Torrench - Command-line torrent search tool

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• About
• Optional Sites (TPB/KAT/1337x..) Usage
• Installation/Building from source
• Usage and Options
• Features
• Samples
• Disclaimer
• Known Issues
• Contributing (Bugs/Suggestions/Feedback)
• Contact
• Licence

(More samples)

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About

Torrench is a command-line program to search and download torrents from torrent-hosting sites. It's compatible under Windows, Linux and MacOS. Torrench supports following websites:

Supported Sites

• Linuxtracker (default)
• Distrowatch
• The Pirate Bay (TPB) [D]
• KickassTorrents [D]
• RarBG [D]
• 1337x [D]
• LimeTorrents [D]
• SkyTorrents [D]
• Nyaa [D]
• Idope [D]
• LibGen (Ebooks) (search only using book's ISBN) [D]
• XBit [D]

Tested on following platforms:

• Windows: Win7 (32bit, 64bit), Win8, Win8.1, Win10.
• Linux: Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch

[Reported by users]

• macOS: Yosemite, Sierra, High Sierra (10.13). [I do not own a Mac hardware, so unable to test it myself. If you find it working on your system (it should), update me?]

IMPORTANT - Please keep a close eye on CHANGELOGS. All updates info, addition setup info (whenever required), and everyting else related will be updated there.

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* [D] Sites hosting illegal content (Disabled) (MUST READ)

By default, searching thepiratebay(TPB)/kickasstorrents(KAT)/SkyTorrents/Nyaa/XBit... from torrench is disabled. The user should configure and enable it to use. I have provided configuration steps, but before moving to configuration, please note the following:

• Using these sites is completely optional. They would never interfere/cause any problems when searching linuxtracker/distowatch.
• Using these sites in many countries is illegal. Using them can get you into un-intended troubles (e.g notices/block from ISP). Read Legal issues
• Neither I, nor the tool shall be held responsible for any action taken against you for using the above-mentioned sites from torrench.
• Illegal searches examples
• Configuration instructions if you decide to use them.

Torrench initially began as a python learning project for me. I am sure there are ways to implement code I wrote in a much better/efficient way. Do let me know. Alternatively, you can also send a pull request. See Contributing.

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Installation/Building from Source

Linux

• Requires Python3 (3.4+)
• Arch Users - Can install from AUR
• Other distro users [Ubuntu,Fedora,Suse,etc...] can use pip3 (install/upgrade)

$ sudo pip3 install --upgrade torrench

• Alternatively, build from source (python-setuptools)

$ sudo python3 setup.py install

Windows

Windows does not require any additional packages. Everything required to run this software is provided in executable (Does not even require python pre-installed).

• Download latest torrench executable

• That's it. Run using cmd/powershell [> torrench.exe <search>]

  • NOTE:
    • In windows, the default location for storing [TPB] html files is C:\Users\<user>\.torrench\temp
    • For now, linuxtacker, distrowatch and libgen does not allow adding torrent to client from torrench. A .torrent file is downloaded to hard-drive. I was unable to find a way to load .torrent to client from torrench. I'll try to figure this out when I'll get time. Till then, torrent should be loaded manually after it is downloaded. Also, if someone has a work-around for the same, let me know? FIXED in v1.0.61

Osx

Please note OSX requires to install package pyopenssl:

$ pip3 install pyopenssl

Configuration instructions:

1. Download the config.ini file.
   • Windows - Copy the config file in C:\Users\<user>\.config\torrench\ (create any missing directories)
   • Linux - Default location is $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/torrench/. If $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is not defined, it fallbacks to $HOME/.config/torrench/ (Create any missing directories).
   • MacOS - See minimal setup guide below.
2. Enable it
   • Open config.ini file
   • Set enable=1
   • Save and exit
3. That's it.

• Once setup, config file can be updated using [$ torrench -U]. Setting this up manually for the first time is mandatory though.

Config file minimal setup guide (Windows/Linux/MacOS)

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Usage

$ torrench SEARCH_STRING  ## Search linuxtracker
$ torrench -d SEARCH_STRING ## Search distrowatch
$ torrench [Options] <SEARCH_STRING>

Options

optional arguments:
    -h, --help            show this help message and exit
    -v, --version         Display version and exit.
    -C, --cross_site      Enable cross-site search
    -U, --update-config   Update config.ini file.
    --interactive         Enable interactive mode for searches
    --no-merge            (Cross-site) Do not merge results in one table
    --sorted              (Cross-site) sort results on basis of Seeds.

Main Sites:
    search                Search LinuxTracker (default)
    -d, --distrowatch     Search Distrowatch

Optional Sites:
  Requires configuration (disabled by default)

    -t, --thepiratebay    Search thepiratebay (TPB)
    -k, --kickasstorrent  Search KickassTorrent (KAT)
    -s, --skytorrents     Search SkyTorrents
    -x, --x1337           Search 1337x
    -r, --rarbg           Search RarBg
    -n, --nyaa            Search Nyaa
    -l, --limetorrents    Search LimeTorrents
    -i, --idope           Search Idope
    -b, --xbit            Search XBit.pw
    -g, --libgen          Search LibGen (Ebooks)

Additional options:
    -c, --clear-html      Clear all [TPB] torrent description HTML files and exit.
    -p LIMIT, --page-limit LIMIT
                            Number of pages to fetch results from. [default: 1]
    --copy                Copy magnetic link to clipboard
    --top                 Get TOP torrents [TPB/SkyTorrents]

Features

• Displays results in organized, tabular form.
• Load torrent to client from torrench.
• Cross-site search: Search multiple sites with a single command.
• Interactive mode for searching across modules (--interactive)
• Copy magnetic link to clipboard ($ torrench -x 'ubuntu' --copy) [Linux systems require xclip package additionally]
• Get TOP torrents [TPB/SkyTorrents] (--top)
• Much more...

