BUILDTORRENT(1)

📦
version 0.9.1 · 3 versions
, in debian trixie, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

✨ NAME ✨

okay so bestie, welcome to the buildtorrent(1) manual page — user commands edition, the whole vibe 💅 and what is it? it's buildtorrent — a torrent file creation program. that's it, that's the girl 🎀

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

like, the actual way you invoke her:

buildtorrent [OPTIONS] input output
buildtorrent [OPTIONS] -f filelist -n name output

two whole moods. pick your fighter 💖

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so buildtorrent is a torrent file creation program. give her the right options plus an input file or an input directory, and she generates an output .torrent file that your torrent clients can actually use. it's giving factory, it's giving girlboss, it's giving "i make torrents and i make them correctly" ✨

💖 OPTIONS 💖

every single one, no gatekeeping, no skips:

  • -a announce, --announce=url — the announce URL. lowkey optional!! you can leave it out entirely for trackerless torrents (BEP-5). queen of independence 💜
  • -f filelist, --filelist=filelist — a text file (or - for standard input, yes she eats from stdin like a snack 🍓) that holds a list of files to add to the output torrent file, together with the path to use inside the torrent. one file per line, use / as the path separator for the torrent path, and use | to separate the filesystem path from the torrent path. backslash \ can be used to escape newlines and | characters inside names. for example:
/data/files/linux.iso|bin/linux.iso
/data/files/linux.txt|doc/linux.txt
bestie if you use this option you have to use the --name option too. not optional. no cap. 🫶
  • -n name, --name=name — specify the name for the torrent. using this is required when the --filelist option is used, and in that case it specifies the name of the torrent directory. used without a file list, it overrides the name of the directory or file given on the command line. main character behavior honestly 👑
  • -A announces, --announcelist=announces — additional announce URL list (BEP-12). use , to separate the outer level lists, and | to separate the inner level items. for example:
a,b1|b2,c
  • -N nodes, --nodes=nodes — DHT nodes list (for trackerless torrents) (BEP-5). use , to separate items, and | to separate host from port. for example:
>RS 127.0.0.1|6881,example.com|1337

(yes, copy it character for character, that's literally what it says 😭)

  • -w webseeds, --webseeds=webseeds — additional WebSeed URL list (BEP-19). use , to separate items. for example:
a,b,c
  • -l length, --piecelength=length — piece length in bytes. the default is 262144 ✨
  • -L length, --piecesize=size — use 2^size as the piece length. default is 18. heads up, this one overrides -l 💀
  • -c comment, --comment=comment — user comment. omitted by default, so say something nice if you want 🎀
  • -p private, --private=private — private flag, and it's either 0 or 1, no in-between (BEP-27). binary, like her opinions 💅
  • -d timestamp, --date=timestamp — override the creation date field with a UNIX timestamp (that's the number of seconds since the 1970 epoch, iykyk).
  • -D, --nodate — omit the creation date field entirely. she's mysterious now 🙈
  • -b creator, --createdby=creator — override the created by field.
  • -B, --nocreatedby — omit the created by field entirely. anonymous icon behavior 🌈
  • -m, --md5sum — add an md5sum field for each file. thorough queen ⭐
  • -s sortorder, --sort=sortorder — filename sorting method (only when in filesystem directory mode, bestie). pick any one of Unsorted, Alpha, Version (when available).
  • -M,--magnet — show a magnet link for the generated torrent file 🧲 (yes the man page really writes it with no space there, we respect the original)
  • -q, --quiet — quiet operation with reduced output. shhh 🤫
  • -v, --verbose — verbose operation with increased output. and you can use it multiple times for more verbosity, so go off, stack them 💖
  • -V, --version — show the version string.
  • -h, --help — show a help screen with brief usage information. everyone's favorite 🫶

👑 NOTES 👑

some lore, some housekeeping:

  • the previous -s and -S options have been removed — use -v and -vv instead.
  • the previous -C option has been removed — use -B instead.
like they're gone gone. don't come for them 💀

💜 AUTHORS 💜

Claude Heiland-Allen (claude@mathr.co.uk) — the actual author, the legend, the one who built the whole thing 🎀

🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

go read these too, bestie:

and that's the whole page, babe 🦋 this was version 0.9.1 from August 2024, and honestly? iconic. slay, go build a torrent 💖✨💅

📦 where this page comes from