Install and Configure uTorrent Server in Ubuntu Linux

In Linux, Transmission is one of the most popular Bittorrent clients available.

It has a nice, minimal interface and doesn t tend to use a lot of system resource
s when in use, even with heavy downloading.
01Transmission
For users making a switch to Linux, it may come as a surprise that one of the st
andard Bittorrent clients for Windows
namely, uTorrent isn t available. In fact,
it wasn t all that long ago that uTorrent was Windows-only. Then a Mac client was
released, and now
very slowly
a client for Linux is being made available. At t
he moment, users can download uTorrent Server for Linux. It s not quite the same
as a standard Desktop client, but it works well. It s also not quite as simple to
configure as other Bittorent clients, but the process once finished
doesn t need
to be repeated.
So, for those of you wanting the familiarity of uTorrrent on your Linux systems,
here s how to install it in Ubuntu. First, head over to the uTorrent for Linux d
ownload page and click the large green button to download the compressed archive
.
02uTorrent_Download_Page
The file is currently called utorrent-server-3.0-25053.tar.gz but that will change
as newer versions are released. Once downloaded, open up a Terminal client.
03Open_Terminal
Use the cd command to navigate to the directory where the file was downloaded. If
it was downloaded to the Desktop, you would type cd Desktop (without the quotes)
or cd Downloads if you used the standard Downloads folder as your download destina
tion. In our example, the file was downloaded to our Desktop.
04CD_to_Download_Folder
Now move the file to your /opt folder by typing sudo mv utorrent-server-3.0-2505
3.tar.gz /opt/ into the Terminal (you need to be root as the /opt folder can onl
y be modified by an administrator).
05Move_File_To_Opt_Folder
Now type cd /opt/ to change your working directory to the /opt folder.
06CD_to_Opt_Folder
Then type sudo tar -xvf utorrent-server-3.0-25053.tar.gz to decompress the uTorr
ent archive.
07Decompress_Archive
Next, typing sudo chmod 777 -R utorrent-server-v3_0/ will allow the folder and i
ts contents to be modified.
08Change_Folder_Permissions
At the moment, you can launch uTorrent by typing /opt/utorrent-server-v3_0/utser
ver into the Terminal, but that s not too handy. So, we ll create a symbolic link,
by typing sudo ln -s /opt/utorrent-server-v3_0/utserver /usr/bin/utserver which
allows us to simply type utserver and have it launched instead.

09Create_Symbolic_Link
Finally, although we can now launch uTorrent Server by typing utserver, one issu
e remains in that the program s settings path is unknown, which means we still hav
e a fairly lengthy command to type, namely: utserver -settingspath /opt/utorrent
-server-v3_0/ &
Note: the & at the end when typed after the command into the Terminal
o quit the Terminal without terminating the program.

allows you t

You can make things easier on yourself, however, by simply adding that entire li
ne to a new Startup Applications entry (using alacarte), which will ensure that
uTorrent Server is always running, from the moment you log into your computer.
10Add_Startup_Entry
Once you ve done this, there is one more potential stumbling block. Attempting to
launch uTorrent Server right now will likely throw up an error, as you are prob
ably missing a particular library. In particular, libssl0.9.8 is not installed
by default in Ubuntu. So we ll install it by typing sudo apt-get install libssl0.
9.8 which should take care of our troubles.
11Install_libss0.9.8
Now we re ready to start up uTorrent, so go ahead and do that.
The uTorrent Server application runs entirely in the background, so you could
on
ce configured simply download your .torrent files to the directory you ve set up,
uTorrent Server would see them and begin downloading automatically. It, however
, you want to see your progress or make any configuration changes, type http://l
ocalhost:8080/gui/ into your web browser s URL bar.
12Localhost_GUI
You ll need to log into the web interface each time
e username is admin and there is no password, but
est account, if you d like. Once logged in you may
nt options, such as the default download directory,
ore. You can access all this by clicking the gears

you launch it. By default, th

you can change that, or add a gu
want to configure some differe
and speed limitations, and m
icon in the menu.

13Click_For_Prefs
That s pretty much it. Before you know it, you ll be downloading to your heart s cont
ent.
14Download_In_Progress
The uTorrent Server package has a lot to offer; you can use it as a background a
pplication if you like, or monitor your Bittorrent uploads and downloads remotel
y. It can be as secure as you want it to be, and is a nice option for users who
want the familiarity of uTorrent in Linux. Yes, getting it up and running coul
d certainly be easier (and maybe that will come when the eventual GUI applicatio
n is released), but for now it could be worse.