Using a torrent to download from the command line

i was trying to download the dvd iso images of the debian distro. i downloaded the torrent files to the directory /data/iso/debian using the firefox browser. then i used btlaunchmany to actually download the iso images. i used the following command

btlaunchmany /data/iso/debian --max_upload_rate 5

/data/iso/debian is the directory that contains the torrent files
--max_upload_rate limits the rate at which packets can be uploaded from your machine


i didn't realize it when i started this process, but the bittorrent-downloader man page describes a --url option that downloads the torrent info file.

Burn content to a DVD

use aptitude or apt-get to verify that you have dvd+rw-tools installed.

use the following command

growisofs -dvd-compat -input-charset=ISO-8859-1 -Z /dev/hda -R -J -pad "/my/directory/datas"


/dev/hda is the dvd burner device
/my/directory/datas is the path to the content to be burned

How to format a DVD-RW

use aptitude or apt-get to verify that you have dvd+rw-tools installed.

use the following command

dvd+rw-format -force /dev/hda

/dev/hda is the dvd burner device

Burn iso to a DVD from the Command Line

use aptitude or apt-get to verify that you have dvd+rw-tools installed.

use the following command

growisofs -dvd-compat -Z /dev/hda=/path/to/image.iso

/dev/hda is the dvd burner device
/path/to/image.iso is the iso file to burn