Can I create a torrent and share it without using a tracker?

[Gilly]

I want to share a folder with one person and it will only be downloaded one time. Can I created a torrent without using a tracker or is there a way to use a tracker so that only that one person can download it?

[yesno]

You would need to create your own tracker, which may be way more difficult than using some other mechanism.  It may be possible to use Azureus or one of the other heavyweight programs to do this, but it might be more trouble than it's worth.  The only real advantage of BT is sending a big file to lots of people.  Any other file transfer mechanism that lets you pick up after an interrupted transfer would be simpler.

Allpeers was good for this, but it's kaput.

Nowadays I usually just split the file into 200 or 300 meg chunks and use sendspace.  You could also let the person sftp into your machine, or turn your machine into a temporary web host, etc.

[AllisonLeGnome]

Yes, with Azureus (it's called magnet links or something like that), though I think only other Azureus users would be able to download it.

But, yeah, using sendspace or whatever would probably make more sense in most cases.

[Gilly]

Interesting. Torrents would be looked on more kindly if they could be shared with only a certain group of people.

Can somebody explain in simple terms why a tracker is needed? If I'm just pointing in the direction of where the folder is located why do I need a middle man? Why isn't there a tracker that doesn't make the torrents public, giving out a link to share with friends? It seems so much easier than splitting up big folders and zipping and unzipping each file.

[AllisonLeGnome]

Torrents are meant to be used to distribute files to large numbers of people (that's why sharing works the way it does, with different parts coming in whatever order from whoever has them), so no one's bothered to perfect a way for them to be used individually.

I guess you could try Soulseek.

[yesno]

You can create a tracker that requires registration, etc, and then limit members to those you wish to share with.  But it's just really complicated.