Transmission (lightweight bittorrent client)

Submit portable freeware that you find here. It helps if you include information like description, extraction instruction, Unicode support, whether it writes to the registry, and so on.
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Midas
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Transmission (lightweight bittorrent client)

#1 Post by Midas »

Was eager to test this Windows build, since I use the headless linux version in my home NAS; got surprised by preliminary configuration results -- there have been some recent reports of crashes with the previous versions, which I didn't get yet with the latest v2.51 (rev. 13280). So here are my findings.
http://sourceforge.net/apps/wordpress/trqtw/ wrote:Transmission is a well known bittorrent client, widely used on Linux and Mac OS X, and with a well deserved good reputation as being a simple and light-weight set of programs. [...] Except for the Mac OS X application, there are no binary distributions from the project. Each Linux distribution makes binaries available using their usual distribution methods. For Windows there are no distributions so far, except perhaps the one I’ve been making available through links on the Transmission forum. [...] This little project is a continuation of the forum thread, a place to distribute new builds, and in the future a point of departure to explore new builds… a 64-bit build perhaps, another one with new (experimental) features and fixes (before we propose them as enhancements on Transmission’s Trac Wiki, which is what I have done with the Windows port patches).
Image

Download from http://sourceforge.net/projects/trqtw/.

I didn't manage to (Uni)extract the installer with my current Universal Extractor (should someone else meet with success, please report...), so I ran it taking care to note the installation folder and unselecting the "run application" option at the end.

After copying that folder elsewhere and deleting 'uninstall.exe' from it, I ran the uninstaller from the source folder.

After that, Primo reported leftovers at:

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HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Trolltech\OrganizationDefaults ; empty key
C:\Program Files\InstallJammer Registry ; two sub-folder, one with an executable inside
%APPDATA%\transmission ; settings generated from a run of the installed version
Having read the 'transmission-qt.1.pdf' I found inside the program folder, I executed 'transmission-qt.exe -g .' and much to my surprise everything was now kept inside the 'Transmission-Qt' folder (see below), so I'm convinced that it is completely portable (although not stealth on account of the usual Trolltech key generation).

I also found that, in accordance to the mainstream Transmission wiki (located @ http://trac.transmissionbt.com/wiki/), the contents of its configuration folder is:
- 2 files -- 'settings.json', 'stats.json'; and
- 3 sub-folders -- 'torrents', 'resume', and 'blocklists'.

'settings.json' is a plain text file (a documented format) holding most of the application's configuration options, including paths.

Also, when run with that '-g' parameter, Transmission-Qt placed its 'Downloads' folder inside the user's 'My Documents' location by default...

EDIT: Softpedia's entry is currently outdated and Gizmo reports it as non-portable... :|
Last edited by Midas on Tue Apr 17, 2012 2:25 am, edited 4 times in total.

donald
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Re: Transmission-Qt

#2 Post by donald »

Midas wrote:Also, when run with that '-g' parameter, Transmission-Qt placed its downloads folder inside the user's My Documents location by default...
Have you tried changing from the default setting to root drive?? (IE: running from a hard drive)

Edit***********
@Midas I just wanted to know if the default was locked in, or if a Root relative path could work.
Reason to avoid writes to C.
Last edited by donald on Mon Apr 16, 2012 10:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Midas
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Re: Transmission-Qt

#3 Post by Midas »

donald wrote:Have you tried changing from the default setting to root drive?? (IE: running from a hard drive)
Not sure I follow; I always test from HDD, since only a very small subset of my portables end up on my thumb drive...

Seems to me the downloads path could easily be changed to anywhere by directly editing the mentioned settings.json file. It can also be changed from the application 'Edit > Preferences > Download' dialog. Nonetheless, my preference always goes to dynamically setting all purpose relative paths like %USERPROFILE%\Desktop or the My Documents CLSID (::{450d8fba-ad25-11d0-98a8-0800361b1103}, according to http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/misc/CLSID-List.htm).

Also, I forgot to mention that dbus-daemon.exe gets loaded when you run Tranmission-qt and isn't automatically killed when you exit. A lot of factors here but as they're all minute I'm confident a fully portable launcher isn't hard to achieve... 8)

EDIT: I have now confirmed that if settings.json is edited, the Downloads folder can be moved, as can the default starting folder for the folder browsing dialog. Beware! This is a unix fomatted text file (watch those line endings!), hence those quirky slashes -- if you want to use the common Windows convention, you'll have to escape backslashes by repeating them [\\]... My edits were:

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    "download-dir": "./Downloads", 
    "incomplete-dir": "./Downloads", 
    "open-dialog-dir": ".", 
    "watch-dir": "./Downloads",

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webfork
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Re: Transmission-Qt

#4 Post by webfork »

Definitely happy to see Transmission coming to Windows and would be very happy if it were portable. Definitely my client of choice.

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Midas
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Re: Transmission-Qt

#5 Post by Midas »

:idea: Recap: my current recipe for a portable Transmission-Qt.

