How to install rtorrent on MyBookWorld

I installed rtorrent on my MyBook, but rtorrent has a lot of hangups, especially when downloading large files ( > 1GB ) ...

I'm using Transmission instead !

pkg-config

Let's start by pkg-config, as it is needed for other softwares to check whether a library is installed or not. The installation is trivial and shouldn't cause any difficulties.

# cd /tmp/myfiles
# wget http://pkgconfig.freedesktop.org/releases/pkg-config-0.22.tar.gz
# tar -zxvf pkg-config-0.22.tar.gz
# cd pkg-config-0.22
# ./configure
# make
# make install

openSSL

# wget http://www.openssl.org/source/openssl-0.9.8g.tar.gz
# tar -zxvf openssl-0.9.8g.tar.gz
# cd openssl-0.9.8g
# ./Configure gcc
# make
# make install

ncurses

A programming API to build text interfaces ...

# wget http://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/ncurses/ncurses-5.6.tar.gz
# tar -zxvf ncurses-5.6.tar.gz
# cd ncurses-5.6
# ./configure
# make
# make install

libsigc++

A C++ library ...

# wget http://ftp.gnome.org/pub/GNOME/sources/libsigc++/2.0/libsigc++-2.0.17.tar.gz
# tar -zxvf libsigc++-2.0.17.tar.gz
# cd libsigc++-2.0.17
# ./configure
# make
# make install

libCurl

Library that provides URL transferts.

# wget 	http://curl.haxx.se/download/curl-7.16.4.tar.gz
# tar -zxvf curl-7.16.4.tar.gz
# cd curl-7.16.4
# ./configure
# make
# make install

libTorrent

libTorrent is rTorrent's engine.

First of all, set following path:

export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/usr/local/ssl/lib/pkgconfig/

Then grab libTorrent and compile it:

# wget http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/downloads/libtorrent-0.11.8.tar.gz
# tar -zxvf libtorrent-0.11.8.tar.gz
# cd libtorrent-0.11.8
# ./configure
# make
# make install

During configure, following error appeared:

checking for pkg-config… no
checking for OPENSSL… configure: error: The pkg-config script could not be found or is too old. Make sure it
is in your PATH or set the PKG_CONFIG environment variable to the full path to pkg-config.

Reinstalling pkg-config solved the problem...

rTorrent

Almost there.

# wget http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/downloads/rtorrent-0.7.8.tar.gz
# tar -zxvf rtorrent-0.7.8.tar.gz
# cd rtorrent-0.7.8
# ./configure
# make
# make install

Now you can try to launch rtorrent. Type rtorrent and there might be some errors. I had the following ones:

rtorrent: can't load library 'libcurl.so.4'
rtorrent: can't load library 'libtorrent.so.10'
rtorrent: can't load library 'libsigc-2.0.so.0'

Solution:

ln -s /usr/local/lib/libcurl.so.4 /lib/
ln -s /usr/local/lib/libtorrent.so.10 /lib/
ln -s /usr/local/lib/libsigc-2.0.so.0 /lib/

Link all the other possible missing libraries the same way, they are all situated in the /lib/ directory.

Now, what's left?

Now you need to configure rtorrent according to your taste and internet connexion settings. It's not rocket science and the documentation is well done.

Need More links?

  1. step-by-step guide to configure rtorrent. In german but Google's english translation ain't too shabby.
  2. Don't miss these nifty rtorrent features, such as Watch a directory for torrents

Conclusion

You just transformed you network hard drive into a download box. Don't hesitate to use the comments if you have comments, questions, suggestions or corrections.

Footnotes
# rtorrent -h
Rakshasa's BitTorrent client version 0.4.3.

All value pairs (f.ex rate and queue size) will be in the UP/DOWN order. 
Use the up/down/left/right arrow keys to move between screens.

Usage: rtorrent [OPTIONS]... [FILE]... [URL]...
  -h                Display this very helpful text
  -b <a.b.c.d>      Bind the listening socket to this IP
  -i <a.b.c.d>      Change the IP that is sent to the tracker
  -p <int>-<int>    Set port range for incoming connections
  -d <directory>    Save torrents to this directory by default
  -s <directory>    Set the session directory
  -o key=opt,...    Set options, see 'rtorrent.rc' file

Main view keys:
  backspace         Add a torrent url or path
  ^s                Start torrent
  ^d                Stop torrent or delete a stopped torrent
  ^r                Manually initiate hash checking
  ^q                Initiate shutdown or skip shutdown process
  a,s,d,z,x,c       Adjust upload throttle
  A,S,D,Z,X,C       Adjust download throttle
  right             View torrent

Download view keys:
  spacebar          Depends on the current view
  1,2               Adjust max uploads
  3,4,5,6           Adjust min/max connected peers 
  t/T               Query tracker for more peers / Force query 
  *                 Snub peer
  right             View files 
  p                 View peer information
  o                 View trackers


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