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Metalinks Tries to Simplify Downloads

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the but-i-like-huge-mirror-lists dept.

ant_tmwx writes "Metalinks collect information about files in an XML format used by programs that download. The information includes mirror lists, ways to retrieve the file on P2P networks, checksums for verifying and correcting downloads, operating system, language, and other details. Using Metalinks details the Free Software programs you can use to download them with. There are also clients on Mac and Windows. With a list of multiple ways to download a file, programs can switch to another method if one goes down. Or a file can be downloaded from multiple mirrors at once, usually making the download go much faster. Downloads can be repaired during transfer to guarantee no errors. All this makes things automatic which are usually not possible or at least difficult, and increases efficiency, availability, and reliability over regular download links. OpenOffice.org, openSUSE, and other Linux/BSD distributions use them for large downloads."

2 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. Browser clients available? by MMC+Monster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Are there clients that integrate (ie: extensions) for Firefox, IE, Safari, and Opera? If there is proper integration with these clients (meaning seamless downloading without opening third party download managers), this might actually go well.

    It's bad enough when I tell my dad to download a torrent and he complains that a torrent manager client pops up; especially when he doesn't realize that closing the window may not stop the torrent.

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  2. Re:Who says it can't use BitTorrent also? by Jonah+Hex · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It does not look like it excludes ANY type of file transfer, if your client supports it you can do it is how it looks to me.

    Example - MetaLink XML contains the following formats:
    5 different HTTP sites
    2 FTP sites
    3 BitTorrent Trackers
    eMule/Edonkey Hash

    Example - Client One has implemented:
    HTTP, FTP and BitTorrent

    Example - Client Two has implemented:
    BitTorrent and eMule

    Example - Client Three has implemented:
    HTTP, FTP, BitTorrent and eMule

    I'm surprised it's taken this long to come up with this sort of client independant format.

    Jonah HEX

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