rTorrent Frequently Asked Questions

This is the user FAQ for Rakshasa's BitTorrent client. RTorrent is an ncurses based client that uses libTorrent and is written in C++. Efficiency and good code is the main goal of both projects.

1. How do I add new torrents while the client is running?
2. I got the message "Could not create download, failed to parse the bencoded data" when adding a torrent, what does it mean?
3. How does the session feature work?
4. How do i query the tracker for more peers?
5. Why do I sometimes need to press ctrl-Q twice to exit the client?
6. It doesn't help how much i press ctrl-q, it still won't quit.
7. When I try downloading a torrent the client aborts (SIGABRT), what should I do?

1. How do I add new torrents while the client is running?

Use the backspace key to enter file input mode. The bottom line will change into a prompt which allows you to enter URL's or file paths to torrents. File name completion and directory listing is supported with the tab key.

2. I got the message "Could not create download, failed to parse the bencoded data" when adding a torrent, what does it mean?

The torrent data the library received was not a valid torrent file. If this was a direct http download, try downloading the torrent file and add it manually. This usually happens when the torrent link uses some form of redirection that libcurl does not automatically redirect. If the failure still happens, make sure the file is infact an uncorrupted torrent.

3. How does the session feature work?

When you start the client you can use the "-s" switch to specify a session directory. The client will save all currently running torrents in the session directory and fast resume data will be written when the client exits. Upon restarting the client it will resume all the torrents in the session directory.

4. How do i query the tracker for more peers?

Go into the download view screen and press 't' to initiate a new tracker request. If the tracker requires a minimum timeout between requests you can override this by using the capital 'T'. Don't abuse this feature.

5. Why do I sometimes need to press ctrl-Q twice to exit the client?

The first time you press ctrl-q you initiate the shutdown. This causes rTorrent to send a stop message to the trackers of each torrent, and if the tracker is slow it might take more than a few seconds or until the requests time out. The second time ctrl-q is pressed forces the client to shutdown.

6. It doesn't help how much i press ctrl-q, it still won't quit.

Perhaps your terminal sends a different key-code to the application. There's no configuration files for keys yet, so modify rtorrent/src/ui/root.cc:56 to use whatever key you want for quitting.

7. When I try downloading a torrent the client aborts (SIGABRT), what should I do?

Make sure you arn't using "-fomit-frame-pointer" when compiling libtorrent and rtorrent, this is known to produce bad code for C++ exception handling. If this doesn't help, run the client in gdb and use "bt -20" to get a backtrace. Send this with a bug report.