NAME

       apt-p2p — apt helper for peer-to-peer downloads of Debian packages

SYNOPSIS

       Normally  apt-p2p is run from init.d using twistd, in which case no apt-p2p options can be
       specified on the command-line, and all configuration variables are read from  the  default
       config  file  locations of $HOME/.apt-p2p/apt-p2p.conf and /etc/apt-p2p/apt-p2p.conf.  The
       command is then:

       twistd -y /path/to/apt-p2p [twistd options ...]

       For a detailed listing of the twistd options, see twistd(1)

       apt-p2p can also be run without twistd by executing:

       apt-p2p [options ...]

       In this case, you can specify the options documented below on the command-line.

DESCRIPTION

       apt-p2p is a helper for downloading Debian packages files with APT.  It will download  any
       needed  files  from other Apt-P2P peers in a peer-to-peer manner, and so reduce the strain
       on the Debian mirrors.

   APT SETUP
       In order for APT to send it's requests  to  apt-p2p,  the  sources.list  entries  must  be
       modified  to point to the local apt-p2p address. Unless you have changed the default port,
       then adding "localhost:9977/" to the beginning of each entry  should  be  sufficient.  For
       example, if your sources.list contains a line like this:

              deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian etch main contrib non-free

       then replace it with this:

              deb http://localhost:9977/ftp.us.debian.org/debian etch main contrib non-free

       You can do the same with 'deb-src' lines as well, and apt-p2p will be used to download and
       share your source packages as well.

   PORT FORWARDING
       It is VERY important that Apt-P2P's ports be reachable by other  peers.   This  is  needed
       both  to  share  files with others, and to connect to others through the DHT to find peers
       for files. If you aren't accessible by others, you will not only not share  anything,  but
       your performance during downloading will be affected.

       Apt-P2P  uses  a  default port of 9977, over both TCP and UDP, for it's communication. You
       can change this port in the /etc/apt-p2p/apt-p2p.conf file, and use  different  ports  for
       TCP  and  UDP, if desired. Whatever port you use, make sure to forward it through your NAT
       or firewall to improve your  performance  and  share  with  others.  Information  on  port
       forwarding can be found here:

        (link to URL http://portforward.com/)

   PRIVATE NETWORKS
       Apt-P2P  is  not  designed  to  function as a downloader for multiple clients on a private
       network. Apt-P2P checks the source of incoming requests and only responds  to  those  from
       the localhost. For more information:

        (link to URL http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=481243)

OPTIONS

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

       -c filename, --configfile=filename
                 the  filename  to use for the configuration file, options found in this file are
                 combined with those in $HOME/.apt-p2p/apt-p2p.conf and /etc/apt-p2p/apt-p2p.conf
                 (see apt-p2p.conf(5) for the format of the file)

       -l filename, --logfile=filename
                 the  filename to print log messages to, or '-' to log to standard output, if not
                 specified then /var/log/apt-p2p.log will be used

       -h, --help
                 print a help message describing the invocation of the program

       -v, --version
                 print the version of the program

SEE ALSO

       apt-p2p.conf(5), twistd(1)

AUTHOR

       This manual page was written by Cameron Dale <camrdale@gmail.com> 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.

                                                                                       apt-p2p(8)