Ian Clarke’s new p2p tool
p2pnet.net News:- Freenet author Ian Clarke is developing Dijjer, a new open source p2p content distribution tool, and he’s looking for people to test drive it before it goes online in beta.
"Dijjer is a peer-to-peer HTTP cache, designed to allow the distribution of large files from Web servers while virtually eliminating the bandwidth cost to the file’s publisher," he told p2pnet.
"Dijjer is designed to be simple, elegant, and to cleanly integrate with existing applications where possible. Dijjer uses "UDP hole punching" to allow it to operate from behind firewalls without any need for manual reconfiguration.
"Dijjer’s distributed and scalable content distribution algorithm is inspired by Freenet."
Below is a brief Q&A.
p2pnet: When did you start working on this?
Clarke: Several months ago. It’s hard to pinpoint a specific time because it’s a combination of a variety of ideas that have been at the back of my mind for quite some time.
p2pnet: What prompted you?
Clarke: Dissatisfaction with apps like BitTorrent, and a desire to demonstrate that the ideas behind Freenet could be applied to solve other problems.
p2pnet: When do you expect (hope) it’ll be completed?
Clarke: Well, I’m sure that development will continue for quite some time, but I hope to release a beta version in four to eight weeks that will be suitable for large-scale adoption.
p2pnet: Who do you see as the principle users?
Clarke: Anyone who needs to distribute large files to large numbers of people but who can’t afford to pay for the bandwidth that this would normally require.
The download site says features include:
"No Firewall configuration
With many P2P applications you must reconfigure your firewall to get the most out of them. Not so with Dijjer, we use state-of-the-art "NAT2NAT" techniques to get the most out of your internet connection without any reconfiguration.
"Sequential downloads
If you tried to download a video through Dijjer you may have noticed that you could start watching the video before the download completed. This is because Dijjer behaves like a web server, pieces of a file are download in-order and fed to your web browser when they arrive, allowing your browser to start displaying content before it has completely downloaded.
"No "Tracker" necessary, works with virtually any URL
This is a big one, Dijjer will work with almost any direct URL, the content publisher doesn’t need to lift a finger – they may not even realise that people are using Dijjer to save their bandwidth costs!
"Cross platform and native compilable
Dijjer is implemented in Java, meaning that it will run on Windows, Linux, and Macs. Those who don’t wish to install the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) will be pleased to note that Dijjer can be compiled with the GNU Compiler for Java (JCJ) to native code thus eliminating the need for a JRE. Native compiled versions of Dijjer will be available from this site in due course.
"Free as in Speech
Dijjer will be released under the GNU Public License.
"No cumbersome clients
Dijjer downloads through your web browser or preffered HTTP download application. You don’t need to learn to use yet another P2P client user interface.
"Advanced scalable distributed caching algorithm
Dijjer uses a highly scalable distributed caching algorithm inspired by Freenet. This will allow it to deliver faster download speeds while placing less burden on the web server, and will be better able to handle sudden increases in demand for content."
"Now all I need are some people to help me test it," says Clarke.
November 23rd, 2004 at 10:17 am
Hybridize this program’s transfer technology with bit torrent.
Implement a dynamic tracker system to prevent port blocking.
Voiala! you have an unstoppable juggernaut which will become the bane of restrictive college campuses and alphabet publisher groups alike.
November 23rd, 2004 at 11:23 am
> Hybridize this program’s transfer technology with bit torrent.
What does that even mean? Sounds like you don’t know what you are talking about to me.
> Implement a dynamic tracker system to prevent port blocking
Trackers don’t prevent “port blocking”.
November 23rd, 2004 at 6:40 pm
welcome to the lag
November 23rd, 2004 at 8:49 pm
Slashdot sucks. Slashdot trolls suck even more. Ian explicitly asked not to submit Dijjer to Slashdot until he feels it is ready.
November 23rd, 2004 at 11:01 pm
There’s no way Dijjer was going to stay under wraps. It was only a question of when slashdot would pick it up. Ian knew that.
November 24th, 2004 at 12:07 am
use big words to sound smart
November 24th, 2004 at 10:19 pm
> > Hybridize this program’s transfer technology with bit torrent.
> What does that even mean? Sounds like you don’t know what you are talking about to me.
He/she means, that sense Dijjer is GPL’d anyone can look at the source code, now someone needs to let the BitTorrent community know about Dijjer and see if they can program a new BitTorrent using the ideas from Dijjer which is a Java application; now look at Azureus a Java BitTorrent client, BitTorrent being a Python application…so it is possible to do!
> > Implement a dynamic tracker system to prevent port blocking
> Trackers don’t prevent “port blocking”.
In time — but I highly doubt it, just like the previous poster — maybe something like this can be done, but it’s not useful at this point and time
mv * > /dev/null
May 31st, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Hi
Does it work under Windows?
Sam