Content hosting at SourceForge?

[Caydr]

I used to mirror all the AA files on Sourceforge. It provides automatic multi-mirrroring all over the world, unlimited bandwidth, and indefinite retention.

Have any Spring sites looked into using their services to host Spring-related stuff?

You would have the latest version of Spring, and its source. As long as you've got that on there, I don't think anyone would bother you about the fact that the vast majority of the bandwidth is consumed by map and mod downloads.

There's a lot of automation when you're uploading files too, which saves a ton of work.

They let me host all AA stuff on there when it was just an OTA mod - which meant that not only was it barely even legally "gray area", but in fact each download would be on the order of ~60, for just the basic mod. Then you have the map packs! The map packs were about ~650 mb combined! I had hundreds of thousands of downloads, so bandwidth is not an issue.

At one point they asked me about why I thought my project was open-source when it was for a closed-source game. Especially when I was including some content from that closed-source game. I cited examples like Switeck's Bugfix, Ubehack, etc, all the other mods that were GP3 replacements which included the same data I did, and the fact that all my files were technically just in a game-readable archive. Besides this AA was a very community-oriented project where anyone could request changes, etc. "Oh. Ok, carry on."

They're very professional, have an excellent management system, and Sourceforge has been online since like 1995 or something. What do you think?

[Auswaschbar]

http://sourceforge.net/projects/springrts/
A bit abandoned, thought.

[FLOZi]

http://sourceforge.net/projects/spring1944/

[Caydr]

I meant, more like for Spring-Info and... that one... that ends in ".nl"... that's got the bandwidth meter and everything. All those downloads must be expensive, so why not move it to a service that's reliable and free?

[Peet]

You're a year or two too late to revolutionize the spring content hosting systems; we have several very reliable sites and a torrent system integrated into some lobbies.

[Caydr]

The torrent system is unreliable for things besides DSD and doesn't work for anything that needs more than one file, and those "very reliable sites" have to pay for bandwidth. Also, Unknown-Files.

[lurker]

I think some clients parse dependencies now, and you can't exactly hold a missing feature against them when talking about a new download system.

[Licho]

SL processes dependencies.
Torrent system is exactly as reliable as websites since its using webistes (except for jobjol).

And you have been informed about package system DESIGNED FOR MODS and supported by engine itself.

Its the best way to distribute mods because it only gets changes in minimalistic manner.

[AF]

The torrent system is unreliable for things besides DSD and doesn't work for anything that needs more than one file, and those "very reliable sites" have to pay for bandwidth. Also, Unknown-Files.

My filesite accounts for a very considerable chunk of the used bandwidth, and I haven't had to pay a penny in overused bandwidth, and its only a fraction of what I get each month. This months estimated cycle usage for spring files is ~400GB of bandwidth including the spring installer and the JJ mirror.

[Caydr]

So your hosting is free then? Oh, you pay? Ah, so you're just arguing because you're bored, I see. I do that too sometimes.

[lurker]

He's paying for his website. The file hosting is a free add-on.

[Caydr]

I've never heard of a host that just says, "here, have 400 gigabytes of bandwidth, we'll add that to your $5/month plan". Perhaps it's an add-on to a somewhat more expensive plan. In which case a cheaper plan would suffice. But you have enough money to wipe your ass with it apparently.

Whatever, just trying to save you guys money and all you want to do is argue semantics. If wasting money is no problem for you, I'm glad there's still at least one country not in a recession.

Personally I pay so little for hosting that a single google adsense ad pays for not only my hosting but my 4 domains as well. It's nice.

[lurker]

Actually the $5 plan is for terabytes^H^H^H oh they made it unlimited now.

You can't save AF money. If jj wanted to save money he could just make his server not a primary.

[Forboding Angel]

evortsinfo only hits about 40 to 60 gb per month last time I checked, which is low enough that I hardly ever pay attention to it. I have 3 TLD sites on the same server and many more that are customer sites (I work on them on my server first before actually transferring over to their webservers).

Space and bandwidth is hardly an issue.

Save yourself some trouble and get a free svn. http://www.assembla.com is perfect for *A mods (cause their filesizes are generally much lower).

[Caydr]

I don't get it, where are people getting the impression that there's any "trouble" involved? You upload a file via FTP, log in to sourceforge, say "this file is mine, add it to this category". It's immediately available for public download, and an hour later it's propogated to a dozen servers all over the world so the world outside of North America gets the same service as everyone else.

It's... simple. So simple. And free. So many fast mirrors! Unlimited bandwidth! I give up.

[Neddie]

The primary point for many of the participants in this thread is that they don't need to change and will not for the foreseeable future. If you have a system that works, why start over?

Other valid reasons not to use SourceForge.
1. License shortcoming - If you don't own all you put up, don't do it, you'll get reported and removed eventually anyway.
2. Distrust - Some of us are paranoid, we need complete control - oh well, we pay the price for control.
3. Professionalism - Don't argue the point, free services like this which are great for open source look somehow less professional to the consumer. Bad for business, in a way, if you intend business to go beyond the hobbyist.

Anyway, this is a good idea for a variety of projects, but simply fraught with potential legal pitfalls. All maps are the property of the map maker unless otherwise stated. Some of the games are fan projects, others proprietary. All the mods are... well, you know. For the sake of stability this would best be used as a map archive with the engine, with every map used there released fully and explicitly under GPL or CC, or into PD. It would be unwise to include the games and mods; the SourceForge administration has been increasingly watchful of late.

[Caydr]

I can understand not wanting to host mods then, that's a reasonable if somewhat paranoid response.

But I'm taken aback by the idea that you feel Sourceforge is somehow not "professional". You you regard 7zip as unprofessional? Mediawiki? Audacity? phpBB? Dosbox, which Valve uses for selling DOS games? Wings3D? VirtualDub? Bittorrent? Ghostscript? Mediacoder? The LAME MP3 encoder?

What you just said was terribly ill-considered and there's a lot of people besides me that are going to be bothered that you feel that way.

[Forboding Angel]

Sourceforge is mainly seen as a hobbyist's lounge and doesn't convey professionalism. I don't see any untruth to that statement. Not to mention that at least 50% of the projects on sourceforge are either stagnating or dead alltogether,

[Caydr]

Everyone's wrong but me.

/thread

[Neddie]

I did not say I thought it was unprofessional, I said it seemed unprofessional to the consumer.

If I had any issues personally with SourceForge, I could hardly be a 1944 developer and it would probably not be an major member of this or any other open source community.