transmission

3 min read · Documentation Networking Torrenting

Torrench

Search for a torrent, e.g. 'sita sings the blues'.

Copy the magnet link. It looks like this:

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:05547db7c0c5fbbe50f00212ee43e9cec5b006fa&dn=Sita+Sings+the+Blues+%281080P+official+release%29&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.leechers-paradise.org%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A80&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fopen.demonii.com%3A1337&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fexodus.desync.com%3A6969

But you only need this bit (up until the & character):

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:05547db7c0c5fbbe50f00212ee43e9cec5b006fa

Transmission

The package is often called transmission-cli. Install it then start the service.

Arch Linux:

1sudo systemctl start transmission

Debian:

1sudo systemctl start transmission-daemon

Add a torrent by the .torrent file, or a magnet link, like this:

1transmission-remote -a 'magnet:?xt=urn:btih:05547db7c0c5fbbe50f00212ee43e9cec5b006fa&dn=Sita+Sings+the+Blues+%281080P+official+release%29&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.leechers-paradise.org%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A80&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fopen.demonii.com%3A1337&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fexodus.desync.com%3A6969'

1transmission-remote -a sita.torrent

Now let's check that the torrent's been added successfully.

1transmission-remote -l

To see the torrents, go to /var/lib/transmission/Downloads

If you don't have permission, either add the directory to the group made for your username, or add yourself to the :transmission group, or otherwise make sure that you can read that directory, and the user transmission can read, write and execute. E.g.:

1sudo usermod -aG transmission $USER

Log in again for the changes to take effect (or open a new TTY with Ctrl+Alt+F2).

Removing Torrents

If you don't want to have a file active as a torrent, get it's number with transmission-remote -l, then, if it were number '4', do:

1transmission-remote -t 4 -r

You can now move the file, and the torrent will not be confused.

To both remove and delete a file, use -rad:

1transmission-remote -t 4 -rad

Moving Torrents

First, make sure that the user 'transmission' has permission to move the file. If the file is in your home - ~ - but transmission is not allowed in your home, the file will not move there.

Next, find the torrent's number. You can use multiple numbers, separated with a comma:

1transmission-remote -t 3,5,8 --move $HOME/music

Change Default Location

The transmission user has a home configuration file, like any other user, with all the transmission settings.

1cd /var/lib/transmission/.config/transmission-daemon/
2
3$EDITOR settings.json

Change the download-dir value to wherever you want the torrents to go.

Creating Torrents

Transmission always needs the full path to every file, and the daemon will need permission to view the file. When it doubt, just place the files in transmission's home directory.

Create a torrent of file or directory Memes with:

1sudo chown -R :transmission Memes
2transmission-create $(pwd)/Memes

Add a tracker to the torrent, to make sure others can find you easily:

1transmission-create --comment 'My Memes collection' -t 'udp://tracker.publicbt.com:80' -t 'udp://tracker.openbittorrent.com:80' --anonymize Memes

Without the --anonymize flag, the torrent file output will have a 'created by' and 'created date'.

Open Trackers

Verify

Add your torrent and notes its number:

1transmission-remote -a "$file".torrent
2transmission-remote -l
3transmission-remote -t "$number" -i

The information in the last command shows that it's not verified, so you can verify with -v.

1transmission-remote -t "$number" -v

If transmission cannot find it, then tell it where to find the torrent:

1transmission-remote -t "$number" --find "$(pwd)"

...and of course, make sure the permissions allow transmission to see the target.

1ls -ld "$file"