Does a Distributed Version Control System really have no centralised repository?
dvcs, version-control
Solution
Re: 'torrent-style technology' - you're confusing 2 issues, one of network topology (peer to peer vs. server/client) and one of server authority. This is understandable because the terms are almost identical. But there's nothing about distributed source control that makes any requirements on the network connection model - you could be distributing changesets via email if you prefer. The important thing with distributed version control is that each person essentially runs their own server and merges changes in from the other servers. Of course, you need to be able to get your initial clone from somewhere, and how you know where that 'somewhere' is falls outside of the scope of the system itself. There is no 'tracker' program or anything - typically someone has a public repository somewhere with the address published on a web site. But once you've cloned it, your copy is a full one that is capable of being the basis for someone else's clone.
Problem
It might seem a silly question, but how do you get a working drectory set up without a server to check out from? And how does a business keep a safe backed up copy of the repo? I assume then there must be a central repo... but then how exactly is it 'distributed'? I always thought of a server-client (SVN) Vs peer-2-peer (GIT) distinction, but I don't believe that can be correct unless tools like GIT are dependent on torrent-style technology?