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Just tried installing BitTorrent via CLI, but the application isn't appearing in the Dash and doesn't seem to want to run from Terminal, either.

I used sudo apt-cache search bittorrent to verify it was in the package list, then sudo apt-get install bittorrent, sudo apt-get update, sudo apt-get dist-upgrade, and finally sudo apt-get autoremove (just to be safe).

I checked Synaptic and sure enough, it has the little green square next to it. I'm at a bit of a loss, any clues on what gives? Could I be missing another package it needs to run or something along those lines? If so, how would I go about checking for that?

Baku9
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1 Answers1

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The executable is not actually named bittorrent:

andrew@corinth:~$ dpkg -L bittorrent | grep /bin
/usr/bin
/usr/bin/btlaunchmanycurses.bittorrent
/usr/bin/btlaunchmany.bittorrent
/usr/bin/btshowmetainfo.bittorrent
/usr/bin/btdownloadheadless.bittorrent
/usr/bin/btrename.bittorrent
/usr/bin/btdownloadcurses.bittorrent
/usr/bin/btreannounce.bittorrent
/usr/bin/bttrack.bittorrent
/usr/bin/btmakemetafile.bittorrent
/usr/bin/btcompletedir.bittorrent
andrew@corinth:~$

I see you are a Synaptic user so right click on the bittorrent green light and select Properties --> Installed Files and you will see the same in a gui:

enter image description here

The confusion is completely understandable though! If you are unsure of which particular executable to use perhaps try running something simple like:

btdownloadcurses http://releases.ubuntu.com/15.10/ubuntu-15.10-desktop-amd64.iso.torrent

This shows a very 'old school' torrenting window that is perhaps exactly what you are after:

enter image description here

andrew.46
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  • Forgive me for making you spell it out (I'm still new and I've been up all night), but which one of those is the actual executable, then? – Baku9 Mar 18 '16 at 14:32
  • All of the files in /usr/bin are the actual executables :). What is your purpose in using bittorrent? – andrew.46 Mar 18 '16 at 20:16
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    I ask mostly as bittorrent is an old client for torrent downloading and there are better clients around. If you are after typical usage an example is: btdownloadcurses http://releases.ubuntu.com/15.10/ubuntu-15.10-desktop-amd64.iso.torrent but there are many options that can be added in. – andrew.46 Mar 18 '16 at 20:32
  • Thanks for the further detail. Can you recommend any other clients? To be honest, I was only going with BitTorrent because I'm coming from Windows and it was the most familiar to me. I do, however find Transmission to be very easy to use (if perhaps a little basic). – Baku9 Mar 22 '16 at 17:57
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    I use rtorrent myself but there is a nice listing / review of available torrent clients here: http://askubuntu.com/q/48546/57576 which might help out. And welcome to Linux :) – andrew.46 Mar 22 '16 at 22:21