Hi. I'm using Ktorrent 2.2.1 and I have a few ideas that would make great features for Ktorrent.

The first is a "Shutdown computer when download is complete" feature. I know uTorrent has this feature and I found it very useful since I usually leave my laptop on overnight and I would like it to turn itself off when the download is complete for power/overheating reasons.

The second feature is an "auto-seeding" feature. Basically, what I want KTorrrent to do is to seed only when I am idle from the computer. When I start using my computer again, I want it to stop seeding immediately.

Tell me what you guys think of these ideas and we'll go on from there. But for now, can someone tell me how I can implement these features for myself? I'm completely new to open-source development and I've downloaded the tarball file but have no idea what to do with the files inside. Is there a site that can help me get started with this? All I could find on this site is how to compile the application but not how to modify it.

Thanks everyone and I welcome any feedback to the ideas I presented above.

The first is a "Shutdown computer when download is complete" feature

This would defeat the purpose of the bittorrent protocol which is to share back what you take or more. Since most people on average can only seed back at 1/8 th the speed that they can download.

The second feature is an "auto-seeding" feature. Basically, what I want KTorrrent to do is to seed only when I am idle from the computer. When I start using my computer again, I want it to stop seeding immediately.

Again this defeats the the purpose of BT. Seeding should be done when the swarm demand is high and not when it's only convenient for you. Tens, hundreds, perhaps even thousands of people on the swarm would have to pick up your slack when you drop off the seed. This is hardly fair to the swarm that supplied you with the torrent.

These type of "behavior features" are frowned upon at many torrent sites as it isn't fair use of bittorrent. If these features were added many sites would ban ktorrent outright.

Tell me what you guys think of these ideas and we'll go on from there. But for now, can someone tell me how I can implement these features for myself? I'm completely new to open-source development and I've downloaded the tarball file but have no idea what to do with the files inside. Is there a site that can help me get started with this? All I could find on this site is how to compile the application but not how to modify it.

First of all do you know anything about programming? It sounds like you don't as you don't know what to do with the source files. A first step would be to get your head wrapped around a few good C/C++ books then when you have a sold grasp on that to look into the kde developers corner http://developer.kde.org/ and study the resources it has there.