Develop Bugs

Downloads and Stuff

I know, I know, I know. I'm not paying, so I shouldn't complain.
However, I think we can agree that rapidshare is the opposite of efficient for ROM distribution.
Since I'm no coder myself, just an end user (with an engineering degree in telecoms), for me to set up a good solution myself doesn't exactly strike home eighter.
However, we have some VERY capable coders here. And we have a lot of end users with some bandwidth to share. Is there a chance we can set up an rss-based downloader (using bittorrent to distribute roms), and then simply tell regular downloaders to get the torrent file? (And thus save this site bandwidth and storage, and end users gray hairs over downloads that are SLOOOOOW). Setting up a Diamond "rom-farm" spread over the internet would solve a lot of problems. I know _I_ can prolly share half of my 8mbit (on average), and I think there are others out there who can share aswell, giving this group a good potential (and if we can get other groups to cooperate we can prolly increase bandwidth and spread over the internet).
Bittorrent is ideally suited to this work, especially if we have a few "always on" seeding-servers.
//Svein

This is a very good idea.
I'm on a 100MBit, so that won't be a problem.
I also have a spare dual opteron server lying around.
I've seen that tom (who has a Latvian hosting) also has some good bandwidth.

adwinp said:
This is a very good idea.
I'm on a 100MBit, so that won't be a problem.
I also have a spare dualopteron server lying around.
I've seen that tom (who has a Latvian hosting) also has some good bandwidth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
unlimited

What we basically need:
1. Someone with a *nix box on a low-latency (bandwidth isn't an issue, latency is) link, willing to run "our" tracker, and set up the needed accounts for uploads, and set up the tracker to rss-feed the seeder servers.
2. Several people willing to run seeder servers. These need bandwidth. The seeder servers should run in rss-fed full automatic mode.
From what I've seen (between the lines) in the posts on this forum, getting people willing to give bandwidth shouldn't be a problem. What we need is a decent tracker software (I'm open to any suggestions), and some template for setting up the seeder servers.
Am I missing anything? Who volunteers to make the tracker? (I can volunteer to run it, and to make sure latency is ... acceptable on the link. I'm a pedantic millisecond-centric ex netadmin. Ex because of health.)
//Svein

this is a great idea. If i can help in any way I will.

The dual opteron box I was talking about is running gentoo linux.
I will have to reconfig it though.
I can take care of most of the setup during the week-end (if I stay home don't go on the potential trip I planned).
Let's take care of all the suggestions via this thread / pm.

What a great idea

sskogen said:
What we basically need:
Am I missing anything? Who volunteers to make the tracker? (I can volunteer to run it, and to make sure latency is ... acceptable on the link. I'm a pedantic millisecond-centric ex netadmin. Ex because of health.)
//Svein
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was a net admin for 4 years so I know how you feel.
^.^
Try testing adwinp.org and see if the latency suits your needs (it should; we are on a 10GBit backbone).
^.^

Well this seems promising! While this whole thing gets in place, as a sort of alpha tryout, how about using public trackers such as thepiratebay for example? And have a wiki page with up to date torrent links.

wow great idea =)
only suggestion here is maybe change the title of this thread xD

I uploaded torrents for the radios and Elite ROMs.
Links are available on the Diamond Radio wiki: http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Diamond_ExtractedRadioRoms
and the Diamond Elite ROMs wiki: http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Diamond_Elite_ROMs
It should work.. normally... and be faster than rapidshare once we get seeders.
Time to flash Elite 3.0 now
If you already have the files, don't download them again! Just copy them to the torrent download directory, like that your torrent will be 100% complete and you will be able to seed and help others download faster.

Have added the 5 torrents to my local box.
//Svein

Torrent sharing is great. I'll help!

