rTorrent
rTorrent is a quick and efficient BitTorrent client that uses, and is in development alongside, the libTorrent (not to be confused with libtorrent-rasterbar) library. It is written in C++ and provides a terminal-based user interface via the ncurses programming library. When combined with a terminal multiplexer (e.g. GNU Screen or Tmux) and Secure Shell, it becomes a convenient remote BitTorrent client.
Installation
Unofficial packages
- rtorrent-gitAUR - Git master branch package
- rtorrent-psAUR - Release package with rtorrent-ps patchset
- rtorrent-pyro-gitAUR - Git feature-bind branch package with rtorrent-ps patchset
- rtorrent-vi-colorAUR - Release package with vi-like key bindings
Configuration
- See the rTorrent wiki article on this subject for more information: Common Tasks in rTorrent for Dummies.
- Vim may mistake the syntax of the configuration file, causing errors in the highlighting. To resolve this you can append a modeline
# vim: set filetype=confto~/.rtorrent.rc, or install rtorrent-syntax-file.
Before running rTorrent, copy the example configuration file /usr/share/doc/rtorrent/rtorrent.rc to ~/.rtorrent.rc, and check out the related rTorrent wiki page that has a modern basic configuration file.
Performance
The values for the following options are dependent on the system's hardware and Internet connection speed.
throttle.min_peers.normal.set = 40 throttle.max_peers.normal.set = 52 throttle.min_peers.seed.set = 10 throttle.max_peers.seed.set = 52 throttle.max_uploads.set = 8 throttle.global_down.max_rate.set = 200 throttle.global_up.max_rate.set = 28
The pieces.hash.on_completion.set option executes a hash check when rTorrent is started. It checks for errors in your completed files.
pieces.hash.on_completion.set = yes
Create and manage files
The directory.default.set option will determine where your torrent data will be saved (could be a relative path):
directory.default.set = ~/downloaded
The session.path.set option allows rTorrent to save the progress of your torrents. It is recommended to create a directory in home directory (e.g. mkdir ~/.rtorrent.session).
session.path.set = ~/.rtorrent.session
The schedule2 option has rTorrent watch a particular directory for new torrent files. Saving a torrent file to this directory will automatically start the download. Remember to create the directory that will be watched (e.g. mkdir ~/watch). Also, be careful when using this option as rTorrent will move the torrent file to your session folder and rename it to its hash value.
schedule2 = watch_directory,5,5,load.start=/home/user/watch/*.torrent schedule2 = untied_directory,5,5,stop_untied= schedule2 = tied_directory,5,5,start_tied=
The following schedule2 option is intended to stop rTorrent from downloading data when disk space is low.
schedule2 = low_diskspace,5,60,((close_low_diskspace,100M))
Port configuration
The network.port_range.set option sets which port(s) to use for listening. It is recommended to use a port that is higher than 49152 (see: List of port numbers). Although, rTorrent allows a range of ports, a single port is recommended.
network.port_range.set = 49164-49164
Additionally, make sure port forwarding is enabled for the proper port(s) (see: Port Forward guides).
Additional settings
The protocol.encryption.set option enables or disables encryption. It is very important to enable this option, not only for yourself, but also for your peers in the torrent swarm. Some users need to obscure their bandwidth usage from their ISP. And it does not hurt to enable it even if you do not need the added security.
protocol.encryption.set = allow_incoming,try_outgoing,enable_retry
It is also possible to force all connections to use encryption. However, be aware that this stricter rule will reduce your client's availability:
protocol.encryption.set = require,require_RC4,allow_incoming,try_outgoing
See also Wikipedia:BitTorrent Protocol Encryption.
This final dht.mode.set option enables DHT support. DHT is common among public trackers and will allow the client to acquire more peers.
dht.mode.set = auto dht.port.set = 6881 protocol.pex.set= yes
Key bindings
rTorrent relies exclusively on keyboard shortcuts for user input. A quick reference is available in the table below. A complete guide is available on the rTorrent wiki (see: rTorrent User Guide).
