elveston priory

Diferior is a new content management system (CMS) which may be what every independent content producer has been looking for. Not only does it offer all of the usual bells and whistles one would expect from a CMS, but it also allows you to set up your own torrent tracker.

Having gone through beta testing in 2007, Diferior has come out with a new version that should make it accessible for anyone. One developmental compromise that you should be aware of: to make it as easy as possible to use, the developers needed to change the tracking system from a modified version of the XBTT tracker to a standard PHP system. While this made it far easier to install and set up, it lowers the number of peers that can be using it at the same time. According to Ernesto at TorrentFreak, the number is still in the tens of thousands, but it is still limiting.

Why would you want to set up your own tracker? Well, as has been pointed out numerous times, there are lots of (legal) uses for the technology. If you’re working on your own open source project, it can be a quick way to distribute the latest build to your team. If you are an independent musician or record label, you can quickly distribute samples of your music to your fans. The same for small film makers.

Besides the torrent side of the system, you also get a blog, forums, a templating system and more. All of it is customizable, or if you find you don’t need any specific part of it, you can simply turn it off. If torrents aren’t working out for you, you can also set up downloads via traditional methods such as http and FTP.

As content management systems go, this one looks fairly exciting, and a solution to distribution/bandwidth cost issues that plague so many small, independent content producers.

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