XDA Tracker

Hi!
I'm no developer, but wanna help all the good folks here at the forums. So I decided to set up a torrent tracker for all of you. Most developers are sharing their files via cyberlockers (like MediaFire, etc...) which is not really an option for some people. I thought a torrent tracker would be much easier and more efficient way for distributing the files (like ROMs, Themes).
Here is the link for the tracker: http://619media.hu/xdadev/
If you want to upload a file PM me for username and password.
Announce URL if you create a torrent file: http://619media.hu/xdadev/announce.php
I've uploaded zdzihu's xRecovery for the X10 as a test. If there are any problems, you can't download, etc. please PM me. I know, there will be some problems at the beginning, but I hope we can make it work.
Cheers,
DRuNKeN MaSTeR
@MODs: if this is not the appropriate forum for this thread please feel free to move it. Also, if the tracker conflicts with your rules, contact me.

That is a GREAT idea, does it happen to support HTTP seeding also? Because in addition to this it would also be awesome to have a kinda standard drop box that isnt like the other file dumpsters.

Hi!
Yup, supports HTTP seeding Currently only 5 simultaneous uploads with 100KB/s each, but I can take it higher if this catches on.
EDIT: RT supports 2 types of HTTP seeding:
- "Use BitTornado HTTP seeding specification: Relative location of file or directory, e.g. ../../files/file.zip" -> I can give limited space on my server for this type (about 30-40GB).
- "Use GetRight HTTP seeding specification: FTP/HTTP URL of file or directory, e.g. http://yourwebsite.com/file.zip" -> this everybody can use.

Bump! Nobody interested?

This is a GREAT idea!
You should discreetly pm some developers, as they probably haven't seen the thread

I'm with this. Just hang in there till word gets around about it. You've built it, now they will come

Of 'course people are interested. YOU DA MAN!
No Sieriously - Thanks so much.

thumbs up
Great idea

any torrent i create i just copy and paste a list of about 30 known working trackers into the settings of create torrent, works like a charm, no password bull, create & start seeding, put the .torrent up on forum or PM out... dont know why this would be needed....
http://inferno.demonoid.com:3416/announce
http://tracker2.istole.it:6969/announce
http://www.h33t.com:3310/announce
http://tracker.istole.it:80/announce
http://exodus.1337x.org/announce
http://nemesis.1337x.org/announce
http://genesis.1337x.org:1337/announce
http://tracker.publicbt.com/announce
http://tracker.openbittorrent.com/announce
http://tracker.torrentbay.to:6969/announce
http://cpleft.com:2710/announce
http://h33t.com:3310/announce
http://papaja.v2v.cc:6970/announce
http://tracker.desi6.com:7979/3paz2gybgymgo6aub7e9d3u15784ubfx/announce
http://tracker.packy.se:2710/announce
http://dttracker.debian.net:6969/announce
http://tracker.torrent.to:2710/announce
http://tracker.bitreactor.to:2710/announce
http://tracker.ccc.de/announce
http://umunu.com:1984/announce
http://opentracker.umunu.com:80/announce
http://p2p.lineage2.com.cn:6969/announce
http://PhoenixRG.no-ip.org:2710/announce
http://gdbt.3322.org:6969/announce
http://star-tw.no-ip.org/announce.php
http://exodus.desync.com:6969/announce
http://222.171.190.184:7000/announce
http://scene-project.com/announce.php
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Really cool idea. Will use it for my firmwares.

This is a great idea
This is a bloody good idea! I wish more of the ROM dev's would use it.

Eh not being a negative nancy but I thought mods already decided against using torrents for roms there's a thread in the about xda section for it
Sent from my SCH-I400 using XDA App

Bierce22 said:
Eh not being a negative nancy but I thought mods already decided against using torrents for roms there's a thread in the about xda section for it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Torrents have a bad rap because of their association with...unsavory material, but the torrent protocol itself is actually a very efficient way of distributing large files to large numbers of people. Just look at big linux distro releases, ubuntu especially. It is simply a data transmission technology just like email, FTP, or HTTP in that they can be used to transfer files.
I for one would love to donate some of my bandwidth and seed things for XDA, at the very least everything I download and use if not setting up a seedbox.
Hopefully XDA seriously considers embracing torrents and encourages devs to upload to and users to seed on the official tracker in addition to the current methods (for n00bs or those who don't want to set up a torrent client). I'm sure everyone would appreciate not having to negotiate the megaupload-style sites with ads (and what about their uploaded content licensing?) only to get throttled bandwidth.

