RTorrent
Version: Web: http://rakshasa.github.io/rtorrent
Last issue, we covered Geeknote, a geek utility for managing Evernote [see HotPicks, p62, LXF192]. This time we're focusing on BitTorrent, so we present rTorrent: the command-line torrent client. It's based on the libTorrent library, which is developed alongside the client. The client also uses ncurses for showing its pseudo-graphic controls in your shell.
The purpose of rTorrent is to give you the full control over your peer-topeer file sharing, either on remote systems or anywhere without X.org or a graphical web interface.
Adding rTorrent is extremely easy: it’s a tiny application, found in almost all Linux distributions. The tricky part starts when you want to actually use it.
When you run rTorrent for the first time, it launches with a complaint about a missing ~/.rtorrent.rc file. Let’s create this by hand. RTorrent lets you explore the inner workings of torrents and specify dozens of core parameters, so it’s best to take a dummy (but working) example from http://bit. ly/1xgtYjg, which is 117 lines long and provides only the basic settings.
The most obvious next step would be changing the default directories where rTorrent looks for new .torrent files and where it puts the downloads. For example, here’s a way to schedule rTorrent to watch a directory for new torrents, and to stop those that have been deleted: schedule = watch_directory,5,5,load_ start=./rtactive/*.torrent schedule = tied_directory,6,5,start_tied= schedule = untied_directory,7,5,stop_ untied=
Other useful options include being able to set the desired minimum and maximum number of peers; to limit the number of downloads and uploads; and to specify the IP address to be shown to the tracker.
RTorrent supports many useful shortcuts, such as lower case a, s and d to gradually increase the upload throttle and their upper case equivalents to increase the download throttle. Ctrl+S starts a download, while Ctrl+D stops it or removes one already stopped. To quit the app, you simply use Ctrl+Q.
“rTorrent lets you explore the inner workings of torrents.”