Lightweight option for HLS "seeding"

[LasersAreGreat]

Other than leaving a browser tab open or setting up a second peertube server with redundancy, there has to be a way to "seed" for HLS, right? I'm looking for some solution that would work on a low-powered VPS where i don't need to setup everything that it takes to setup a peertube server.

I would note that I've read over the issues where similar questions have been asked in the past, to include #122 and get why there is not a push to address headless seeding over webtorrent. But if HLS is the future, surely there is a better solution than peertube redundancy (which involves a whole additional peertube installation) or leaving browser tabs open.

I also get that "seed" isn't the right term for HLS, but I'm not sure what else to call it in this context.

[kontrollanten]

I've thought a bit about this as well. But I've thought more about seeding by using a browser extension or desktop application that runs in the background. It should be possible to combine those by having a JS library that can be used by both a CLI and GUI app.

[LasersAreGreat]

I've thought a bit about this as well. But I've thought more about seeding by using a browser extension or desktop application that runs in the background. It should be possible to combine those by having a JS library that can be used by both a CLI and GUI app.

Any suggestions on how to go about making that happen? I'm not remotely knowledgeable in this area of programming (most of my experience is in C and was 15 years ago) but I don't mind giving it a shot if you point me in the right direction. I imagine I would want to start with the easiest approach possible.

[kontrollanten]

I've thought a bit about this as well. But I've thought more about seeding by using a browser extension or desktop application that runs in the background. It should be possible to combine those by having a JS library that can be used by both a CLI and GUI app.

Any suggestions on how to go about making that happen? I'm not remotely knowledgeable in this area of programming (most of my experience is in C and was 15 years ago) but I don't mind giving it a shot if you point me in the right direction. I imagine I would want to start with the easiest approach possible.

I'm not sure if I'm the right person to teach you, but I'll give it a try. I'd say the easiest approach is to begin with creating a proof of concept HTML/JS page that embeds p2p-media-loader JS file (API docs here). I guess you can look into PeerTube source to see how they integrate with p2p-media-loader. If you're able to seed a video by hard coding it's m3u8 URL, then I think we've come far.

[rigelk]

hi @LasersAreGreat,

I would note that I've read over the issues where similar questions have been asked in the past, to include #122 and get why there is not a push to address headless seeding over webtorrent. But if HLS is the future, surely there is a better solution than peertube redundancy (which involves a whole additional peertube installation) or leaving browser tabs open.

I would argue that PeerTube redundancy, however "not lightweight" you may find it, has its ease of use and especially its ease of maintenance considering the limited resources the project has. If a headless deployment is what you are looking for, then PeerTube can be run without its web interface ; improving the CLI for managing redundancies would certainly be a better option IMHO.

As for a seeding server that would require no prior setup, having a headless client using p2p-media-loader instead of webtorrent-hybrid would be nice, but only as a third-party app.