Sorry to say but the link to dl the app/prog is broken? Cheers

THis thread is 3 years old. XDA has it's own use of torrents through the DevDB projects.

Image Sizes and Costs

I downloaded somewhere some image sizes - below are two. I am not too sure which one I downloaded these for / from. But can these icon information be used for Windows Mobile 7, Android, and iPad / iPhone?
From what I think I remember speaking with one developer helping him with testing his game, I think he said it was $99.00 a year for 100 applications. If I only wanted to submit one (free) application, would it be better to find someone that already has the feature to develop this application? The application is very small - mainly to read one specific RSS feed.

Hey
the developer account costs are not connected to the image license price. If you want to submit a WP7 app to the marketplace, you have to own a developer account, that costs $99/year. But this price does not grant the permission to use these pictures. You have to ask the creator whether you're allowed to use them.
Regards
Chris

Thanks - sorry I did not mean to imply I would use these images, I just did not know if it was these image (sizes / quality) that was needed.
If the developer has an account though and he develops the app that I need, can he use that account to upload the app?

Hey
For the licensing procedure and requirements you should visit this link:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh184843(v=VS.92).aspx
But I don't get your question. If you're asking wheter you could have another developer programming and submitting the application you need the answer is yes. Every developer that has an account can send apps in. You just have to find someone that wants to create your application. Another possibility would be to program your app yourself and send the compiled version to a developer, so that he can pass it to the WP marketplace...
Regards
Chris

If you need an app built for something easy like an RSS feed, check this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=941248
it discusses a build your own app website.
http://thirdlabs.com/
I have never used it and have no afiliation with the site, but it looks easy enough...
Anywho, once the app is made, you can
sideload it (if you're unlocked)
pay for a dev account and submit it ($99 a year)
try to get a free student account and submit it (see here )
find someone with a dev account that will submit it for you
good luck

Thanks for the links! I have run into the RSS feed link - but it was not that site.
Yes, Chris - that answers that question. I thought as much but wanted to make sure. (Sorry it is difficult for me to sometimes get my point across due to my health).

[Q] Torrent/Magnet Links?

Hello XDA Moderators!
First of all I want to apologize if this topic has been already discussed or is it forbidden (I didn't found such restrictions in the rules)
Anyway, since I got my HTC Desire S this forum is the primary source of information for me, and most probably for all the other visitors around.
And especially when it comes to custom rom files there are sometimes troubles with dead links, crappy file sharing sites with stupid limitations, etc.
So I think it will be much more convenient for everyone (devs and users) to use the torrent system via magnet link (combined with QR scan maybe) for all the files that are posted around here. The download speed will be much better and all that have downloaded the file once will contribute by seeding it to the others. And of course via the appropriate client the files can be downloaded directly to the SD Card (this is possible now through the phone web browser, but a lot of steps are required - waiting, human security check forms, etc.). And last but not least one of the greatest advantages is that on single torrent there can be multiple files, that one can pick to download or not (for example all radio images for a specific model, etc.)
Looking forward to your comments.

no interest?

Obviously not...

