This document is a WORK IN PROGRESS.
This is just a quick personal cheat sheet: treat its contents with caution!

---

rTorrent

rTorrent is a fast and highly configurable torrent client based on libtorrent and ncurses.

Reference(s)

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n93ioqHf-U
• https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/RTorrent
• https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/RTorrent
• https://github.com/rakshasa/rtorrent/wiki/CONFIG-Template
• https://blog.datacargo.fr/2016/07/27/o-trouver-la-meilleure-blocklist-pour-deluge-et-les-autres-clients-torrent/
• https://gist.github.com/johntyree/3331662
• https://www.iblocklist.com/lists

---

Tables of contents

• Install
• Config
  • if no IPv6
  • Email notifications
• Use
  • Tips

---

Install

portagepacmanaptyumdnf

# emerge -a net-p2p/rtorrent

# pacman -S rtorrent

# apt install rtorrent

# yum install rtorrent

# dnf install rtorrent

---

Config

• By default, rTorrent will search its config file here ~/.rtorrent.rc. But if rTorrent is run with the -o import=/path/to/rtorrent.rc option, the rtorrent.rc file can be created anywhere. E.g.:

  $ mkdir -p ~/.config/rtorrent
  $ cp /usr/share/doc/rtorrent/rtorrent.rc ~/.config/rtorrent
  

  The /usr/share/doc/rtorrent/rtorrent.rc file is pretty self explanatory and provides good reference links in its top header.

• Set a default session directory (run only one rTorrent instance per session):

  $ mkdir -p ~/.config/rtorrent/session
  $ vi ~/.config/rtorrent/rtorrent.rc
      > ...
      > session.path.set = ~/.config/rtorrent/session
      > ...
  

• Set a default download directory:

  $ vi ~/.config/rtorrent/rtorrent.rc
      > ...
      > drectory.default.set = /media/rdownloads
      > ...
  

• Set a watch directory (new torrents added here will auto download, those removed will stop download/sharing):

  $ vi ~/.config/rtorrent/rtorrent.rc
      > ...
      > schedule2 = watch_directory,5,5,load.start=/media/rwatch/*.torrent
      > ...
  

• Enable encryption:

      > ...
      > protocol.encryption.set = allow_incoming,try_outgoing,enable_retry
      > ...
  

• Enable DHT support:

      > ...
      > dht.mode.set = auto
      > dht.port.set = 6881
      > protocol.pex.set= yes
      > ...
  

if no IPv6

See https://github.com/rakshasa/rtorrent/issues/732

Add the following to rtorrent.rc

    > ...
    > bind 0.0.0.0

Email notifications

TODO

See https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/RTorrent#Notification_with_Google_Mail

---

Use

• Run rTorrent with an alternative rtorrent.rc location:

  $ rtorrent -o import=~/.config/rtorrent/rtorrent.rc
  

• Run rTorrent with an other download directory:

  $ rtorrent -d /media/rdownloads/movies
  

• Run rTorrent with a specific torrent file:

  $ rtorrent /path/to/file.torrent
  

• Ctrl-q Quit rTorrent.

• 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 doesn't 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

Tips

• Check the IP used by rTorrent: http://checkmyip.torrentprivacy.com

---

If this cheat sheet has been useful to you, then please consider leaving a star here.