Tracker selection

[mreithub]

Hi, I've been thinking a lot lately about whether it would be possible/useful to remove (or better: to give users an alternative to) the one centralized infrastructure btsync uses: the tracker.

Currently, the app registers its shares (and asks for peers) at r.rsyncapp.com and/or t.rsyncapp.com, but what if we introduced an (optional) URL scheme for the secrets?

SECRET
btsync://SECRET
btsync://tracker-server/SECRET

• The first one for compatibility (and simplicity) and uses the official trackers
  
• The second one is basically just like the first one but with a URL schema
  
• The third one might use another tracking server (i.e. a local one in a company)
  

While I don't think this will be used a lot, it's a simple extension that might give those who don't want their IPs logged abroad (the tracker might be used to store an IP history for each peer) an extra feeling of privacy.

[GreatMarko]

You can of course disable the tracker all together if you're worried about your "IPs being logged abroad"! ...and also the "predefined hosts" options already within BitTorrent Sync, can be used to essentially create your own pseudo-"tracker"!

[mreithub]

@GreatMarko Yeah, I know that, but I'm thinking of users who want to sync their data on the go with changing IPs.

I think of my proposal to be just the icing on the cake of privacy btsync provides. And it wouldn't make life harder for those users who wouldn't use this feature.

[rdebath]

Okay, firstly for your URI syntax. The double slash is not needed if only a path is required ie:

btsync:ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ234567

If you want to specify one or more of a host, port, user and password you need the slashes:

btsync://user:password@tracker.org:3000/ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ234567

or perhaps a special for dht.

btsync://dht.zz/ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ234567

OTOH query strings work fine.

btsync:ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ234567?peer=192.168.0.1:33333
btsync:ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ234567?tracker=&dht=1

As for losing the tracker, well, actually you can't.

You need somewhere to call right at the beginning at a fixed address or DNS name to get you started, to "join the swarm".

But, peer exchange is on the wishlist; this will in effect make every peer into a tracker.