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Updatable torrents

Follow a BEP 46 link and get every new version as it is published, unchanged files linked rather than downloaded; or publish one of your own.

A torrent is fixed once it is made. An updatable torrent (BEP 46) is a name in the DHT, signed by its publisher, that points at the current version, so a dataset, a distribution or a collection can grow without a new link each time.

• Follow one. A magnet:?xs=urn:btpk:… link, typed, opened, dropped into a watch folder’s .magnet file or found in an RSS feed, is looked up in the DHT and its current version added.
• New versions arrive by themselves. Torrenta looks again every six hours (Settings → Adding torrents → Look for newer versions every) and adds a newer version into the same folder, filed the same way, with the files that did not change linked rather than downloaded again.
• The old version lets go. Once the new one is complete the old one is no longer followed, and leaves the list, its files kept, if you choose.
• Automation knows. Settings → Automation can run a program or notify on a new version.
• Publish one. The Create Torrent dialog’s Publish as updatable makes a key under a name you choose, seeds the torrent and puts it in the DHT; the updatable link it shows is what others follow. Torrent → New Version… creates the next version under the same key, and Copy Updatable Link gives the link again.

The key is keys/<name>.key in Torrenta’s folder, on this computer only and never synced: anyone with it can publish versions, and without it there will be no more, so keep a copy. While Torrenta runs it puts the link back in the DHT every hour when it is no longer found there. See Updatable torrents.