Thread: GIMP download and torrents and Sourceforge

Hi Bill, I have used source forge for years never any trouble. In regard to the torrent yes other people can now down load parts of the Gimp from your machine while you have the torrent program open and the gimp in the torrent download Dir. Its all anonymous and they can not access anything else on your machine
Regards
Mike

Originally Posted by steamingbill

I've just downloaded Gimp.

.............. Sourceforge seems to be offer some good free software, anybody ever got into strife using stuff from sourceforge ?

Bill

Bill,

SourceForge is the developers repository for a very large number of software developers who develop software for the Linux operating system. Some of those software developers also compile the software for use with Windows and Mac OSX, but teh majority of SorceForge software is primarily designed for Linux.

One of the pre-requisits of SourceForge is that the software must be published under the of the Open Source software licenses - so there is no commercial software on SourceForge. I just checked the SourceForge web site to see where you were finding the torrent download link. I only found the Windows installable .exe file download link (at http://sourceforge.net/projects/gimp...urce=directory). One of the things that you need to be careful of is to ensure that when you are downloading the .exe or source code for the software that you want from SourceForge, that you are actually downloading the Software Author's own .exe file or the author's own source code bundle (source code bundles are for experienced Windows users only).

If you download the software from a link that is from another source, potentially unauthorised and outside of SourceForge, then you run the risk (how risky is a debate often had by the Gurus) of downloading software that has been tampered with by someone. Some Software authors on SourceForge do use .torrent files to distribute their software, but it's not all that common. Those authors usually choose to distribute their software using .torrent files so tat they can minimise their costs, as the software author is usually the person who pays for the internet bandwidth used when people download their software.

When you use the Torrent protocol to download a file, the torrent program actually downloads your copy by copying from any number of copies that other people have downloaded and are making available via their internet connection. When a software author chooses to distribute their software via torrents, they usually (should) provide you with a way of making sure that the file that you've downloaded has arrived correctly and is exactly the same file that the software author released. The author usually does that by publishing a "Check Sum" for the software. I won't explain how to use check sums as there are at least six type of check sum processes that I am aware of, and they all operate differently - but if the Author has made a Check Sum available, they they will always provide a link explaining how to use the Check Sum on your Operating System (e.g. Linux, Windows, OSX). Gimp (properly known as "The Gimp") is published by a very large and well respected organisation, so you can expect them to be doing the right thing. Just for your interest, the following is a link to Gimp's main (official) web page, and includes links to their documentation and tutorial pages ...... http://sourceforge.net/projects/gimp...urce=directory

Once you have downloaded a file using a Torrent Client, and when you have the Torrent Client running, that software is made available via teh internet for other people to partially draw from when they are downloading. Unless you use an ISP that only includes your downloads when calculating your usage and internet charges, then when other people draw (known as leeching) from your copy of the file, they are adding to the amount of data used on your Internet Connection, and therefore will impact on your Internet Connection costs.

So - what do you do about the torrent application you've installed:

• Don't leave the Torrent program running unless you specifically intend to share the file via the Torrent program.
• If you have an unlimited download limit, or your uploads are not counted by your ISP, then you can safely leave the Torrent program running, seeding teh file, allowing people to leece from your file.
• However, if your Internet bandwidth as limited download & upload limits, or it is expensive, then you have two choices:
  
  1. Remove the Downloaded Torrent from the Torrent program once you've finished downloading the file. In most Torrent programs, you right click on the downloaded file's entry in Torrent program, and select "Delete". In all of the Torrent programs that I've used, you are given two options - Delete the Torrent only, and Delete BOTH the Torrent and the Downloaded Data File. Select "Delete the Torrent Only" or whatever similar words the Torrent program uses.
  2. Your second option, if you want to seed the file that you've downloaded, is to leave the Torrent program running whenever your computer is running on the Internet, BUT go into the settings on the menus in the Torrent program and edit the Preferences to limit the maximum Upload speed that the Torrent program is allows to upload (seed) at.

I hope that information is useful. And congratulations on choosing Gimp - It's an excelent image editing program, almost as good as Photoshop (some people argue that it is better than Photoshop in some instances), but hugely cheaper. Enjoy.

Regards,

Roy

Originally Posted by AussieRoy

Bill,

SourceForge is the developers repository ...................

Regards,

Roy

Wow !

Many thanks for detailed response

Bill