1. Download latest installer (see above);
2. Run installer, deselect Run Transmission-Qt and install, taking care to note the install folder path;
3. Copy install folder elsewhere, deleting unistall.exe from this copy;
4. Run uninstall.exe inside the install folder (see 2.);
5. Get HoeKey (http://www.bcheck.net/apps/hoe.htm) executable and copy to folder mentioned in 3.;
6. Rename HoeKey.exe to Run-portable.exe for straightforwardness;
7. Create a text file with the content below and rename it to HoeKey.ini;

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Load=Run|transmission-qt.exe -g .||%c
Load=Kill|Hoekey
8. Execute Run-portable.exe, then close it;
9. Edit settings.json and change the values below (you must respect unix convention for line endings and escape any backslashes by repeating them);

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    "download-dir": "./Downloads",
    "incomplete-dir": "./Downloads",
    "open-dialog-dir": ".",
    "watch-dir": "./Downloads",
X. Create a folder named Downloads inside the one mentioned in 3.

Done. You can now copy Transmission-Qt folder wherever you want. 8)

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Midas
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Re: Transmission-Qt

#6 Post by Midas »

Transmission-Qt updated to v2.72 (rev. 13582).

Latest changelog (see http://sourceforge.net/projects/trqtw/f ... n-Qt/2.7x/ for more):

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* Upstream release.
  - See https://trac.transmissionbt.com/wiki/Changes#version-2.72
* Local changes:
  - None.
For known issues, check http://trqtw.sourceforge.net/blog/trans ... -problems/.

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Re: Transmission-Qt

#7 Post by webfork »

Midas wrote:Get HoeKey (http://www.bcheck.net/apps/hoe.htm) executable and copy to folder mentioned in 3.;
Came back to this after the uTorrent issue and before messing with qBittorrent. Why HoeKey? How does that work to make it portable?

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Midas
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Re: Transmission-Qt

#8 Post by Midas »

webfork wrote:
Midas wrote:Get HoeKey (http://www.bcheck.net/apps/hoe.htm) executable and copy to folder mentioned in 3.;
Came back to this after the uTorrent issue and before messing with qBittorrent. Why HoeKey? How does that work to make it portable?
Just a quick and dirty way to make a portable laucher: it's tiny and accepts commands from INI file...

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Midas
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Re: Transmission-Qt

#9 Post by Midas »

Old topic update: Transmission-Qt is currently at v2.82.2 (v2.8x.x changelog is at http://sourceforge.net/projects/trqtw/f ... n-Qt/2.8x/).

Intensive users of Transmission-Qt should heed the write-up at http://trqtw.sourceforge.net/blog/trans ... -problems/.

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webfork
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Re: Transmission-Qt

#10 Post by webfork »


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Re: Transmission-Qt - bittorrent client

#11 Post by webfork »

qBitTorrent has a lot more goodies but Transmission is straightforward without sacrificing features I really need. As such, I finally got it added to the database:

Transmission-Qt Portable
http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=2725

Please vote.

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giulia
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Re: Transmission-Qt - bittorrent client

#12 Post by giulia »

webfork wrote:qBitTorrent has a lot more goodies but Transmission is straightforward without sacrificing features I really need. As such, I finally got it added to the database:

Transmission-Qt Portable
http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=2725

Please vote.
hi
is it stealth ?
is fast like utorrent?
thanks

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webfork
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Re: Transmission-Qt - bittorrent client

#13 Post by webfork »

giulia wrote:is it stealth ? is fast like utorrent?
Good questions but unknown: I didn't test the stealth status and I haven't used uTorrent in a while so I don't have a frame of reference.

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Midas
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Re: Transmission-Qt portable

#14 Post by Midas »

FYI, a batch file with the following content (mind the dot at the end!) placed in Transmission-Qt executable folder will work the same a the HoeKey scheme detailed in 6. and 7. above:

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@start "" "%~dp0transmission-qt.exe" -g .
webfork wrote:Saw that 2.84 is out ...
http://www.softpedia.com/get/PORTABLE-S ... n-Qt.shtml
Transmission-Qt v2.84.4 re-released (changelog at http://trqtw.sourceforge.net/blog/newsfeed/ and http://sourceforge.net/projects/trqtw/f ... E-2.80.txt).

'README-2.80.txt' includes the following statement: "ANNOUNCEMENT: The Transmission project will ship Windows binaries (different from these releases).", which seems to imply that there will be official Transmission Windows binaries; currently, there are none to be found at http://www.transmissionbt.com/download.

Please note also that there's is now a 64-bit version of Transmission-Qt -- if you try to install the 32-bit on a 64-bit system, the installer will show you a warning about this; the PortableApps.com package below is currently 32-bit only.

The PAF package home/download is at http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/t ... n-portable.
Last edited by Midas on Wed Jul 29, 2015 4:47 am, edited 4 times in total.

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Re: Transmission-Qt - bittorrent client

#15 Post by smaragdus »

Once I used the regular installer (not the portable one) and there was one thing I didn't like at all- Transmission-Qt stole torrent and magnet associations without asking/warning.

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