of URLs
                 separated by pipes are tried in sequential order.  If this option is omitted, it
                 is  assumed  you  don't  want  an  announce_list  field  in  the  metafile.   If
                 announce_list is given, clients which support  it  will  ignore  the  trackerURL
                 value. (defaults to '')

EXAMPLES

       These examples show how to use the --announce_list option in a few scenarios.

       Try the three trackers (1-3) in sequential order:

       btmakemetafile trackerURL file --announce_list http://track1.com|http://track2.com|http://track3.com

       Try the three trackers (1-3) in a randomly selected order:

       btmakemetafile trackerURL file --announce_list http://track1.com,http://track2.com,http://track3.com

       Try the main tracker (1) first, then try the two backups (2 and 3) randomly:

       btmakemetafile trackerURL file --announce_list http://track1.com|http://track2.com,http://track3.com

SEE ALSO

       btcompletedir(1), btcompletedirgui(1), btmaketorrentgui(1), btshowmetainfo(1), bittorrent-
       downloader(1).

AUTHOR

       This manual page was written by Cameron Dale <camrdale@gmail.com> (based on  the  original
       man  pages written by Micah Anderson <micah@debian.org>) for the Debian system (but may be
       used by others).  Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or  modify  this  document
       under  the  terms  of  the  GNU  General  Public  License,  Version 2 or any later version
       published by the Free Software Foundation.

       On Debian systems, the complete text of the GNU General Public License  can  be  found  in
       /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL.

                                                                     btmakemetafile.bittornado(1)