Torrench, search and download torrent files from the terminal

In the next article we are going to take a look at Torrench. This is a program for the command line with which we can search and download torrents from web pages dedicated to sharing these types of files. It is compatible with Windows, Gnu / Linux and MacOS. Its default configuration is for Gnu / Linux distribution image searches in Distrowatch and Linuxtracker. The name of this program is a combination of the words Torrent + search.

The program us will allow you to search popular torrent sharing pages such as KickassTorrents, SkyTorrents, The Pirate Bay, etc., although many of them are used to download files illegally. By doing so, a user can end up having a lot of trouble with the legality of their country. This is the main reason why by default, the developer has disabled search on some of these websites for users who use Torrench. Although it must also be said that they can be enabled as I will indicate later.

Torrench will allow us to search and download a torrent file from the Internet using the console. Possible sources are the ones I mention below. The developers have committed to adding more websites to this list. The sources that we can use today are the following:

• Linuxtracker
• DistroWach
• The Pirate Bay
• KickassTorrents
• SkyTorrents

Install Torrench on Ubuntu and derivatives

To use it on our Ubuntu system, we need to have the python3-pip package installed. In Debian / Ubuntu and derivatives we will only have to open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and write:

sudo apt install python3-pip

Once this requirement is solved, in Ubuntu, Fedora, SUSE, etc., users can install torrench using pip. To install this terminal program using pip you must execute the following command:

sudo python3 -m pip install --upgrade torrench

If when executing this command, the terminal returns the following error: "ImportError: No module named configparser”, You will have to use the following command to perform the installation:

sudo pip3 install torrench

Alternatively, you can use python-setuptools to create it from source. The source code of the program can be downloaded from its GitHub.

Configure Torrench

To be able to use all the search engines that this little program offers us, we will need to configure it. The configuration will be very simple, we will only have to download the config.ini file from this link or from this other link. Once downloaded we will have to move it to the application settings folder as indicated below. To do this we will only have to open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and write:

mkdir ~/.config/torrench

cd Descargas

cp -v ~/Descargas/config.ini ~/.config/torrench

Once the file has been copied to the corresponding folder, we will edit it and in the last line we add:

enable = 1

By default it will be 0, we will only have to change it to 1. In the next link whoever needs it will be able to see a config.ini file with minimal configuration for this program to work properly.

How to use Torrench

La syntax to run the program is:

torrench -argumentos opcionales busqueda

The optional arguments that we can use are the following:

-h, -help. This option will show us the help menu.

-d, -distrowatch. It will allow us to search distrowatch.

-t, -thepiratebay. With this option we can search in thepiratebay (TPB) (Not activated by default).

-k, -kickastorrent. This will be the necessary option to search in KickassTorrent (KAT) (Not activated by default).

-s, -sky torrents. With this option we will perform searches in SkyTorrents (Not activated by default).

If we use torrench followed by the search, without using any option, the program will search by default in linuxtracker.

An example of use would be the following:

torrench -d Búsqueda

This example searches for the word Search in DistroWatch (replace Search with the term we want to find. If we want to search for more than one word, they must be enclosed in quotes. Example: "Ubuntu 17.04").

This tool will search for torrent files on existing web pages. The program developer assumes no responsibility, both due to the availability of torrent files and the use that users can make of the program.

Uninstall Torrench

To remove this program from our operating system, we will only have to open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T). In just you will have to write the following order:

sudo pip3 uninstall torrench