Download Torrents on Linux

Perhaps the greatest virtue of Linux is its command line.  You can do so much at the command line in Linux and downloading files via torrents is no different.  With the small terminal application bittorrent you can download your files while using minimum system resources.

To install the bittorrent application type sudo apt-get install bittorrent at the command line.  Simple (Debian based distros only such as Ubuntu)

To use this appliation start up your terminal and simply type btdownloadcurses url of torrent file. The url can be either web based or a downloaded torrent file on your local computer.  This will then download the file associated with the torrent into the directory that you called the application from.

What about other options such as specifying what directory you'd like the files saved to, or having the application open in its own terminal window.  No wories.  I'll detail some syntax below that covers these options and more.

New Terminal Window
To open the application in its own terminal window then simply call it with the command btdownloadheadless instead of btdownloadcurses.

For specifying options with the application the syntax is btdownloadcurses [options] url.  The following are some options that you may be interested in.

I.P Address
If you'd like to report a different I.P. address to the tracker then pass the option -i new I.P. address.

Save As
If you'd like to save the file as a different file name, or in a different location, that pass the option --saveas new file name/directory

More Options
To view all of the options available then type man btdownload at the command line.