Ctrl-q twice in quick succession will make rTorrent shutdown without waiting to send a stop announce to the connected trackers.| Cmd | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl-q | Quit application |
| Ctrl-s | Start download. Runs hash first unless already done. |
| Ctrl-d | Stop an active download or remove a stopped download |
| Ctrl-k | Stop and close the files of an active download. |
| Ctrl-r | Initiate hash check of torrent. Starts downloading if file is not available. |
| Ctrl-o | Specify the download directory for a added, but not started torrent. |
| Left | Returns to the previous screen |
| Right | Goes to the next screen |
| Backspace | Adds and starts the specified *.torrent |
| Return | Adds and does not start the specified *.torrent |
| a|s|d | Increase global upload throttle about 1|5|50 KB/s |
| A|S|D | Increase global download throttle about 1|5|50 KB/s |
| z|x|c | Decrease global upload throttle about 1|5|50 KB/s |
| Z|X|C | Decrease global download throttle about 1|5|50 KB/s |
Redundant mapping
Ctrl-s is often used for terminal control to stop screen output while Ctrl-q is used to start it. These mappings may interfere with rTorrent. Check to see if these terminal options are bound to a mapping:
$ stty -a
... swtch = <undef>; start = ^Q; stop = ^S; susp = ^Z; rprnt = ^R; werase = ^W; lnext = ^V; ...
To remove the mappings, change the terminal characteristics to undefine the aforementioned special characters (i.e. stop and start):
# stty stop undef # stty start undef
To remove these mappings automatically at startup you may add the two preceding commands to your ~/.bashrc file.
Additional tips
Systemd service for a headless server
This unit file relies on running a single user named rtorrent and configuring rtorrent to run as a daemon.
Create the following file:
/etc/systemd/system/rtorrent.service
[Unit] Description=rTorrent System Daemon After=network.target [Service] Type=simple User=rtorrent Group=rtorrent # Modify the next 2 lines to use absolute paths ExecStartPre=-/bin/rm -f /<home>/.session/rtorrent.lock ExecStart=/usr/bin/rtorrent Restart=on-failure RestartSec=3 [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target
Systemd service as a daemon for a user
This unit will allow multiple users, or a single user to run rtorrent as a daemon.
To start rtorrent at boot time, enable rtorrent@user (where user is the user who will run rtorrent).
Create the following file:
/etc/systemd/system/rtorrent@.service
[Unit] Description=rTorrent for %i After=network.target [Service] Type=simple User=%i Group=%i WorkingDirectory=/home/%i # Modify the next line to the absolute path for rtorrent.lock, for example ExecStartPre=-/bin/rm -f /home/%i/.session/rtorrent.lock ExecStart=/usr/bin/rtorrent -o system.daemon.set=true Restart=on-failure RestartSec=3 [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target
Systemd services using tmux or screen
Usage of the following services depends on type of service unit.
For system services (in /etc/systemd/system/):
To start at boot time:
# systemctl enable rtorrent
Start manually:
# systemctl start rtorrent
Stop:
# systemctl stop rtorrent
Make sure 'rtorrent' user is created with the appropriate home directory with your rtorrent.rc placed in.
For user services (in /etc/systemd/user/):
$ systemctl --user enable rtorrent
Start manually:
$ systemctl --user start rtorrent
Stop:
$ systemctl --user stop rtorrent
With screen
- As system service unit
/etc/systemd/system/rtorrent.service
[Unit] Description=rTorrent After=network.target [Service] Type=forking KillMode=none User=rtorrent ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/bash -c "if test -e %h/.rtorrent_session/rtorrent.lock && test -z `pidof rtorrent`; then rm -f %h/.rtorrent_session/rtorrent.lock; fi" ExecStart=/usr/bin/screen -dmfa -S rtorrent /usr/bin/rtorrent ExecStop=/usr/bin/bash -c "test `pidof rtorrent` && killall -w -s 2 /usr/bin/rtorrent" WorkingDirectory=%h Restart=on-failure [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target
- As user service unit
/etc/systemd/user/rtorrent.service
[Unit] Description=rTorrent After=network.target [Service] Type=forking KillMode=none ExecStart=/usr/bin/screen -dmfa -S rtorrent /usr/bin/rtorrent ExecStop=/usr/bin/killall -w -s 2 /usr/bin/rtorrent WorkingDirectory=%h [Install] WantedBy=default.target
Attach to rtorrent's session:
screen -D -r rtorrent
Detach:
Ctrl-a d
with tmux
