Seed peer意思

"Seed peer" is a term used in peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing networks, particularly in the context of BitTorrent, which is one of the most popular P2P protocols. In a BitTorrent swarm (a group of peers connected to the same torrent), a seed is a peer who has a complete copy of the file(s) being shared.

Here's a breakdown of the terms:

• Seed: A peer who has the complete file(s) and is sharing it with others in the swarm. Seeds are crucial for maintaining a healthy torrent as they provide the initial source of the file(s) for new peers joining the swarm.

• Peer: A participant in a P2P network who is downloading or uploading a file. A peer can be either a leech (a peer who is downloading the file but has not completed it yet and is not sharing any parts) or a seed (a peer who has the complete file and is sharing it).

When you start downloading a torrent, you connect to the swarm and initially download pieces of the file from seeds. As you download more of the file, you become a seed yourself, sharing parts of the file with other peers. This is the fundamental principle of BitTorrent: to distribute the load of downloading across multiple peers, which can make the process faster and more efficient.

The term "seed" comes from the idea of planting a seed, which grows into a plant that can produce more seeds. In the context of BitTorrent, a seed is the source from which the file grows and propagates throughout the network.