Now Mac Users Can Easily Get Into Private BitTorrent Trackers Too
Written by enigmax on August 01, 2007Last week we announced the availability of a PC-only application to automate the checking of Private BitTorrent Trackers for open signups. After reading the article a developer contacted us, said he loved the idea and set about coding a version for all the Mac users out there. We have the software here for download, free of charge.
Last week we published an article about the Tracker Checker 2 application for PC. On occasion, invite-only private BitTorrent trackers open up their doors for a limited period where people can signup without an invite. However, this involves visiting the site in question at just the right time as registrations are opened - a very hit and miss task. Tracker Checker 2 automated that process but unfortunately, it’s for PC only.
Shortly after we published, we had a contact from Milen Georgiev Dzhumerov, a regular reader of TorrentFreak and Mac software programmer. “When I saw the Tracker Checker I thought it was a great idea - so simple and useful” he said, “I’m waiting to start uni in October, I’ve got nothing better to do except write software! As I am a Mac user, I decided to create a Mac version of the app.”
The application arrives in .DMG format at just 221kb. Full installation instructions are included in the README file but it’s simply a question of dragging the software’s icon (created by YellowIcon) into the ‘Applications’ folder.
Launching is achieved by browsing to the app and double-clicking it. The .DMG file comes with a trackers.xml file (containing the tracker information) and is pre-configured with 67 trackers. Simply navigate to the .DMG, select the trackers.xml and import it.
There are 4 main buttons on the toolbar (created by Matt Ball Design):
Reload - Manually “reloads” all trackers
Add - Adds a new tracker to the list
Remove - Removes the currently selected tracker
Info - Opens the “Tracker Inspector” allowing the modification of tracker properties.
In the lower right corner there is a setting for selecting how many concurrent connections to open when checking the trackers. Tested on an 8mbit down connection, 15-20 connections produced ideal results.
Positive match type in the ‘Inspector’ is defined as marking the tracker as open if the find string is found and negative is just reversing the result of whatever the positive is returning, i.e if it doesn’t find the string you have selected negative, the tracker will be marked as open.
One of the criticisms leveled at the PC version of Tracker Checker 2 was that it checked sites for signups at a too regular interval of just 60 seconds. The Mac version addresses this with the chance for the user to choose the update interval.
Milen goes on to explain that he had another motive to develop the app: “The other reason for doing it was to actually see how good Cocoa stacks up against .NET/Java for simple applications like this one. I wanted to prove to myself that you can write applications in Cocoa rapidly. I would say that the app took me about a day/day and a half of proper work (I’m subtracting the time where I jumped in to play some games or watch a movie). I didn’t encounter any problems when using Apple’s well-designed frameworks and I’m very happy with how it turned out.”
More features are planned for the next release:
- Localization (definitely German + unconfirmed others)
- Growl support
- HTTP authentication and redirection support
Anyone wishing to translate the app, suggest features or report bugs, should get in touch with Milen on gamehack@gmail.com
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34 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
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Very nice, Mr. Dzhumerov. Thank you for this.
I was about to run the other one through CodeWeavers Crossover, but now I don’t need to bother.
Always nice to see people developing for Mac… even stuff that isn’t exactly “mainstream.”
It’s nice to hear that someone finds the app useful! Thanks for the feedback.
It’s a great tool to have. I just hope the site admins over at private trackers will like it as much as we do.
Thanks to torrentfreak and of course Milen Georgiev Dzhumerov.
Alex,
This was one of my initial concerns as well.
But to be honest, it’s just a matter of convenience to have a crawler which will go out to the site and check. You could as well just do it yourself by opening Safari and going to the trackers web site.
Regards
“After reading the article a developer contacted us, said he loved the idea and set about coding a version for all three of the Mac users out there.”
Fixed.
Now all we need is a Linux version!
Yes, a linux version would be nice.
Okay, that is not cool. Not only you stole the name from me, you also copied most of the features by the letter. My software (Tracker Checker 2) runs on Linux and Mac with the Mono Project framework (http://www.mono-project.com/Downloads), so there was no need for this.
Marko,
I can see why are upset. But seriously - from a legal standpoint, you have not trademarked the name (in the UK anyway). And names cannot be copyrighted (refer to http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/register/registration_questions).
BUT I’m inclined to change the name just as a gesture of good will.
And there is a need for this app - how many users would bother using a framework just to use an application? Your app doesn’t really conform to the Mac experience - the UI does not conform the Mac OS X HIG (refer to http://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/OSXHIGuidelines/XHIGIntro/chapter_1_section_1.html).
About me copying your design, you are on shaky ground here. It’s the same as saying that OpenOffice.org Writer is copying MS Office Word.
As I said before, I’m going to change the name just because you don’t like me using it - fair enough. But threatening me to stop the distribution of a piece of software just because I was inspired by your program is plain ridiculous.
Regards
[quote comment="140536"]Okay, that is not cool. Not only you stole the name from me, you also copied most of the features by the letter. My software (Tracker Checker 2) runs on Linux and Mac with the Mono Project framework (http://www.mono-project.com/Downloads), so there was no need for this.[/quote]
Free culture!
The application could use a different name, but you should be glad that your creative work inspired others. Don’t start acting like the MPAA and RIAA now.
I’m not ;-) I just think it’s fair to give credit where credit is due and that naming another program the same isn’t cool. I’m all for these little useful utilities and for porting them to many OSes, but there are some guidelines about doing it.
Marko makes a point… I’m all for haxing and pirating, but when we’re all in the same boat there’s a certain code of honor to follow…
Then again, it’s really not a big deal… Marko, windows users are gonna use yours, and Mac users are going to use Milen’s. He probably should have asked you first though, but… such is life.
On another note, Milen I noticed that you added Demonoid to the list of trackers (I don’t think it was on the original). Well, the string there is faulty. It’s set to find “sername” I don’t know if that was a typo or what, but at any rate it gives a positive every time, whether it’s open or not.
kthnxbai
Milen and I patched things up so now.
Just to let everyone know, I apologized to Marko that I did not contact him before releasing the app and that I used his name without his permission. Since then, I’ve changed the name to “Tracker Spy” and I’ve notified the TorrentFreak team where to find the updated screenshots and new .DMG image.
Marko definitely deserves the credit and I’ve credited him in the new README.
Regards,
Milen
Bob,
As I have mentioned in my previous post, we’ve sorted things out with Marko.
About the demonoid query - that’s the way I received the trackers.xml so I just bundled it. I haven’t done any checking.
Regards,
Milen
I’m confused..you still need the invite code..
I think I wrore that “sername” thing - I just didn’t know whether the “U” was upper or lower case - but since then Demonoid changed their layout a bit and it doesn’t work regardless…
A good feature would be the ability to keep certain trackers highlighted that you were really keeping an eye on. Possibly even different colors that someone could use for different categories.
Say I really wanted to join a certain music site and 3 specific movie sights; I could make that one music site red and the 3 movie sites yellow, and I would see them right away when I checked.
I think people would really like that.
Also, even better, what about something like what google’s gmail notifier does, working in the menu bar and popping up an alert when one of your preferred trackers becomes open.
I feel like these changes wouldn’t be too tough, and they would add a lot more functionality to a pretty cool program.
One more thing, what about tabbed viewing, so that there were possibly five tabs, one for all trackers, one for open trackers, one for closed trackers, one for unknown trackers, and one for preferred trackers (see my comment directly above).
Things would be a lot easier to navigate.
Marko - I’m trying to download the Windows version but the link seems to be down? you got any mirrors?
cheers man
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