Fast Resume Extension - Draft 1

This extension seeks to provide specifications for storage and usage
of fast resume data in BitTorrent meta-info files. The client should
be strict about the input accepted, and ignore all the fast resume
data if any inconsistencies are encountered.


Extension of the meta-info file

The root bencoded dictionary may contain the key "fast_resume" mapping
a dictionary, which holds data necessary to support resuming a torrent
in a fast and safe manner. This dictionary will be referred to as the
fast resume dictionary.

The fast resume dictionary contains the following keys:

"bitfield"

  A string containing the bitfield as defined in the main
  protocol. The client shall ensure the string length matches the
  bitfield length, and clear the unused bits at the end. Alternatively
  it may be an integer containing the number of set bits, where only
  an empty or full bitfield is valid.

  If the file does not exist on disk or does not have the expected
  size, then the bitfield of that file shall be invalidated. The
  client invalidates the bitfield of a file by clearing all bits
  corresponding to chunks containing the file.

"files"

  A list where each entry is a dictionary associated with the
  corresponding filename in info_hash's "path" list, or one entry in
  the case of a single-file torrent. This list will be referred to as
  the fast resume files list and each entry as fast resume file entry.

The fast resume file entry dictionary contains the following keys:

"mtime"

  An integer containing the time of last modification of the file in
  unix time, which is seconds since 00:00:00 UTC, 1970/01/01,
  excluding leap seconds. If the time does not match the modification
  time of the corresponding file on disk, then the client shall
  invalidate the bitfield of that file.

The fast resume file entry dictionary may be extended to include
other keys, f.ex "priority" and "path".