- With independent tmux server (restart rtorrent if crashed)
~/.config/systemd/user/rtorrent.service
[Unit] Description=rtorrent After=network.target [Service] Type=forking ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/bash -c "if test -e ~/.session/rtorrent.lock && test -z `pidof rtorrent`; then rm -f ~/.session/rtorrent.lock; fi" ExecStart=/usr/bin/tmux -L rt new-session -s rt -n rtorrent -d rtorrent ExecStop=/usr/bin/bash -c "/usr/bin/tmux -L rt send-keys -t rt:rtorrent.0 C-q; while pidof rtorrent > /dev/null; do echo stopping rtorrent...; sleep 1; done" Restart=on-failure [Install] WantedBy=default.target
- With tmux running as user rtorrent (restart rtorrent if crashed)
/etc/systemd/system/rtorrent.service
[Unit] Description=rTorrent Daemon After=network.target [Service] Type=forking KillMode=none User=rtorrent ExecStart=/usr/bin/tmux new-session -c /mnt/storage/rtorrent -s rtorrent -n rtorrent -d rtorrent ExecStop=/usr/bin/bash -c "/usr/bin/tmux send-keys -t rtorrent C-q && while pidof rtorrent > /dev/null; do sleep 0.5; done" WorkingDirectory=%h Restart=on-failure [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target
Attach to rtorrent's session:
tmux -L rt attach -t rt tmux attach -t rt
Detach:
Ctrl-b d
systemd service file with dtach
When running dtach from systemd unit, the TERM environment variable has to be set explicitly for rtorrent to work.
This service file has no restart because the author occasionally takes the drive in question offline, and rtorrent fails, shall we say, "suboptimally" when started in this scenario and loses many torrent specific settings such as the specific directories each torrent is stored in. In fact the symlinks that kick off rtorrent live on the relevant drive; if it is unmounted rtorrent cannot start. This use case of blocking rtorrent from starting is relevant to users who put the downloaded files on removable media such as NAS, USB or eSATA drives.
~/.config/systemd/user/rtorrent.service
[Unit] Description=rTorrent #After=network.target [Service] # set TERM according to your terminal Environment="TERM=xterm" #Environment="TERM=linux" Type=forking KillMode=none ExecStart=-/usr/bin/dtach -n /home/sam/run/dtach_fifos/fifo -e "^T" /home/sam/bin/rtr_new -n -o import=/home/sam/.config/rtorrent/new_.rc # dtach -n <separate filename for each instance> # # rtr_new -n to ignore the default .rtorrent.rc # rtr_new -o import to load the instance-specific rc ExecStop=-/usr/bin/killall -u sam -e -w -s INT /home/sam/bin/rtr_new [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target
Note some other issues exposed in this service file other than just dtach:
/home/sam/bin/rtr_new is a symlink to /usr/bin/rtorrent
This lets us run several instances and kill each one independently with a different version of the ExecStop, to wit:
ExecStop=-/usr/bin/killall -u sam -e -w -s INT /home/sam/bin/rtr_new ExecStop=-/usr/bin/killall -u sam -e -w -s INT /home/sam/bin/rtr_academic ExecStop=-/usr/bin/killall -u sam -e -w -s INT /home/sam/bin/rtr_other_stuff
These are each in a different service file, each of which controls one instance.
Without this step, when running multiple instances a killall solution would kill all the running rtorrent instances.
If multiple rtorrent instances are not needed and the rtorrent rc file is in the default location the above service file may be simplified. The entire file is included but only the ExecStart and ExecStop lines change.
~/.config/systemd/user/rtorrent.service
[Unit] Description=rTorrent #After=network.target [Service] # set TERM according to your terminal Environment="TERM=xterm" #Environment="TERM=linux" # Type=forking is not required if ExecStart command is run using dtach -N (i.e dtach will run on foreground). Type=forking KillMode=none ExecStart=-/usr/bin/dtach -n /home/sam/run/dtach_fifos/fifo -e "^T" /usr/bin/rtorrent # dtach -n <user specified FIFO name> -e <user specified character> /usr/bin/rtorrent ExecStop=/usr/bin/killall -w -s INT /usr/bin/rtorrent # -e (exact match) and -u (user name) were added above to stop specific processes # and may be omitted here because only one rtorrent will be running [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target
Note the hyphen in `ExecStart=-/usr/bin/dtach` part, which allows failure exit code also to denote successfull termination. This is likely because of a current issue[1]. An alternative is to use `SuccessExitStatus=1` in the service section.
