bencode-go

A Go language binding for encoding and decoding data in the bencode format that is used by the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file sharing protocol.

Maintenance status: ✅ Maintained (stable). This library is feature-complete — I accept bug fixes and security patches, but am not adding new features. See SECURITY.md for how to report vulnerabilities.

Quick Start

Get the package

go get -u github.com/jackpal/bencode-go

Import the package

import bencode "github.com/jackpal/bencode-go"

Unmarshal a bencode stream into an object

data := myAwesomeObject{}
err := bencode.Unmarshal(reader, &data)

Decode a bencode stream

data, err := bencode.Decode(reader)

Decode with configurable limits or strict validation

dec := bencode.NewDecoder(reader).
	SetMaxStringLength(10 * 1024 * 1024). // 10 MiB
	SetMaxDepth(50).
	SetStrict(true) // Enforces BEP 3 rules (no leading zeros, sorted keys, etc.)

data, err := dec.Decode()
// or: err := dec.Unmarshal(&myObject)

// If the stream contains trailing non-bencode data, access unread buffered bytes:
leftover := dec.Buffered()

Access raw bencoded bytes (e.g. for BitTorrent info_hash)

type Torrent struct {
	Announce string             `bencode:"announce"`
	Info     bencode.RawMessage `bencode:"info"`
}

var t Torrent
err := bencode.Unmarshal(reader, &t)
// Compute the SHA-1 info_hash directly from the raw bencoded info dictionary:
infoHash := sha1.Sum(t.Info)

Encode an object into a bencode stream

err := bencode.Marshal(writer, data)

Complete documentation

http://godoc.org/github.com/jackpal/bencode-go

License

This project is licensed under the Go Authors standard license. (See the LICENSE file for details.)

Version History

tag	Notes
v1.2.0	Added RawMessage support, Decoder.Buffered(), and skip unexported fields.
v1.1.0	Added Decoder with configurable resource limits, strict BEP 3 validation, and any types.
v1.0.2	Added go module.
v1.0.1	Removed architecture specific test that was failing on ARM.
v1.0.0	First version.