Well... I do direct download links for ROMs, on several gigabit servers. So it's of no interest here...
P2P systems also require client software, meaning people downloading via their phone might have issues...
But I personally see no need for a different download system, and nobody has ever complained about waiting times or ads for direct uploads

Thank you for this reply

Agreed with above commenters but I can't disagree with OP either.
It's true that torrents may present an issue due to the requirement of a client but a torrent has one huge advantage - integrity.
Torrent clients automatically check the files for integrity. Also, torrents can provided reliable downloads for larger files.
However, I hardly think torrents are relevant here. Torrents are useful only for large files. Most of the files shared on XDA are 500MB at the most. Most ROMs are 100MB and apks are around 1-15MB.
Although RapidShare is annoying, there are other pretty reliable file sharing services like MediaFire. MediaFire is by far my most favorite site for mass file sharing and Dropbox is pretty reliable too although Dropbox has a 10GB/day traffic limit per account.
Check out these sites listed at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1210372 for remote uploading to dropbox where you download the file directly to dropbox and then download it from dropbox. Pretty useful if the download speeds are too low.

Curious..
Browser add-ons bring torrent to your normal browser download. Opera has had one for quite some time out of the box. But you can even get a real torrent client for Android now.
And to be frank, as long as the OP provides checksums, the value of integrety should remain. I get eered out downloading from some of these file share sites, plus with all the spammy ads and what not!
Maybe somebody should make an XDA related torrent cache?

[SDK] Promocodes for your app

Hello!
I'm software developer from Russia, and made one very popular app in local market. Very soon I realized that I need an ability to give licensed version of app for my friends or reviewers or someone else.
Unfortunately AppHub doesn't provide such functionality(private distribution is pain in ass), so I created a webservice for myself.
After two days I realized that it may be useful for other developers, so here it is:
promo.g33k.ru (here I wanted to post url, but I can't due to low post count. You may find it in my profile->interests)
Now it has:
- JSON/SDK with RSA1024/SHA1 sign for additional security checks
- Binary SDK available
- Russian localization(if anyone cares ) (btw, if you can help translating to other language(s) or correct english misspellings - i will appreciate this).
Now this service works in beta mode.
So for developers I have two questions:
1) Is such service useful for you?
2) How to develop it further, in which way?

Not yet clear
I am sorry, but after reading your post and also checking your website I am still not sure what you offer. For me there is just not enough information to understand and then judge the usefulness of your service.
Maybe you could give a step-by-step scenario: Dev does this, then interested user does that, dev then this ...

Ok, I'll try to describe a little more details:
1) Developer wants to add capability of promo codes in his app(to give some specific users full licensed app).
The first problem is that developer need his own server for checking of promo code validity(hardcoding is not an option, of course).
2) So, Developer registers in my service, add his app's guid to his app list and create a promo code for specific app via web.
3) Developer adds support for promo codes in his app by:
a) adding an text box for user to enter promode
b) adding a web request to specific URL for promocode activation
c) adding to his license check web request for checking is current user activated a promo code.
Benefits for developer:
- Add support for promo codes without owning a server.
- Simple way to give full version of program to friends
Benefits for users:
- User may found promo code for specific app somewhere and use it to get full version of app in simple manner.
Benefits for reviewers/portals:
- Developers can easily give promo code for reviewing purpose or as giveaway for news post.

Clear now
Thanks for the additional info, now it's clear
Well yes, sounds useful. Properly implemented is probably really easier than Microsoft's "closed beta" mechanism, and of course can be used for other, non-beta apps as well.
The icing on the cake would be a "frame application" as sample code that basically does nothing more than asking for a promo code and then check against the list of valid codes on your server.

Sounds intresting but how do you ensure security?

chabun, I thought about security and situation is same as with default checking for trial - there is no security Man-in-the-Middle and direct cracking of xap will work, and there is no way out. I could use RSA signing for MitM, but still cracking of xap is very easy option today, so no one really interested will try to use MitM. When WP8 SDK will be out(I believe it will be in several weeks) - some developers may implement trial checks in native code - this will be much harder to crack.
As for server part there are following possible problems
- App's ID squatting(same as domain, someone else could reserve developer's app's guid). Don't know yet what to do with this, may be think about it later when this happens?
- Promocode's for App ID bruteforce - could be easily avoided via server throttling, if this ever happens - i'll add such checks
- Server DDoS - every webmaster's nightmare, I hope this never happens(or my Amazon AWS will pour my purse empty
rbrunner7, nice idea, I'll add a sample app as soon as possible on site.