The service can be controlled as a user unit. When it is started, you can attach to the session:
$ dtach -a /home/sam/run/dtach_fifos/fifo -e "^T"
Pre-allocation
rTorrent has the ability to pre-allocate space for a torrent. The major benefit is that it limits and avoids fragmentation of the filesystem. However, this introduces a delay during the pre-allocation if the filesystem does not support the fallocate syscall natively.
Therefore this switch is recommended for xfs, ext4, btrfs and ocfs2 filesystems, which have native fallocate syscall support. They will see no delay during preallocation and no fragmented filesystem. Pre-allocation on others filesystems will cause a delay but will not fragment the files.
To enable it, add the following to your ~/rtorrent.rc:
~/rtorrent.rc
# Preallocate files; reduces defragmentation on filesystems. system.file.allocate = 1
To make pre-allocation available on filesystems other than the above - albeit at a delay - you can recompile libTorrent from the ABS tree with the following new switch:
$ ./configure --prefix=/usr --disable-debug --with-posix-fallocate
See the upstream documentation for further information
Manage completed files
With watch folders
It is possible to have rtorrent organize completed torrent data to specific folders based on which 'watch' folder you drop the *.torrent into while continuing to seed.
As a solution, use the following example in your ~/.rtorrent.rc.
Make sure to change the paths.
# default path for in progress downloads directory = /home/user/torrents/incomplete # schedule a timer event named 'watch_directory_1': # 1) triggers 10 seconds after rtorrent starts # 2) triggers at 10 second intervals thereafter # 3) Upon trigger, attempt to load (and start) new *.torrent files found in /home/user/torrents/watch/ # 4) set a variable named 'custom1' with the value "/home/user/torrents/complete" # NOTE: if you do not want it to automatically start the torrent, change 'load.start' to 'load.normal' schedule2 = watch_directory_1,10,10,"load.start=/home/user/torrents/watch/*.torrent,d.custom1.set=/home/user/torrents/complete" # upon completion, move content to path specified above via custom1 method.insert = d.data_path, simple, "if=(d.is_multi_file), (cat,(d.directory),/), (cat,(d.directory),/,(d.name))" method.insert = d.move_to_complete, simple, "d.directory.set=$argument.1=; execute=mkdir,-p,$argument.1=; execute=mv,-u,$argument.0=,$argument.1=; d.save_full_session=" method.set_key = event.download.finished,move_complete,"d.move_to_complete=$d.data_path=,$d.custom1="
You can add additional watch directories and corresponding completion directories like so:
directory = /home/user/torrents/incomplete schedule2 = watch_directory_1,10,10,"load.start=/home/user/torrents/watch/*.torrent,d.custom1.set=/home/user/torrents/complete" schedule2 = watch_directory_2,10,10,"load.start=/home/user/torrents/watch/iso/*.torrent,d.custom1.set=/home/user/torrents/complete/iso" schedule2 = watch_directory_3,10,10,"load.start=/home/user/torrents/watch/music/*.torrent,d.custom1.set=/home/user/torrents/complete/music" method.insert = d.data_path, simple, "if=(d.is_multi_file), (cat,(d.directory),/), (cat,(d.directory),/,(d.name))" method.insert = d.move_to_complete, simple, "d.directory.set=$argument.1=; execute=mkdir,-p,$argument.1=; execute=mv,-u,$argument.0=,$argument.1=; d.save_full_session=" method.set_key = event.download.finished,move_complete,"d.move_to_complete=$d.data_path=,$d.custom1="
You can also specify incomplete directories per watch directory:
directory = /home/user/torrents/incomplete schedule2 = watch_directory_1,10,10,"load.start=/home/user/torrents/watch/*.torrent,d.directory.set=/home/user/torrents/incomplete,d.custom1.set=/home/user/torrents/complete" schedule2 = watch_directory_2,10,10,"load.start=/home/user/torrents/watch/iso/*.torrent,d.directory.set=/home/user/torrents/incomplete/iso,d.custom1.set=/home/user/torrents/complete/iso" schedule2 = watch_directory_3,10,10,"load.start=/home/user/torrents/watch/music/*.torrent,d.directory.set=/home/user/torrents/incomplete/music,d.custom1.set=/home/user/torrents/complete/music" method.insert = d.data_path, simple, "if=(d.is_multi_file), (cat,(d.directory),/), (cat,(d.directory),/,(d.name))" method.insert = d.move_to_complete, simple, "d.directory.set=$argument.1=; execute=mkdir,-p,$argument.1=; execute=mv,-u,$argument.0=,$argument.1=; d.save_full_session=" method.set_key = event.download.finished,move_complete,"d.move_to_complete=$d.data_path=,$d.custom1="
Also see completion moving via a bash script, and via pyrocore's rtcontrol (there is an AUR package).
