Torrenting is a service that facilitates sharing of bits of data in a peer-to-peer network of computers. The file shared through the network is called a torrent.
The torrent file is just the name of the file you want to download and not the full package but just lets your computer know what you are looking for. To read the file you need a torrent client that manages the download and assembles the file. The file gets broken down into pieces and the client downloads the pieces separately and assembles them on your computer. when the client receives a sufficient bit of data, it starts uploading the file for the benefit of other users.
There are several torrent clients like BitTorrent, Utorrent, qBittorrent, Vuze, Deluge, Transmission, and BitComet.
qBittorrent Torrent Client
It is a free, cross-platform, and open-source torrent client that has no adware and malware. It aims to be lightweight and use less memory on your computer.
Features
- Integrated search engine.
- Supports many Bittorrent file extensions.
- Remote control through a web user interface.
- Performs IP filtering.
- Sequential Downloading
- Advanced Control features like prioritizing torrents.
- IPv6 compliant.
This guide will show how to install qBittorrent on Ubuntu, KDE Neon, and Kubuntu in three different ways.
1. Install via PPA
2. Install via Flathub
3. Build from source
Install qBittorrent on Ubuntu / KDE Neon / Kubuntu
Update your system packages.
### Kubuntu/Ubuntu ###
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
### KDE Neon ###
sudo apt update && sudo pkcon update -yOption 1: Install qBittorrent on Ubuntu / KDE Neon / Kubuntu via PPA
Add the PPA repository
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:qbittorrent-team/qbittorrent-stable
Packages for the stable series of qBittorrent
More info: https://launchpad.net/~qbittorrent-team/+archive/ubuntu/qbittorrent-stable
Press [ENTER] to continue or Ctrl-c to cancel adding it.
Get:1 http://ppa.launchpad.net/qbittorrent-team/qbittorrent-stable/ubuntu focal InRelease [18.1 kB]
Hit:2 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security InRelease
Get:3 http://ppa.launchpad.net/qbittorrent-team/qbittorrent-stable/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages [2,300 B]
Get:4 http://ppa.launchpad.net/qbittorrent-team/qbittorrent-stable/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages [496 B]
Get:5 http://ppa.launchpad.net/qbittorrent-team/qbittorrent-stable/ubuntu focal/main Translation-en [1,324 B]
Hit:6 http://ke.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal InRelease
Hit:7 http://ke.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates InRelease
Hit:8 http://ke.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports InRelease
Fetched 22.2 kB in 1s (23.9 kB/s)
Reading package lists... DoneThen update your system then install qBittorrent.
sudo apt update
sudo apt install qbittorrentThen launch it from the terminal or the application manager.
$ qBittorrentOption 2: Install qBittorrent on Ubuntu / KDE Neon / Kubuntu from Flathub
Install flatpak package on Ubuntu / KDE Neon / Kubuntu
sudo apt install flatpakAdd flathub repository
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepoUpdate your system
sudo apt updateSearch for qBittorrent in Flathub
$ flatpak search qbittorrent
Name Description Application ID Version Branch Remotes
qBittorrent An open-source Bittorrent client org.qbittorrent.qBittorrent 4.4.2 stable flathubThen install qBittorrent.
$ flatpak install flathub org.qbittorrent.qBittorrent
Looking for matches…
Required runtime for org.qbittorrent.qBittorrent/x86_64/stable (runtime/org.kde.Platform/x86_64/5.15-21.08) found in remote flathub
Do you want to install it? [Y/n]: y
org.qbittorrent.qBittorrent permissions:
ipc network wayland x11 dri
file access [1] dbus access [2] bus ownership [3]
[1] host, xdg-config/kdeglobals:ro
[2] com.canonical.AppMenu.Registrar, org.freedesktop.Notifications, org.freedesktop.PowerManagement,
org.gnome.SessionManager, org.kde.StatusNotifierWatcher, org.kde.kconfig.notify
[3] org.kde.StatusNotifierItem-2-2
ID Branch Op Remote Download
1. org.freedesktop.Platform.GL.default 21.08 i flathub < 131.3 MB
2. org.freedesktop.Platform.openh264 2.0 i flathub < 1.5 MB
3. org.gtk.Gtk3theme.Breeze 3.22 i flathub < 165.4 kB
4. org.kde.Platform.Locale 5.15-21.08 i flathub < 345.3 MB (partial)
5. org.kde.Platform 5.15-21.08 i flathub < 305.5 MB
6. org.qbittorrent.qBittorrent stable i flathub < 9.4 MB
Proceed with these changes to the system installation? [Y/n]: YLaunch the program
flatpak run org.qbittorrent.qBittorrentOption 3: Build qBittorrent on Ubuntu / KDE Neon / Kubuntu from source
Install the missing dependencies using the following command.
sudo apt install build-essential pkg-config automake libtool git zlib1g-dev libssl-dev libgeoip-dev libgl1-mesa-dev
sudo apt install libboost-dev libboost-system-dev libboost-chrono-dev libboost-random-dev
sudo apt install python3 pkg-configThen install qBittorrent libraries.
sudo apt install -y qtbase5-dev qttools5-dev libqt5svg5-dev libtorrent-rasterbar-dev qt5-qmakeObtain the qBittorrent source code by downloading or cloning it from GitHub
$ sudo git clone https://github.com/qbittorrent/qBittorrent
Cloning into 'qBittorrent'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 127517, done.
remote: Total 127517 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 127517
Receiving objects: 100% (127517/127517), 213.27 MiB | 20.04 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (104496/104496), done.Then run the following to configure the build.
cd qbittorrent
./configure CXXFLAGS="-std=c++14"Then run the following command.
make -j$(nproc)Then install qBittorrent.
sudo make installLaunch qBittorrent on Ubuntu / KDE Neon / Kubuntu
Once you launch qBittorrent It will open with a legal notice window. Click I agree to continue
Then qBittorrent opens as below.
Download Torrent Files using qBittorrent
To download torrent files, Go to a torrent site like The Pirate bay and search for the torrent file with the name.
The results appears as follows. Click on the one you prefer.
The file will now open a page with the magnetic link that allwos you to download it. Click on any of the links to download.
It will ask you to choose an application to open the file with, Choose qBittorrent. The torrent details appera as shown and even the file pasth is shown as below. Click OK to continue.
The download starts immeaditely as shown below. Wait for it to finish depending on your internet speed and let it finish.
Access qBittorrent Web UI on Ubuntu / KDE Neon / Kubuntu
To access the web interface, go to Tools > Preferences > Web UI. Then click on the checkbox to activate the WebUI. You can then add a Password to log in. Click on Apply then OK button.
Go to the browser and access the address localhost:8080. Your login page appears as shown below. Type in your credentials and click on login.
Then the webpage opens as shown below.
Conclusion
From this guide, we have seen how to install qBittorrent on Ubuntu / KDE Neon / Kubuntu systems. qBittorrent can also be accessed from the web interface. We have also learned how to use the qBittorrent client to download torrent files from known torrent sites.
