rtorrent - the friendly torrent application

I use rtorrent for my legitimate torrent requirements. I find it extremely useful and here is why:

• I run it on a linux server I have under a screen session so it's always available
• it's set to have an upload and a download limit for torrents
• stops after I've uploaded double what I've downloaded
• reliable
• easy to drive

Of course, getting it to this point wasn't totally straightforward. I had to set up my .rtorrent.rc file in my home directory to get all this stuff to work properly. It isn't using 100% of the capabilities of rtorrent, merely the ones I find most useful. For example I don't have it set to check for new torrents in a particular directory - I add them manually for an additional measure of control and so torrents I'm finished seeding aren't accidentally added back in. It does send me an email when a download is finished, retains info about where each torrent is up to and stops if diskspace becomes low (which it occasionally does)

Here is my .rtorrent.rc contents - everything in grey is a comment:

#=================================================================

# This is an example resource file for rTorrent. Copy to

# ~/.rtorrent.rc and enable/modify the options as needed. Remember to

# uncomment the options you wish to enable.

# Maximum and minimum number of peers to connect to per torrent.

#min_peers = 40

#max_peers = 100

# Same as above but for seeding completed torrents (-1 = same as downloading)

#min_peers_seed = 10

#max_peers_seed = 50

# Maximum number of simultanious uploads per torrent.

#max_uploads = 15

# Global upload and download rate in KiB. "0" for unlimited.

download_rate = 200

upload_rate = 5

# Default directory to save the downloaded torrents.

directory = /home/angus/torrents

# Default session directory. Make sure you don't run multiple instance

# of rtorrent using the same session directory. Perhaps using a

# relative path?

session = ~/torrents/.session

# Watch a directory for new torrents, and stop those that have been

# deleted.

#schedule = watch_directory,15,15,load_start=/home/angus/torrent/.torrent

#schedule = untied_directory,5,5,stop_untied=

# Close torrents when diskspace is low.

schedule = low_diskspace,5,60,close_low_diskspace=100M

# Stop torrents when reaching upload ratio in percent,

# when also reaching total upload in bytes, or when

# reaching final upload ratio in percent.

# Enable the default ratio group.

ratio.enable=

# Change the limits, the defaults should be sufficient.

ratio.min.set=150

ratio.max.set=200

ratio.upload.set=20M

# Changing the command triggered when the ratio is reached.

system.method.set = group.seeding.ratio.command, d.close=, d.erase=

# The ip address reported to the tracker.

ip = xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

#ip = rakshasa.no

# The ip address the listening socket and outgoing connections is

# bound to.

#bind = 127.0.0.1

#bind = rakshasa.no

# Port range to use for listening.

port_range = 6900-6999

# Start opening ports at a random position within the port range.

#port_random = no

# Check hash for finished torrents. Might be usefull until the bug is

# fixed that causes lack of diskspace not to be properly reported.

#check_hash = no

# Set whetever the client should try to connect to UDP trackers.

#use_udp_trackers = yes

# Alternative calls to bind and ip that should handle dynamic ip's.

#schedule = ip_tick,0,1800,ip=rakshasa

#schedule = bind_tick,0,1800,bind=rakshasa

# Encryption options, set to none (default) or any combination of the following:

# allow_incoming, try_outgoing, require, require_RC4, enable_retry, prefer_plaintext

#

# The example value allows incoming encrypted connections, starts unencrypted

# outgoing connections but retries with encryption if they fail, preferring

# plaintext to RC4 encryption after the encrypted handshake

#

# encryption = allow_incoming,enable_retry,prefer_plaintext

# Enable peer exchange (for torrents not marked private)

#

# peer_exchange = yes

#

# Do not modify the following parameters unless you know what you're doing.

#

# Hash read-ahead controls how many MB to request the kernel to read

# ahead. If the value is too low the disk may not be fully utilized,

# while if too high the kernel might not be able to keep the read

# pages in memory thus end up trashing.

#hash_read_ahead = 10

# Interval between attempts to check the hash, in milliseconds.

#hash_interval = 100

# Number of attempts to check the hash while using the mincore status,

# before forcing. Overworked systems might need lower values to get a

# decent hash checking rate.

#hash_max_tries = 10

# First and only argument to rtorrent_mail.sh is completed file's name (d.get_name)

system.method.set_key = event.download.finished,notify_me,"execute=~/scripts/rtorrent_mail.sh,$d.get_name="

#===================================================================

I hope this is useful for you.