downloader.tracker_urls = [ "https://tracker.example.com/announce", "udp://tracker.opentrackr.org:1337/announce" ] Lick stores peer lists and partially‑downloaded pieces in a local SQLite DB ( lick_state.db ). This allows you to shut down and resume without re‑hashing everything.
print("Downloading…") async for progress in downloader.progress(): pct = progress.percent_complete * 100 print(f"\rpct:.2f% (progress.downloaded / 1e6:.2f MiB)", end="") lick library torrent
async def main(): # Either load a .torrent file or provide a magnet URI torrent_path = "public-domain-collection.torrent" downloader
By [Your Name] – [Date] TL;DR: Lick is a lightweight, pure‑Python torrent library that makes it simple to embed BitTorrent functionality into your apps—whether you’re building a media‑sync tool, a distributed backup system, or a research data‑share platform. This post walks through what Lick offers, how to get started, key design patterns, and the legal & ethical considerations you should keep in mind when working with torrents. 1️⃣ What Is Lick, Anyway? Lick is an open‑source torrent library (currently at version 0.9.3 on PyPI) that abstracts away the low‑level details of the BitTorrent protocol while staying faithful to the spec. Its main goals are: This post walks through what Lick offers, how
| Goal | What It Means for You | |------|-----------------------| | | A clean, well‑documented API that can be learned in a few hours. | | Modularity | Plug‑and‑play components (tracker client, DHT, piece picker, storage backend). | | Performance | Asynchronous I/O via asyncio and optional Cython‑accelerated hashing. | | Safety | Built‑in support for encrypted connections (MSE/PE) and sandboxed file handling. | | Extensibility | Hooks for custom piece selection, bandwidth throttling, and analytics. | Why “Lick”? The name is a playful nod to “licking” the data off the network—quick, clean, and a little bit tasty. It’s also short enough to be a memorable import: import lick . 2️⃣ When Should You Use Lick? | Use‑Case | How Lick Helps | |----------|----------------| | File Sync Across Devices | Leverage BitTorrent’s “swarm” model to distribute changes without a central server. | | Large‑Scale Data Sharing for Research | Publish a .torrent file for a dataset; collaborators download from each other, reducing bandwidth spikes on the host. | | Offline Content Delivery | Pre‑seed a torrent on a local network (e.g., in a conference or classroom) and let participants pull files without internet access. | | Hybrid Cloud‑Edge Architecture | Use Lick on edge nodes to pull updates from a central seed, then serve downstream devices via the same swarm. | | Building a Custom Torrent Client | Use Lick as the engine while you design a UI, a CLI, or an embedded device firmware. | Not a Silver Bullet – If your use‑case requires guaranteed delivery, low latency, or strict ACLs, consider HTTP/HTTPS or dedicated file‑transfer services instead. Torrents excel at bandwidth‑efficient distribution where redundancy and scalability matter more than instant start‑up. 3️⃣ Quick‑Start Guide (Python 3.9+) Below is a minimal, legal example that shows how to seed and download a public‑domain file. Replace the URLs with your own .torrent files when you’re ready to experiment. ⚠️ Legal Reminder: Only share or download content you have the right to distribute. Use Lick for open‑source software, public‑domain media, your own backups, or any other legally permissible material. 3.1 Install the Library pip install lick-torrent 3.2 Create a Simple Seeder # seeder.py import asyncio from lick import TorrentSeeder
from lick.piece import SequentialPicker downloader = TorrentDownloader(torrent_path, piece_picker=SequentialPicker()) from lick.throttle import TokenBucket downloader.throttle = TokenBucket(rate=500_000) # 500 KB/s 4.3 Encrypted Peer Connections Lick enables MSE by default, but you can enforce it: