New versions of open Torrent clients

      This week, two open-source projects launched updated versions of popular torrent clients at once. Perhaps due to the difficulties of obtaining licensed software from companies that have left Russia, it will be extremely useful for many Russians to use new versions of free and open source software that has been proven over a decade.

      Deluge 2.2

      After almost three years of development, Deluge 2.2 is a cross-platform BitTorrent client written in Python. It runs on the libtorrent library and uses the Twisted framework. Deluge has several interface options: you can use the usual graphical window (via GTK), control it via a web browser or work in the console - everyone can choose a convenient way. The program is distributed under the free GPL license, so it can be freely used and modified.

       Deluge is a bit unusual: it works on the principle of client-server. This means that the interface that the user interacts with and the main process that handles downloading and distribution work separately. Moreover, this "engine" can even be run on another computer, and managing everything remotely is convenient if, for example, you want to install a torrent server somewhere at home or on a VPS.

      Image: Deluge

       Deluge has many functions. It supports almost all modern features that can be useful when working with torrents. Among them are DHT (for finding peers without trackers), UPnP and NAT—PMP technologies (for automatically configuring routers), exchange of peers, detection of other users on the local network and traffic encryption. It also knows how to work through a proxy, supports WebTorrent, allows you to limit the download or distribution speed separately for each torrent, and can download files in a strictly defined order.

       Now about the innovations. In version 2.2, we added support for a new torrent format — BitTorrent v2. It differs in that hash amounts can now be calculated not for the entire distribution, but for each file separately. Instead of the outdated SHA-1 algorithm, the more reliable SHA2-256 is now used. Merkle hash trees have begun to be used in torrent files, which makes the distribution structure more stable and convenient for integrity verification. We have also improved the way we encode directories and optimized the work with a large number of small files.

       Torrent is a file sharing protocol where users download data directly from each other. It automatically selects the fastest available source and switches if it becomes unavailable.

       In the graphical user interface (GTK), you can now switch between a light and a dark theme. In addition, the Deluge icon has appeared in the system tray, which is convenient when the client is minimized. The web interface also has the ability to choose a theme, which makes working in the browser more enjoyable.

       Finally, it is worth noting that the program no longer supports Python 3.6. Now the minimum version of Python it works with is 3.7. This is due to the fact that outdated versions of Python no longer receive updates and support.

      qBittorrent

       A new version of the qBittorrent torrent client has been released, a program that is similar to Mktorrent in appearance and features, but it is completely free and open source. It runs on Windows, Linux and macOS. The program is written in C++ using the Qt library.

       qBittorrent can do a lot: you can search for torrents directly in the program, subscribe to RSS, manage downloads through the browser, set the file download order, configure trackers and peers in detail, limit speed, use IP filters, create your own torrents and automatically configure the network using UPnP or NAT-PMP.

      Image: qBittorrent

       This version has added several useful improvements. Now you can drag and drop files in the window with the contents of the torrent, your external IP is displayed right at the bottom of the program window, and a setting has appeared that allows you to adjust the frequency of saving statistics. The developers have also improved random number generation (for greater security) on Linux and Windows.

       The new version adds a setting for precise control of the length of magnet links, the ability to get a list of trackers by URL, and select the port from which requests (announcements) are sent. You can now make multiple queries at once in the search, the history and tabs with the results are saved, and there is a button to repeat an already entered query. The web interface has also been greatly improved — more than 50 changes. Finally, the program now works better with the Thunar file manager.