FIXME - I'm having some issues with configuration, where the regular start routine won't work, probably because I'm using a symbolic link for some configuration. Argh!

BitTorrent with the Raspberry Pi >

I ended up going with transmission-daemon, because I had been using transmission on my desktop.

It's both capable and surprisingly easy to set up.

Tested 2013-11-01 on Raspbian 2013-09-25, updated recently.

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Installation ∞

Either SSH or remote desktop into your Raspberry Pi, and do:

\sudo  \apt-get  install  transmission-daemon

Note that installation automatically starts it, which is pretty damned stupid.

start/restart/stop transmission-daemon ∞

Important: Stop transmission-daemon before making any manual changes to the text file, otherwise when next stopping/restarting it, it will overwrite your changes!

One of the following two should work. Substitute "stop" with "restart" or "start".

\sudo  \service  transmission-daemon  stop

\sudo  /etc/init.d/transmission-daemon  stop

In some cases, you can stop it by killing it. This is usually necessary if you ran it like a regular program instead of using either the service or init command listed above.

\kill  -9  $( \pidof  transmission-daemon )

running transmission-daemon with custom configuration ∞

If, like me, you've been using transmission-gtk or transmission-qt then in order to avoid transmission-daemon's insane default preference location, you have to specifically start it up and point it at your proper preference directory:

transmission-daemon  --config-dir /home/user/.config/transmission

Transmission setup on the Raspberry Pi ∞

Configuration ∞

Important: Stop transmission-daemon before making any manual changes to the text file, otherwise when next stopping/restarting it, it will overwrite your changes!

Edit the configuration file and make the changes you think you'll need:

\sudo  \nano  /var/lib/transmission-daemon/info/settings.json

Alternately, you can edit the configuration file and then have it reload the configuration file:

\invoke-rc.d  \transmission-daemon  reload

Some settings you probably shouldn't touch:

    "rpc-enabled": true,
    "rpc-url": "/transmission/",
    "rpc-port": 9091,
    "rpc-whitelist-enabled": true,

Some you probably should:

    "rpc-username": "username",
    "rpc-password": "password",
    "download-dir": "/var/lib/transmission-daemon/downloads",
    "rpc-whitelist": "127.0.0.1, 192.168.0.2",

.. you can just type in the password plainly, deleting anything that's already there. The first time transmission starts up, it will take that plain text and encode it so it can't be useful to anyone who might read settings.json.

Many other settings probably ought to be set. I use a GUI tool to customize things. I'll get into using a GUI soon.

If you also intend to use a GUI either from the Raspberry Pi itself or from your desktop, then check these settings:

    "remote-session-enabled": true,
    "remote-session-host": "localhost",
    "remote-session-port": 9091,
    "remote-session-requres-authentication": true

For more on configuration, see transmission wiki: Edit Config Files.

Start ∞

After making your changes, you start transmission-daemon. See the instructions above.

Access transmission using a web browser ∞

1. Launch your web browser.

2. Go to the transmission page

   • If you're on your desktop, then visit 192.168.0.3:9091 (or whatever IP address you use)
     -- See SSH or remote desktop for how you'd get your Raspberry Pi's IP address.
   • If you're on the Raspberry Pi itself, then either visit 127.0.0.1:9091 orlocalhost:9091`

3. Enter the username and password you specified when you edited `settings.json earlier.

Access transmission using a GUI ∞

1. Launch your GUI. I use transmission-qt

   • When you first launch the GUI, it will attempt to create/continue a session on its own. This is the wrong session, and it must be changed.
2. Edit > Change Session

3. (o) Connect to Remote Session

   • If you're on your desktop, then Host: 192.168.0.3 and Port: 9091
   • If you're on the Raspberry Pi itself, then Host: is either 127.0.0.1 or localhost and Port: 9091

4. [x] Authentication required

   • Enter the username/password you specified when you first edited settings.json

Troubleshooting ∞

Checking logs ∞

The logging is done to /var/log/daemon.log

If you get a warning trying to start transmission-daemon, nothing will be put in that log. So.. you won't have a clue why it won't start up.

Permissions issues ∞

Permissions issues can be a serious problem, especially if you fiddle with symbolic links, placing the configuration files in different locations, or expect to be able to start transmission-qt or another GUI and re-use the same configuration as transmission-daemon uses.

I really highly recommend you don't do anything non-standard here. You can have a GUI connect to transmission-daemon via a remote session, without trying to start it up like a traditional standalone app.

\sudo  \chown  --recursive  debian-transmission:pi  /var/lib/transmission-daemon/*
\sudo  \find  /var/lib/transmission-daemon/  -type d  -exec  \sudo  \chmod  755  {} \;
\sudo  \find  /var/lib/transmission-daemon/  -type f  -exec  \sudo  \chmod  660  {} \;

Reinstallation ∞

You can completely uninstall and also remove all existing configuration with:

\sudo  \apt-get  remove  --purge  transmission-daemon

.. then install as you did before. You'll get its default configuration again.

Missing features ∞

Web interface limitations

There are some things which I'd need to completely rid myself of a GUI.

• I don't see the ability to edit the trackers list

• While you can set the location for a file, you cannot browse for it.

However, the GUI has the great advantage of being much faster than a web browser if you're running it on the Raspberry Pi itself.

Last updated 2022-06-04 at 19:15:18