What does it mean to seed?

[Carlos1010]

Hi all,

So when I read these tech articles like "Apple Seeds macOS Sierra 10.12.1 Beta 3 to Public Testers" or "Apple Seeds watchOS 3.1 and tvOS 10.0.1 Beta 2 to Developers", I never have a clue what the "seed" part of it works. Does anyone want to give me the definition? Thanks!

[2FA]

Uploading data.

[dalekphalm]

9 minutes ago, Carlos1010 said:

Hi all,

So when I read these tech articles like "Apple Seeds macOS Sierra 10.12.1 Beta 3 to Public Testers" or "Apple Seeds watchOS 3.1 and tvOS 10.0.1 Beta 2 to Developers", I never have a clue what the "seed" part of it works. Does anyone want to give me the definition? Thanks!

In the specific context you're talking about, "Seed" means "distribute", so just replace the words and read the sentences over, and you should see how it works.

 

Another meaning of "seed" is "uploader", which specifically refers to P2P (Peer to Peer) protocols, like Bit Torrent.

 

Bit Torrent has 2 kinds of users in the system, Seeds, and Peers. A Seed has the complete file (Or "Torrent", which may actually contain multiple files), and is actively uploading said file to the rest of the P2P network.

 

A Peer is someone who is actively downloading the torrent - someone who either has none of the file(s), or has only parts of the data (Eg: You're still downloading).

 

The meaning, even between the vastly different scenarios, is still pretty clear though: Seed means to "provide" something.

[LogicalDrm]

9 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

A Peer is someone who is actively downloading the torrent - someone who either has none of the file(s), or has only parts of the data (Eg: You're still downloading).

Adding Leacher. A Peer who only uploads data while downloading it.