[OS X TeX] [OT] All about P2P (was: MacTeX-2008 Status)

[David Watson]

On Sep 4, 2008, at 10:03 AM, Bruno Voisin wrote:

> Le 4 sept. 08 à 16:41, Adam R. Maxwell a écrit :
>
>> On Sep 4, 2008, at 3:38 AM, Thomas Bohn wrote:
>>
>>> P2P can help to reduce the load of the servers and get MacTeX  
>>> faster to the people who wants it. You actually can distribute it  
>>> to the public and to the mirrors at the same time.
>>
>> Yes, it has some benefits, and can be a useful tool.  If it's worth  
>> the risk to you, by all means use it; it may not be acceptable for  
>> everyone on this list, though.
>
> Security question aside, it's the idea of allowing others to use  
> part of my computer to upload files to it that I don't like.
>

With bittorrent, you only allow others to upload the torrented file  
itself. You are NOT giving others permission to place whatever other  
torrent files they want onto your computer.
The torrent file is merely a list of information on 1) which site is  
tracking the distribution, 2) what the "hashes" of the file are, and  
3) a list of users who are either uploading or downloading portions of  
the actual file you wanted to transfer (e.g. MacTeX).

> It's a bit like choosing your type of holiday: do you prefer to pay  
> for a flat or hotel room or camping space, or to share houses with  
> another family? Personally I'd rather pay any amount of money than  
> allow others to dwell in the privacy of my home.

The only privacy you are giving up is that others might figure out  
that you're addicted to TeX.