rTorrent For Mac

rTorrent is a command line BitTorrent client designed to provide support for downloading torrents via the Terminal capable of processing multiple torrents at the same time and of saving sessions.

To use rTorrent you must first compile the application. Open the Terminal window and navigate to the folder that contains the rTorrent source code and type “./configure” in the prompt line. Next you must type “make” and “make install”.

Note that the Xcode command line tools must be installed on your Mac beforehand if you want to use these commands. If you encounter problems, you can also use Homebrew to expedite the installation process.

When the installation process in complete, type “rtorrent” in the Terminal window to launch the application. The online rTorrent User Guide provides details about the supported commands and the available tools.

rTorrent allows you to add a torrent by specifying the URL or the file path, change the download location, can stop or pause active downloads and is also able to initiate the torrent hash check.

rTorrent comes with multiple view modes: Downloads list, Peers list, Files list, Tracker list and main view. You can easily browse between them by using the arrow keys.

Installing rTorrent can prove to be a challenge for inexperienced users that are not familiar with compiling source code apps or with the Xcode command line tools.

However, rTorrent is great if you like working with the Terminal and you are looking for a way to download torrents without using a GUI.