Without watch folders
If you prefer rtorrent to manage completed folder locations automatically, per label, add the below to your rtorrent.rc configuration and amend the paths to suit your environment:
# Check if destination dir is not Null
method.set_key = event.download.inserted_new,check_dest_dir, \
"branch=d.custom=storagedir,,\
\"d.custom.set=storagedir,/path/to/download/directory\""
# Modify destination dir according to tv label
method.set_key = event.download.inserted_new,update_dest_dir_tv, \
"branch=\"equal={d.custom1=, cat=TV}\",\
\"d.custom.set=storagedir,/path/to/tv/dir\""
# Modify destination dir according to movies label
method.set_key = event.download.inserted_new,update_dest_dir_movies, \
"branch=\"equal={d.custom1=, cat=Movies}\",\
\"d.custom.set=storagedir,/path/to/movie/dir\""
# Move files of completed torrents
method.set_key = event.download.finished,move_completed, \
"d.directory.set=$d.custom=storagedir; \
execute2={mv,-u,$d.base_path=,$d.custom=storagedir}"
An example use-case for this is if you are using ZFS and need to have the source material on the same filesystem. rTorrent will download to a temporary NVMe/SSD and then move the content to a ZFS filesystem where the *arrs can then process the media and hardlink to a separate folder that your media server will scrape.
Notification with Google mail
Cell phone providers allow you to "email" your phone:
Verizon: 10digitphonenumber@vtext.com AT&T: 10digitphonenumber@txt.att.net Former AT&T customers: 10digitphonenumber@mmode.com Sprint: 10digitphonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com T-Mobile: 10digitphonenumber@tmomail.net Nextel: 10digitphonenumber@messaging.nextel.com Cingular: 10digitphonenumber@cingularme.com Virgin Mobile: 10digitphonenumber@vmobl.com Alltel: 10digitphonenumber@alltelmessage.com OR 10digitphonenumber@message.alltel.com CellularOne: 10digitphonenumber@mobile.celloneusa.com Omnipoint: 10digitphonenumber@omnipointpcs.com Qwest: 10digitphonenumber@qwestmp.com Telus: 10digitphonenumber@msg.telus.com Rogers Wireless: 10digitphonenumber@pcs.rogers.com Fido: 10digitphonenumber@fido.ca Bell Mobility: 10digitphonenumber@txt.bell.ca Koodo Mobile: 10digitphonenumber@msg.koodomobile.com MTS: 10digitphonenumber@text.mtsmobility.com President's Choice: 10digitphonenumber@txt.bell.ca Sasktel: 10digitphonenumber@sms.sasktel.com Solo: 10digitphonenumber@txt.bell.ca
- Install mailx which is provided by the s-nail package.
- Clear the
/etc/mail.rcfile and enter:
set sendmail="/usr/bin/mailx" set smtp=smtp.gmail.com:587 set smtp-use-starttls set ssl-verify=ignore set ssl-auth=login set smtp-auth-user=USERNAME@gmail.com set smtp-auth-password=PASSWORD
Now to send the text, we must pipe a message to the mailx program.
- Make a Bash script:
/path/to/mail.sh
echo "$@: Done" | mailx 5551234567@vtext.com
Where the $@ is a variable holding all the arguments passed to our script.
- And finally, add the important
~/.rtorrent.rcline:
method.set_key = event.download.finished,notify_me,"execute2=/path/to/mail.sh,$d.name="
Breaking it down:
notify_me is the command id, which may be used by other commands, it can be just about anything you like, so long as it is unique.
execute= is the rtorrent command, in this case to execute a shell command.
/path/to/mail.sh is the name of our script (or whatever command you want to execute) followed by a comma separated list of all the switches/arguments to be passed.
$d.get_name= 'd' is an alias to whatever download triggered the command, get_name is a function which returns the name of our download, and the '$' tells rTorrent to replace the command with its output before it calls execute.
