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HOWTO: Installing Deluge 1.0.7 in Ubuntu 8.10 with Web UI
27/01/2010Deluge is a Bit-Torrent client natively developed in Python and GTK, primarily for POSIX operating systems. For the past five years, I have been relying on Azureus (now called Vuze) for all my torrenting needs, although it is quite a resource hog thanks to its Java footprint.
I am now a deluge convert! For the rest of this article, it will focus on setting up Deluge on a brand new install of Ubuntu Intrepid Ibix v8.10. Time to break out the console and a glass ‘o bubbly…
Installing Deluge
Since this install of Ubuntu is new, first go to Administration > Synaptic Package Manager. When it appears, go to Settings > Repositories > Third Party Software. Enable all the repositories that you can see. Also, click on ‘Add’…, and enter the following line:
1 | deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/deluge-team/ubuntu intrepid main |
On pressing ‘OK’ you will be prompted to press ‘Refresh’ to update the package listings, and your password will be required as well. Now, launch the terminal and type the following:
1 | sudo -s |
You will be prompted for your password. You will now have ‘root’ access. Proceed with,
1 | apt-get update |
1 | apt-get dist-upgrade |
This is going to take a while, so get comfy. With my slow connection, this took a good 7-8 hours. Once it is done, onto the fun stuff! Perform,
1 | apt-get install deluge-torrent |
This will now grab the latest package of deluge (at the time of this writing, version 1.0.7) and install it onto your system. The install is complete.
Configuring and Using Deluge
Deluge, as of version 1.0.0, works in a different manner to that of other Bit-Torrent clients, such as uTorrent, Transmission, or even Azureus. Akin to how one manages a ’screen’ session, Deluge is split into two portions: (i) the GTK UI (henceforth, “GUI”) functionality and (ii) a daemon.
This is where the power of Deluge becomes apparent, especially for those looking to setup a headless torrent server, especially since the Deluge Web UI is excellent. To test your install, first launch Terminal and run the following:
1 | deluged -d |
Now, if you look under Applications and run Deluge, it will connect to the daemon, and this will be made apparent in the Terminal session. Press CTRL+C to quit the daemon. Make sure you also quit the GUI, especially via the ‘droplet’ in the top right end of the task bar.
What about the Web UI you ask? Do,
1 | deluge -u web |
Load FireFox and point it at http://localhost:8112/, and enter the password ‘deluge’ to login into the Web UI. Have a play for kicks…
To really comprehend the power of Deluge, we need to stop Deluge from running in ‘classic’ mode, i.e. where the daemon and GTK UI are linked together. To disable classic mode:
- “Preferences”
- “Interface”
- Untick “Enable” under “Classic Mode”.
- Restart deluge.
On launching Deluge, you will now see the following pop-up as well,
As you can see, this allows the GUI to be attached to a running daemon, be it one running on this very server or, another.
Configuring the Daemon to Launch During Bootup
Now that we have been able to isolate the GUI from the daemon, we need for the daemon to load up during boot launching the Web UI in particular. For this purpose two files are available, with credit to arbrandes. The first file needs to be created as /etc/default/deluge-daemon,
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | # Configuration for /etc/init.d/deluge-daemon # # The init.d script will only run if this variable non-empty. DELUGED_USER="root" # # Should we run at startup? RUN_AT_STARTUP="YES" |
For security reasons, it is best to change the ‘root’ user to your account. Now to create the second file as /etc/init.d/deluge-daemon. These files may be downloaded as follows:
We now chmod the script,
1 | chmod +x /etc/init.d/deluge-daemon |
…and update the init,
1 | update-rc.d -f deluge-daemon defaults |
You can now test the daemon with the following command,
1 | sudo /etc/init.d/deluge-daemon start |
The script does not present any authentication, however, the Web UI should appear on port 8112.
Connecting the GUI to the Daemon
You should have one entry listed as ‘127.0.0.1:58846′ selected, with a big red dot to the left. Click on ‘Enable Daemon’ (this actually interacts with the running daemon), and enable all three options in the drop down list. When you next launch Deluge, it will create another entry called ‘localhost:58846′, as shown below,
Whenever launching Deluge now, will cause it to automatically bind itself to the running daemon. When quitting, make sure you click on the ‘droplet’ in the task bar above and simply choose ‘Quit’. Do not select ‘Quit & Shutdown Daemon’.
Disabling Daemon Service
Simply perform,
1 | # sudo update-rc.d -f deluge-daemon remove |
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Bob “Parag0n” Clough for his extreme patience in assisting with my tedious Deluge install.