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)