How to disable BitComet from creating Padding files in torrents

[T_Azam]

Hi!

Recently all my created & uploaded torrents were removed from a site. The reason for this deletion was PADDING Files

These are automatically created and placed in the torrent which is unique in BitComet only. It may have its advantages,

but many sites have taken policies not to allow torrents that contain these files. So now my question, is there a way

to disable the creation of padding files in the current version of BitComet 1.27.

I've googled and learned that in a certain older version this was possible, but I don't want to roll back to a older

version as newer versions download faster so please help me find a way.

Thanks & T.C

[T_Azam]

Further research on this led me to an option in the make torrent dialogue box. The " align file to piece boundary ".

I've learned that this option, enabled by default from version .85 creates the padding files and disabling it will stop the

creation of the said files in the torrent.

But what I've learned about the reason behind it's creation now, my question to you is, will this option if disabled at the

time of making the torrent create any kind of problem, such as

1) Downloaded torrent not opening

2) Downloaded torrent not playing

3) Downloaded torrent stuck at 99.99%

I've given the site address on this topic below for the benefit of forum users.

http://wiki.bitcomet.com/align_file_to_piece_boundary

Thanks & T.C.

[The UnUsual Suspect]

This option can easily be disabled by unticking the "align file boundry" option when making a torrent.

As far as someone banning torrents that contain padding files, this is done either out of ignorance, or stupidity. Ignorance can be cured, so I will attempt to do so in the case that a reader may wish to know the reasons for these files.

When bittorrent downloading occurs, it doesn't download a group of files, it downloads a group of pieces, some pieces can contain data belonging to two or more files. The use of padding files simplifies this so that bittorrent protocol becomes more compatible with http/ftp and emule downloading, so you can more efficiently download the pieces from sources outside the bittorrent swarm.

Q: Someone might make the comment that these padding files may benefit the bitcomet user, but the rest of the users don't benefit and have these annoying files they have to download.

A: These files can indeed benefit the entire swarm in some situations. If this torrent was unseeded and the entire swarm was stuck with less then 100%, a bitcomet peer could complete the download from sources outside the bittorrent swarm, then in turn become a seeder and revive a dead torrent.

Also, these files are very small and are harmless. There is no rational argument for calling them annoying and after your finished seeding the task, the user can simply delete them.

Q: Can a non-bitcomet peer simply disable the download of these files?

A: Yes, but doing so won't stop them from being downloaded, they just won't appear in your GUI. Your bittorrent client will put them in a temp file containing unwanted data that are normally created when individual files are disabled in a torrent. The uTorrent client will put them in a file such as "~uTorrentPartFile_xxxxxxxxx.dat", and other clients have a similar method, but if other clients adopted bitcomet's method, it would serve everyone's interest.

[The UnUsual Suspect]

ps. to answer your questions from your second post. Disabling this option won't cause any problems for a normal bittorrent download in any way.

However, lets assume you have a torrent containing 3 movies and the swarm is all stuck at 90% and movies 1 and 2 are complete, and movie three is incomplete.

If BitComet finds this same file on emule (or other) network and downloads it, your torrent will be 100% complete IF it contained padding files. If it did not, then the torrent may only be able to use 99.9% of the complete movie 3 that was downloaded from emule. You'll have the complete movie, but you won't have 100% of the bittorrent pieces so you can share it all with the swarm.

The above situation could occur when movie 3 was accompanied with a text file or nfo, and although you downloaded the complete movie via emule sources, you could not share the complete movie because one or more of the bittorrent pieces would be incomplete. Padding files would negate the possibility of this happening.

In this case, a tracker that banned padding files only harmed themselves.

[T_Azam]

I'm 100% in agreement with you and I will also take up the issue on that web site's

forum too. For that if need maybe, I need your permission in advance so that I could

quote from your explanation and also can I mention you there.

You're right the deletion was made out of ignorance and just because the moderators

there prefer another bit-torrent client doesn't mean that they have the right to

force everyone to use it when creating torrent's.

P2P is a means for sharing and freedom. And everyone should be free to chose their own

preferred clients. Forcing it cannot be justified in any way by a mere issue such as

having the padding files and them being garbage, when the advantages are vast if they are kept.

P.S: I had a net problem that led to the first posting if I knew about that I wouldn't

have re-posted I am very sorry for this, if possible please feel free to delete the first topic

Removing padding files.

Thanks & T.C.

[The UnUsual Suspect]

Your welcome to quote me, and if they have any questions, I'd be glad to address them. I do hope they aren't offended if they read my comment about ignorance or stupidity, but understand we've dwelt with a lot of really lame complaints, even likening padding files to a virus, which is just ridiculous.

With Public torrents, bitcomet peers are by design the most swarm friendly. Besides emule, our LTseed network can also complete unseeded tasks so the bitcomet peer can then seed to the rest of the swarm.

For Private torrents, it's a non-issue because padding files won't be created.