Hi, Metalink is an XML format for describing downloads and how to get files. This includes lists of mirrors, way to get files over P2P, checksums, digital signatures, and other metadata. This allows other mirrors to be used automatically if some fail, errors to be recovered from, and other features. It can also be used automatically, if people are using the correct download clients.
It's supported by about 35 applications, mostly download managers, web browsers, FTP clients, & P2P clients. A good number of other open source projects use it, like openSUSE, Ubuntu, and cURL. OOo already uses them, but I'd like to see them adopted more. There is a patch for Bouncer, which we'd really like to see integrated, so these can be made automatically. It would also be nice if this could be added to the torrent creation process. There are also other apps like MirrorBrain ( http://www.mirrorbrain.org/ ) which is similar to Bouncer. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metalink for more info. Example mirror info: <url type="ftp" location="us" preference="90">ftp://ftp.example.com/example.ext</url> <url type="ftp" location="uk" preference="90">ftp://ftp.example.net/example.ext</url> <url type="http" location="us" preference="90">http://example.com/example.ext</url> <url type="http" location="de" preference="90">http://example.net/example.ext</url> <url type="bittorrent" preference="100">http://example.org/example.ext.torrent</url> Metalinks for the newest release can be found at http://www.metalinker.org/samples.html#ooo We've also entered the Community Innovation Program. -- (( Anthony Bryan ... Metalink [ http://www.metalinker.org ] )) Easier, More Reliable, Self Healing Downloads --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
