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).