The end result? When that torrent, 'All Live Nudibranches', that we started before leaving for work finishes, we will be texted:
All Live Nudibranches: Done
UI tricks
rTorrent does not list the active tab properly by default, add this line to your .rtorrent.rc to show only active torrents
schedule2 = filter_active,30,30,"view.filter = active,\"or={d.up.rate=,d.down.rate=}\""
Then press 9 in your rTorrent client to see the changes in action.
To sort the seeding view by the upload rate and only show torrents with peers:
# Sort the seeding view by the upload rate and only show torrents with peers view.sort_current = seeding,greater=d.up.rate= view.filter = seeding,"and=d.complete=,d.peers_connected=" view.sort_new = seeding,less=d.up.rate= view.sort = seeding
To sort the complete view by the upload rate:
# Sort the complete view by the upload rate view.sort_current = complete,greater=d.up.rate= view.filter = seeding,"and=d.complete=" view.sort_new = seeding,less=d.up.rate= view.sort = seeding
Manually adding trackers to torrents
- Select torrent to edit from rTorrent console view.
- Hit
Ctrl+x. - If you had four trackers type following lines one at a time (always press
Ctrl+xfirst) to add four more for example:
d.tracker.insert="5","udp://tracker.publicbt.com:80" d.tracker.insert="6","udp://tracker.openbittorrent.com:80" d.tracker.insert="7","udp://tracker.istole.it:80" d.tracker.insert="8","udp://tracker.ccc.de:80"
Schedule torrent to start at a specific time
If you do not want to download a torrent immediately, and would prefer it to begin at a later time (to accomodate a data plan, for example), you can add the torrent to a specific directory and tell rtorrent to check that directory periodically, if a torrent file is present, rtorrent will start downloading at the appointed time:
# Start torrents at 1am in this directory schedule2 = watch_start,01:00:00,24:00:00, "load.start=/home/user/torrents/offpeak/*.torrent"
rtorrent will check the directory torrents/offpeak/ every 24 hours, and if a torrent file is present will start it at 01:00 am.
Troubleshooting
CA certificates
By default rTorrent will work with trackers that use HTTPS with valid certificates. If an HTTPS tracker is being rejected because it has a custom or unusual certificate you may need to download it and validate it separately.
Once you have done that you can inform rTorrent of the new certificate via
$ rtorrent -o http_capath=/etc/ssl/certs/www.your-tracker.com.pem
For more information see:
- rTorrent + SSL guide Full instructions for downloading and validating a new HTTPS certificate.
- rTorrent Error & CA Certificate
- rTorrent Certificates Problem
- rtorrent setup
In rTorrent 0.8.9 and up you can disable HTTPS checking completely by setting network.http.ssl_verify_peer.set=0 and network.http.ssl_verify_host.set=0, source.
Locked directories
rTorrent can sometimes lock up after a crash or incorrect shutdown, and will complain about a lock file.
Per the error message, the file called "rtorrent.lock" can be found within the hidden folder .rtorrentsession for your download directory and manually removed.
Event failed: bad return code
This is most often caused by there being spaces in your system.method.* lines, or by event handlers that call out to external scripts which are either simply not installed, or return a non-zero exit code.
For the first, remove any spurious spaces, or else quote path etc. where they are intentional, and it will work.
Web interface
There are numerous web-based front ends for rTorrent; the most active include the following:
- ruTorrent - Has an interface very similar to μTorrent and supports many plugins and advanced features (see also: RTorrent/RuTorrent and guide on forum).
- Flood - Modern interface, written in Node.js using XMLRPC.
XMLRPC interface
Unix socket
If you want to use rTorrent with web interfaces, you need to add the following line to the configuration file, replacing user with the user who runs rTorrent:
network.scgi.open_local = /home/user/rpc.socket execute.nothrow = chmod,770,/home/user/rpc.socket
you must also give access to the Unix socket to the chosen web interface by means of ACL (Access Control List), replacing <user> and <group> with those generated by the web interface at the time of their installation (the unix socket is not accessible if rtorrent and web server do not share a common user or group)
setfacl -m u:<user>:rwx,g<group>:rwx /home/user/rpc.socket
This will grant read, write and execute permissions on the socket to the chosen web interface.
