Linux > Command line BitTorrent client

BitTorrent is the name of a peer-to-peer (P2P) file distribution protocol, and of a free software implementation of that protocol.

The BitTorrent client is a computer program developed by BitTorrent, Inc. used to download and upload files via the BitTorrent protocol. You can download python based command line BitTorrent client download for Linux/BSD/Mac OS X/UNIX link oses. This is quite useful, if you would like to download file remotely over SSH session. bittorrent.com offers bittorrent client in .deb (Debian Linux) or rpm (RedHat/Fedora Core/CentOS Linux) file formats.

To use the bittorrent in command line one you need to use command bittorrent-console or bittorrent-curses (see below for examples).

Step # 1: Find Python version

Make sure you download file according to your python version. Type following command to find out python version:
$ python -V
Output:

Python 2.4.2

Step # 2: Download bittorrent client

Use wget to download bittorrent client

Download bittorrent client for Debian Linux:

$ wget http://download.bittorrent.com/dl/bittorrent_5.0.3_python2.4.deb

Download bittorrent clientFor Red Hat / Fedora Core / Cent OS Linux

$ wget http://download.bittorrent.com/dl/BitTorrent-5.0.3-1-Python2.4.noarch.rpm

Step # 3: Linux Install BitTorrent client

First login as a root user (use su or sudo command). If you are using Debian Linux, use dpkg command install bittorrent client
# dpkg -i bittorrent_5.0.3_python2.4.deb
If you are using Red Hat / Fedora Core /Cent OS Linux, use rpm command install bittorrent client:
# rpm -ivh BitTorrent-5.0.3-1-Python2.4.noarch.rpm

Step # 4: Start using or downloading files

Use bittorrent client as follows:
$ /usr/bin/bittorrent-curses 'http://www.some.org/DesktopBSD.iso.torrent'
OR
$ bittorrent-curses 'http://www.some.org/DesktopBSD.iso.torrent'
OR
$ /usr/bin/bittorrent-curses '/path/to/file.torrent'
You can try out pure console based client bittorrent-console instead of curses based client:
$ bittorrent-console '/path/to/file.torrent'
$ /usr/bin/bittorrent-console 'http://www.some.org/DesktopBSD.iso.torrent'

Tips about using and Troubleshooting BitTorrent client

(A) If you get [Errno 2] No such file or directory, you need to use wget or lynx command to download .torrent file to local hard drive first. For example
$ bittorrent-curses 'http://www.mininova.org/get/some_file[222].torrent'
First download download .torrent file using any one of the following method:
$ lynx 'http://www.mininova.org/get/some_file[222].torrent'
When prompted save .torrent file to a hard-disk. Another option is use wget to download .torrent file:
$ wget 'http://www.mininova.org/get/some_file[222].torrent'
Now start the downloading as follows:
$ bittorrent-curses 'some_file[222].torrent'

(B) If you get error ‘This seems to be an old Python version which does not support detecting the filesystem encoding. Assuming ‘ascii’, then upgrade your python version to 2.4.xx:

Debian user upgrade python version using apt-get command:
# apt-get update
# apt-get install python2.4

Red Hat Linux user try out:
# up2date python2.4
Fedora Linux user try out:
# yum install python2.4

Remember if you have both versions (python v2.3 and v2.4) installed, you need to run bittorent client as follows:
$ python2.4 /usr/bin/bittorrent-curses '/path/to/file.torrent'
Command line BitTorrent client should work with other UNIX like operating systems such as FreeBSD/OpenBSD/Solaris etc (as long as you have Python it should work).

The current client enables a range of features including multiple parallel downloads. It also intermediates peering between itself, source file servers (read as trackers) and other clients, thereby yielding great distribution efficiencies. The client also enables users to create and share torrent files. See help files for more information.

See also:

• Linux Iptables rules to open Bittorrent tcp ports 6881 to 6889