Rtorrent is one of the most popular torrent client for Linux users. Itssuperior downloading speed makes it one of the most sought after torrent client. But what hinders most people from using it is the lack of a nice GUI. Though a number of web based front ends are now available for rtorrent, they are not so popular with the users. Also power users are comfortable with the command line interface. This tutorial provides a step by step introdcution to using rtorrent. From installing to torrent creation.

Configuration

Rtorrent reads the settings from a file named "rtorrent.rc". It is not created while installing. You can either get it from the rtorrent site or from the example file which comes while installing. The example file is located at /usr/share/doc/rtorrent/examples/rtorrent.rc. Copy this file to the home directory of the user and save it as  hidden file( .rtorrent.rc)

#cp /usr/share/doc/rtorrent/examples/rtorrent.rc /home/tux

Where "tux" is the user.

As an initial step we are configuring rtorrent with the minimum settings. We are specifiying only the download directory, session locatiion.

The two changes made to the configuration file looks like this. (In example file all settings are commented)

# Default directory to save the downloaded torrents.
#directory = /home/jestinjoy/Downloads

# Default session directory. Make sure you don't run multiple instance
# of rtorrent using the same session directory. Perhaps using a
# relative path?

session = /home/jestinjoy/Downloads/session

These two folders "Downloads" and "session" were pre-exisited.

Also uncomment the line "check_hash = no" to if you dont want checking hash when restarting rtorrent/finsihed downloading which slows down the system.

Usage

Usage here refers to start a torrent file stop it when done and exit from the program. typing rtorrent in terminal brings up rtorrent. Then press "enter" key.At the bottom part we have to give the torrent file location. Pressing "tab" will provide auto completion for location and folder contents shows up on the program. Then press enter to move it to the program.

 

 

The next step is the start the torrent. For this press "down arrow" to select the torrent. Selected torrent is specified by asterik mark.(In case multiple files are there, this will help to know which one is selected). Then press ctrl-s to start the torrent.

Press ctr-q to quit the program. Or if you want to stop a running torrent, select it (using down arrow) and press ctrl-d.

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites