Data-Based Matching

Why?

Torrent-based matching relies on .torrent files to be able to search for cross-seeds. In this method, it analyzes the list of files stored in the .torrent file and searches your trackers for similar files. If the files found from the remote torrent (candidate) match the local torrent (searchee), this is a match.

Data-based matching allows cross seed to not require the .torrent file, and instead to look at actual data files on disk to search for matches. This is great if you have the actual files to cross-seed, but not the .torrent files.

Torrent-based matching will take priority over data-based when they are equivalent. Torrent-based is more robust, and prevents some performance issues with dataDirs wherein cross-seed has to frequently scan your dataDirs and watch all of their children for changes.

If you have multiple clients and/or linkDirs configured, cross-seed will inject data-based matches into the first valid torrentClient along with the first valid linkDir. Custom routing is not supported at this time.

General Usage for dataDirs

dataDirs Usage

Most users will not need to use dataDirs. You should only use dataDirs if:

1. You are downloading through Usenet or other non-torrent methods in order to match new content not present in your torrent client.

2. You have content in your media or data directories that is not already present in your torrent client. In this scenario, you only need to perform a search with dataDirs once. After the initial search, you should remove the directories from dataDirs entirely.

3. You want to cross seed from TorrentClientA to TorrentClientB. In this case, it's STRONGLY recommended to use the readonly: feature for the torrentClients option. Setting this on TorrentClientA will prevent cross-seed from injecting torrents into it but will still use it as a source for matches. This prevents any issues with duplicate torrents between clients.

   a. If you cannot use the readonly: feature, you can set dataDirs to the path of the downloaded data (e.g /data/torrents/tv)in TorrentClientA, and configure cross-seed with TorrentClientB only. This will likely create duplicate torrents seeding in both clients, ensure you will be following your tracker's rules.

Setting up data-based matching

tip

What should I do after updating my config?

For Windows users, it is necessary to insert double-slashes for your paths, back-slashes are "escape characters" and "\\" equates to "\".

1. Set up linking as described in the linking tutorial. While not required, it's highly recommended to keep the matches separate from your data. This is also necessary for step 2.

2. If you are trying to cross-seed data that has been renamed or whose names don't match standard torrent release naming schemes, set your matchMode to flexible, or if you want all matches, consider setting up partial matching.

3. Set dataDirs and maxDataDepth to inform cross-seed on where to generate searchees. Here are some examples of common structures and their optimal configuration. If multiple apply, set maxDataDepth to the highest value.

data/
├─ usenet/
│  ├─ movies/       # 0
│  |  ├─ Movie.mkv  # 1

dataDirs: ["/data/usenet/movies", ...],
maxDataDepth: 1,

data/
├─ torrents/
│  ├─ tv/                        # 0
│  |  ├─ Show S01/               # 1
│  |  |  ├─ Episode 1.mkv        # 2
│  |  |  ├─ Subtitles            # 2
│  |  |  |  ├─ Episode 1.srt     # 3

dataDirs: ["/data/torrents/tv", ...],
maxDataDepth: 1, # cross-seed will ignore season pack episodes even if set to 2 or more

data/
├─ radarr/          # 0
│  ├─ Movie/        # 1
│  |  ├─ Movie.mkv  # 2

dataDirs: ["/data/radarr", ...],
maxDataDepth: 2, # cross-seed will not search 'Movie/' itself, using a value of 1 will do nothing

data/
├─ sonarr/                 # 0
│  ├─ Show/                # 1
│  |  ├─ Season 1/         # 2
│  |  |  ├─ Episode 1.mkv  # 3

dataDirs: ["/data/sonarr", ...],
maxDataDepth: 2, # use 3 if using seasonFromEpisodes or includeSingleEpisodes (note: cross-seed will not search 'Show/' itself)