MAGNET-URI Link Support [tracked]

pixelcort · Post by **pixelcort** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 9:54 am

In addition to the existing support for ed2k URIs, support for MAGNET-URIs would be be wise.

[MAGNET-URI Project](http://magnet-uri.sourceforge.net/)

A MAGNET-URI is a URI that starts with the prefix magnet: . These links are network agnostic, not solely limited to Gnutella or KaZaA. At heart, it is a way of linking directly to some file by describing it's various attributes, such as hashes, filenames, accessible URLs, et cetra.

Support for MAGNET-URIs include most Gnutella clients and KaZaA. Future clients may support these URIs as well.

A typical MAGNET-URI looks like magnet:?xt=urn:sha1:YNCKHTQCWBTRNJIV4WNAE52SJUQCZO5C&dn=king.mp3 . The xt refers to a URI that represents the hash, and the dn refers to the filename that the downloaded file should be saved as.

ed2k links lock users into one network. There is no reason why ed2k clients couldn't also handle magnet links. Though in the end, by supporting magnet links, you are supporting a network agnostic solution that can adapt to future networks.

Website · Post by **Rar** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 11:22 am

Anidb does support magnet links. In fact, thanks to AOM, I think a majority of files do have sha1 hashes. Being an indexing site, it doesn't provide any links for download, but you can use that hash to make a magnet link for yourself if you like.

Rar

[Edit: Or, reading this thread, maybe not.]

Elberet · Post by **Elberet** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 1:43 pm

DC++ can use magnet-links as well, but requires that a tth-hash be present in the link. I'd rather see TTH-support added to AOM and the Web-Interface then have another download link on the web pages.

rowaasr13 · Post by **rowaasr13** » Thu Nov 18, 2004 2:49 pm

<mode="me too!">Yeah, and AICH and WinMX hashes too!

</mode>

pixelcort · Post by **pixelcort** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 8:48 am

BTW, the xt [exact topic] paramater, which is used to provide the URN for the file's hash, can be used multiple times. Thus, a magnet URI built by AniDB could contain all the known hashes for that particular file.

The goal here is not to support additional hash algorithms, but to offer users a link that uses those hashes to refer to the file itself in question.

For example:

magnet: \
?xt=urn:sha1:4IPFSVDST5ERRGFXO3EYJV3SB5BODVLY \
&xt=urn:kzhash:0a93fa6cde808a5c393bc6a907cc820a82e7 \
feff9f3a533e847da74df6ba4b76b11805bb \
&dn=bzkitty.jpg

contains both a SHA1 and a KZHASH of the file referred to.

IIRC, eDonkey uses MD4 hashes. That too can be added to the Magnet URI, though I believe it would have to be converted into Base32 for proper encoding.

For more information, see http://magnet-uri.sourceforge.net/magne ... erview.txt

Elberet · Post by **Elberet** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 10:01 am

Actually, the ed2k-hash algorithm is a modified version of MD4...

Le Eliminateur · Post by **Le Eliminateur** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 6:02 am

Azureus is using magnet URI since 2.3.0.4 as well(not that it would be of much use to azureus the magnet uris of anidb...)

i'd prefer to see AICH before other networks hashes

Post by **pelican** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 8:24 am

Elberet wrote:Actually, the ed2k-hash algorithm is a modified version of MD4...

If you want to correct someone about ed2k/md4, just direct them to http://wiki.anidb.info/w/Ed2k rather than making misleading statements like that. (The ed2k file hash is generated by MD4, it's just not the straight MD4 hash of the file data.)

DWKnight · Post by **DWKnight** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 12:21 am

You don't need to change the hashing systems to support magnets.

All the information needed to make a magnet:?xt=urn:sha1:<sha1 base32>&xt=urn:ed2k:<ed2k hexadecimal>&xl=<filesize>&dn=<filename> link is already stored in the database.
Additionally, the magnet link standard is modular, permitting additional information (such as additional hashes) to be added to it without changing the format the link is generated with (so that if in the future AniDB decided to carry hashes used by other p2p applications, they could be added to the magnet at that time).

IIRC, eDonkey uses MD4 hashes. That too can be added to the Magnet URI, though I believe it would have to be converted into Base32 for proper encoding.

Current systems that use Magnet links with ed2k hashes use them hex encoded rather than base32, so no it wouldn't need to be converted.

The azureus magnet support is just to download .torrent files from their DHT network, and not to download actual files, so yes anidb-generated magnets would be useless to it.

Post by **pelican** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 6:12 pm

sha1 would have to be changed though, as shown in your example. (Not saying that this is a great problem.)

But... why do we need support for it in the html interface, as I presume that's the feature request here? Magnet URIs may be gaining support, but they're not actually required by... well, anything, afaik. Certainly nothing common enough to justify their addition.

DWKnight · Post by **DWKnight** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 7:31 pm

http://bitzi.com/applications/
The "Can handle "magnet:" links to trigger searches and downloads of exact files." clients listed at the above site are just handful of examples of programs that can take advantage of magnets.

Adding magnets alongside ED2K links will give users of those p2p applications which support them more information to be able to find more sources for the files.

Not adding them is potentially alienating all users of those p2p applications that support magnets but not ED2K links.

As it stands now, for me to be able to mass-add a series with SHA1 and ED2K hash information into my preferred program, I have to go through a long, aggrivating process of repeated copy from anidb and paste into a custom made utility to generate magnets from AniDB info. If AniDB were to include magnets alognside the ED2K links, I could simply chain-click.

Post by **epoximator** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 9:43 pm

p2p? never heard of... why not kill the ed2k links instead?

DWKnight · Post by **DWKnight** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 2:06 am

epoximator wrote:p2p? never heard of... why not kill the ed2k links instead?

Because that alienates clients that only support ED2K links.

I'm not aiming to destroy support for one community to give support to another with my suggestion.

Raptor · Post by **Raptor** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 3:34 am

personally i woulr really like if there was a DC++ link possible but it would require an hash hats not yet in the database as well

DWKnight · Post by **DWKnight** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 4:12 pm

Raptor wrote:personally i woulr really like if there was a DC++ link possible but it would require an hash hats not yet in the database as well

Reference thread for that part.

If at a future time, the AniDB database supports TTH, they will be able to add the TTH hash to the magnet and gain more support from the DirectConnect community (which is something I mentioned in one of my previous posts in this thread).