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Loading torrent to client

[LINUX/MacOS]

• Requires torrench.ini config file.

  • Default directory: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/torrench
  • Fallback: $HOME/.config/torrench/

• Set the default torrent client name in config file.

  • CLIENT = <name>

• Clients tested:

  • Transmission (transmission-remote, transmission-gtk, transmission-qt)
  • Deluge (deluge, deluge-console)
  • qBittorrent

• If someone tried rtorrent, please report.

• Setting up transmission-remote

  • Requires running transmission-daemon service
  • Torrent is added to transmission client using transmission-remote utitlity.
  • (IMP) For AUTHENTICATION - $TR_AUTH environment variable is used.
    • [TR_AUTH="username:password"]
  • (IMP) For PORT/SERVER - Set the PORT and SERVER variable in torrench.ini file accordingly.
    • If $TR_AUTH or PORT/SERVER are not set, the following (default) values are used:
    • DEFAULTS
      • Username - [None]
      • password - [None]
      • SERVER - localhost (127.0.0.1)
      • PORT - 9091

[Windows]

• In windows, by default the magnetic link is opened in browser. If a torrent client is installed, the browser should automatically open the (default) client and load torrent to the client.
• Instead of opening torrent in browser, torrent is loaded directly to default torrent client. Works for both magnetic links and .torrent files.

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Cross-Site search

It is possible to search multiple sites with a single command (Cross-site search)

Sample

$ torrench -Ctisx 'ubuntu'

USAGE

• Use -C argument to search multiple sites. Example: $ torrench -Ctlxsb 'fedora'
• By default, the results are merged into a single table. To view results separately, use --no-merge argument. This would give an option to select site, followed by torrent selection.
• By default the results are merged on the basis of order of fetch. Eg: If TPB is fetched first followed by KAT, final table will have all results of TPB followed by KAT. To sort results, use --sort argument. Results are sorted on basis of seeds.
• As of now, linuxtracker, distrowatch and libgen are not supported. Rest all can be used for cross-site.

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Note

• A torrent might take long to fetch results. I have generally faced this issue when running torrench for the first time. When this happens:
  • Abort the ongoing search [Ctrl+C]
  • Search again. The second time generally works fine.
• KAT Proxy is quite shaky, and might not work at all times. I have been unable to find any reliable KAT proxy. Consider alternatives if they do not work.
• Searching LibGen - LibGen allows searching for Ebooks using book's ISBN-10 number only. Searching using book title is not supported. (LibGen API does not allow searching using title). A book's ISBN-10 number can be found with a simple google search, or on websites like Amazon.

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Samples

$ torrench "ubuntu desktop 16.04"	## Search Linuxtracker for Ubuntu Desktop 16.04 distro ISO
$ torrench "fedora workstation"	## Search for Fedora Workstation distro ISO
$ torrench -d "opensuse" ## Search distrowatch for opensuse ISO
$ torrench -d "solus" ## Search distrowatch for solus ISO
$ torrench -x "fedora" ## Search XBit for fedora distros ISO
$ torrench -l 'arch linux'  ## Search limetorrents for Arch linux disro ISO

Linuxtracker

$ torrench "fedora workstation"

DistroWatch

$ torrench -d "ubuntu"

1337x

$ torrench -x "ubuntu"

Idope

$ torrench -i "opensuse"

LimeTorrents

$ torrench -l "arch linux"

XBit

$ torrench -x "fedora"

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Searches considered illegal

TPB Examples

$ torrench -t "game of thrones s07e02" -p 2	## Search and fetch 2 pages TPB for GOT s07e02
$ torrench -t "windows 7"

(Dynamically-generated Torrent description HTML page)

(Click to expand)

LibGen (Ebooks) (Search using ISBN-10)

$ torrench -g 1593272901

KAT

$ torrench -k "doctor strange"
$ torrench -k "guardians of the galaxy"

RarBg

$ torrench -r "mr robot"

SkyTorrents

$ torrench -s "hannibal"
$ torrench -s "narcos"

Nyaa

$ torrench -n "naruto"

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Disclaimer

This tool fetches torrent and details from already existing torrent website(s). I do not take any responsibility for availability of any kind of torrent data, or/and hosting of any torrent website(s). Also, I am not responsible for closing of any of the torrent website(s). As long as the website(s) (proxies) are available, data will be fetched.

Known issues

• Distorted results: Some websites displaying non-english characters can distort the resulting table. To properly align tables which contain wide characters (typically fullwidth glyphs from Chinese, Japanese or Korean languages), the user should install wcwidth library.

$ sudo pip3 install wcwidth

Contributing (Bug reports/suggestions/feedbacks)

Please see CONTRIBUTING

Contact

• E-mail : [email protected]
• Twitter (DM)
• Telegram

Thank you

• Contributors for giving your time to this project and improving it.
• Users for your valuable feedback and suggestions.

Licence

Copyright (C) 2017 Rijul Gulati <[email protected]>

Torrench is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

Torrench is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with Torrench.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.