For more information see: Using XMLRPC with rtorrent
SCGI port
network.scgi.open_port = localhost:5000
Saving magnet links as torrent files in watch folder
If you wish to have magnet links automatically added to your watch folder, here is a script that will do the trick:
#!/bin/bash
watch_folder=~/.rtorrent/watch
cd $watch_folder
[[ "$1" =~ xt=urn:btih:([^&/]+) ]] || exit;
echo "d10:magnet-uri${#1}:${1}e" > "meta-${BASH_REMATCH[1]}.torrent"
(adapted from https://blog.gonzih.me/blog/2012/02/17/how-to-use-magnet-links-with-rtorrent/).
Save it, for instance as rtorrent-magnet, give it execution permission, and place it somewhere under your $PATH. Then in Firefox:
- Type
about:configinto the Location Bar (address bar) and pressEnter. - Right-click: New > Boolean > Name: network.protocol-handler.expose.magnet > Value > false.
- Next time you click a magnet link you will be asked which application to open it with. Select the script we just created and you will be done.
If you want xdg-open to handle this, which you need if you are using chrome instead of Firefox, (though gnome and other DE might have their own programs overriding xdg-open) you need to create the desktop entry for the rtorrent-magnet script in ~/.local/share/applications/rtorrent-magnet.desktop with the following content:
[Desktop Entry] Type=Application Name=rtorrent-magnet Exec=rtorrent-magnet %U MimeType=x-scheme-handler/magnet; NoDisplay=true
Then all you need to do is to register the mimetype using
$ xdg-mime default rtorrent-magnet.desktop x-scheme-handler/magnet
Magnet to torrent
You could also use the magnet2torrent-gitAUR package which downloads the metadata and creates a torrent file.
How to use:
$ magnet2torrent -m <magnet link> -o [torrent file]
Or use aria2 and xclip, to process magnet links from clipboard:
$ d=$(xdg-user-dir DOWNLOAD) $ c=$(xclip -o -selection clipboard | grep ^magnet) $ aria2c -d "$d" --input-file <( echo "$c" ) --bt-metadata-only=true --bt-save-metadata=true
rtorrent-ps
rTorrent-PS is an rTorrent distribution in form of a patchset with UI enhancements, colorization, and some added features.
Installation
Install rtorrent-psAUR.
Configuration
Set "pyro.extended" to 1 in your rTorrent configuration file to activate rTorrent-PS features.
method.insert = pyro.extended, value|const, 1
See rtorrent-ps templates of the pimp-my-box repository for additional configuration examples. Be aware they may require PyroScope command line utilities to work.
PyroScope command line utilities
PyroScope command line utilities are a collection of tools for the rTorrent client that work well together with the #rtorrent-ps patchset. Amongst other things, they provide automation for common tasks and a queue manager for rTorrent.
Follow the official documentation for installation and configuration. See rtorrent-ps templates of the pimp-my-box repository for additional configuration examples.
See also
- RTorrent/RuTorrent
- GNU Screen
- The rTorrent Handbook - Includes an explanation of basic and advanced configuration, a scripting guide, and a (not yet) complete command reference with an auto-generated index.
- rtorrent(1)
- Comparison of BitTorrent clients on Wikipedia
- rTorrent Community Wiki - Public place for information on rTorrent and any project related to rTorrent, regarding setup, configuration, operations, and development.
- pyrocore - Collection of command line tools for rTorrent. It provides commands for creating and modifying torrent files, moving data on completion without having multiple watch folders, and mass-controlling download items via rTorrent's XML-RPC interface: searching, start/stop, deleting items with or without their data, etc. It also offers a documented Python API.
- Installation guide for rTorrent and Pyroscope on Linux - Collection of tools for the BitTorrent protocol and especially the rTorrent client
- mktorrent - Command line application used to generate torrent files, which is available as mktorrent.
- docktorrent - Using Docker, rTorrent and ruTorrent to run a full-featured BitTorrent box.
- reptyr - another tool to take over a program's TTY (it is in the standard repos). The process may have started being attached to a terminal or to a socket in tmux, screen or dtach.
- neercs - a more screen/tmux like tool than reptyr, but, like reptyr, neercs can also "steal" a process that may have started slaved to a terminal or to a socket in tmux, screen or dtach.
Forum threads
- 2009-03-11 - Arch Linux - HOWTO: rTorrent stats in Conky