Linux BitTorrent client with support for magnet links

Question

Is there a Linux application (bonus points for being console/headless) that supports magnet links - like the ones provided now by some famous "bay" for pirate BitTorrent users?

Solution 1

rTorrent has support for magnet links since v0.8.7 released in October 2010. To load one, just hit backspace in rTorrent and paste the magnet information.

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The information provided below is three years old and outdated.

Maybe the tutorial How To Compile rTorrent From SVN In Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala / Debian 5 Lenny With Magnet Link Support will help you.

Solution 2

Also, Transmission development version 1.80b1 supports magnet links. See changes.

Solution 3

Deluge 1.1.9 supports magnet.

Deluge is a full-featured BitTorrent client for Linux, OS X, Unix and Windows. It uses libtorrent in it's backend and features multiple user-interfaces including: GTK+, web and console. It has been designed using the client server model with a daemon process that handles all the bittorrent activity. The Deluge daemon is able to run on headless machines with the user-interfaces being able to connect remotely from any platform.

Solution 4

• Transmission
• Azureus / Vuze
• rTorrent
• KTorrent
• Deluge

Here's a useful script to enable magnet URLs in Firefox and Chrome / xdg-open:

http://sam.nipl.net/code/nipl-tools/bin/magnet-enable

For example:

./magnet-enable vuze

Solution 5

KTorrent, as far as I know, supports them.

View more solutions

Comments

[Jared Roussel]

Magnet links are different? I thought that they were the same as any other torrent, just linked from other trackers...

[Katerberg]

Yes. They are trackerless torrents, but require a different way of authenticating than traditional torrents

[Maggie]

I notice that the "headless" thing was mostly ignored. Did you find an actual solution? Deluge site doesn't mention feeding it magnet links with console- rather than X-based browsers. By now you clearly know that firefox-->vuze works for normal usage...

[Flávio Amieiro]

Deluge works as a server which has several clients that connect to it, this is specially good for depesz because there are at least 3 clients. One written in GTK, another is web based, and the third runs on the console.

[Hayden Thring]

magnets arnt supported till rtorrent 0.8.7 but 0.8.7 doesnt work with rutorrent...

[Kard Nails]

Note that the OPś question was made 5 years ago. Transmission did not support magnet links then.

[Erkin Alp Güney]

BitTorrent Information Hierarchy(xt=btih or at=btih) only. No other topic types supported.