This looks like an interesting concept
Sent from my SGH-i917 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App

Yop, you can never avoid direct cracking... However, RSA signing would be good I'd say as it will avoid MitM - with MitM you could create simple tools which can be used by every noob outhere. Cracking xaps requires some skill and it will need an unlocked WP7 as well.

I can see this working i have been thinking about something similar also. You can encrypt the data on device before sending it off to the cloud, you can than verify the encrypted data with a password and compare it to the codes registered on the server. Than link a code to a certain device id (once the code becomes 'registered') if a certain code is already coupled to a deice id and the device is not the same than the app will jump back into trial mode. Otherwise one can use the paid mode.
This can defenetly work and will prevent reselling th codes. Although it requires a server. And users can still hack/patch the app ofcourse but that will require an unlocked device so I should not worry to much about it.
Also to prevent spoofing you can frequently check with the server if this device is legitetmately registered.

Marvin_S said:
I can see this working i have been thinking about something similar also. You can encrypt the data on device before sending it off to the cloud, you can than verify the encrypted data with a password and compare it to the codes registered on the server. Than link a code to a certain device id (once the code becomes 'registered') if a certain code is already coupled to a deice id and the device is not the same than the app will jump back into trial mode. Otherwise one can use the paid mode.
This can defenetly work and will prevent reselling th codes. Although it requires a server. And users can still hack/patch the app ofcourse but that will require an unlocked device so I should not worry to much about it.
Also to prevent spoofing you can frequently check with the server if this device is legitetmately registered.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I thought of... private/public key

chabun, so, for example, how about following scenario:
for each developer server creates public/private key pair.
when checking license on server: if success server encodes userid with developer private key
when checking license in app: server response decoding via public key(hardcoded in app) and comparing to userId. if ok -> licensed.

You might want to ask @ngreader guys on twitter. They do have this concept implemented in their app.

diverofdark said:
chabun, so, for example, how about following scenario:
for each developer server creates public/private key pair.
when checking license on server: if success server encodes userid with developer private key
when checking license in app: server response decoding via public key(hardcoded in app) and comparing to userId. if ok -> licensed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure if it would be good to encode the request to the server as well but otherwise it sounds really cool now... I'll use this service when I need this (and tell my friends about it)

Here is one way to do it http://stackoverflow.com/questions/599837/how-to-generate-and-validate-a-software-license-key

wpxbox said:
Here is one way to do it http://stackoverflow.com/questions/599837/how-to-generate-and-validate-a-software-license-key
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, what they suggest is not as good as diverofdark's service which is a lot more secure and still easy to use for the customers...

Greetings everyone!
Today I updated promo.g33k.ru, now it has:
- more detailed about page,
- SDK now includes RSA1024/SHA1 sign for additional security checks
- Binary SDK available
- Russian localization(if anyone cares ) (btw, if you can help translating to other language(s) or correct english misspellings - i will appreciate this).
- Many minor bugfixes.
So, from now this service works in beta mode

diverofdark said:
Greetings everyone!
Today I updated promo.g33k.ru, now it has:
- more detailed about page,
- SDK now includes RSA1024/SHA1 sign for additional security checks
- Binary SDK available
- Russian localization(if anyone cares ) (btw, if you can help translating to other language(s) or correct english misspellings - i will appreciate this).
- Many minor bugfixes.
So, from now this service works in beta mode
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I will check this out

Hey diverofdark
It would be nice if you update the first post in the thread with all information. That's the way it's usually done in the forum.
A possible user (here dev ) can read it and without having to browse the whole thread, he can use your promocode service...

Thanks for mentioning it, I updated the first post.