Support .meta->.torrent conversion

[lolnameless]

rtorrent downloads the metadata from magnet-uri to "infohash.meta", this downloaded "infohash.meta" file is exactly the "info" section of a complete .torrent file, so the content is not enclosed with the keyword "info" and the preceding "announce" section is missing. Load .meta file with "load_normal" command, it fails with message:
Could not create download: Object operator [info] could not find element

It means user must edit the .meta file to save or load a torrent, which is kind of technical and unnecessary.

[rakshasa]

The meta-data file is loaded using some special magic, so won't be touching this until I get around to refactoring that part.

[Lekensteyn]

Not familiar with the torrent format, but is it somehow possible (through scripting) to convert a meta file to a torrent one?

[remram44]

I have the same question. Can I get an actual .torrent file from a magnet link using rtorrent?

[raymondtrueman]

I would love this too. Bump

[fwoelffel]

+1 That would be awesome

[hackergrrl]

Given just the filename INFOHASH.meta, you can construct a magnet link that rtorrent understands.

Magnet links begin with magnet:?xt=urn:btih:, so this gives you magnet:?xt=urn:btih:INFOHASH. This still won't work though: rtorrent wants at least one tracker. Pick one that you think might have peers for the torrent you want, like udp://public.popcorn-tracker.org:6969. This needs to be URL encoded, giving udp%3A%2F%2Fpublic.popcorn-tracker.org%3A6969. Trackers have the magnet link key tr. This gives you

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:INFOHASH&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fpublic.popcorn-tracker.org%3A6969

which rtorrent will happily accept.

[piotr54]

I've got a perl-script doing what noffle suggested for me. just input the INFOHASH.meta and a list of trackers as commandline-arguments, trackers separated by = or & or space/newline so that you could insert just about any other magnet link on this commandline or paste a random listing of them with whatever stats. output is a single line with (unquoted) magnet link suitable even for older rtorrent clients. you probably need to alter the hard-coded default name and hardcode some default trackers. the script, if at all altered and published, should be GPL-licensed...

meta2magnet.txt

[chros73]

Or what @getmeacuboftea suggested.

[chros73]

There's also a trick:

• the full torrent file is available in the session directory when downloading a magnet-link is finished
• you can copy the proper torrent file from there to anywhere you want, e.g. into your watch dir
• delete the old (wrong) one
• update the d.tied_to_file property of the download to the new path of the copied torrent file

I'll post the solution later.

[chros73]

I'll post the solution later.

Let's suppose that:

• directory.default is defined in cfg.dir.incomplete method
• watch directory is defined in cfg.dir.meta_downl method
• session directory is defined in cfg.dir.session method

# helper method: checks existence of a directory, file, symlink
method.insert = check_object.value, simple|private, "execute.capture=bash,-c,\"$cat=\\\"test -\\\",$argument.2=,\\\" \\\\\\\"\\\",$argument.0=,$argument.1=,\\\"\\\\\\\" && echo -n 1 || echo -n\\\"\""

# Defining directory constants
method.insert = cfg.dir.main,       string|const|private, (cat,"/mnt/Torrents/")
method.insert = cfg.dir.sub,        string|const|private, (cat,(cfg.dir.main),".rtorrent/")
method.insert = cfg.dir.incomplete, string|const|private, (cat,(cfg.dir.sub),"incomplete/")
method.insert = cfg.dir.meta_downl, string|const|private, (cat,(cfg.dir.sub),".downloading/")
method.insert = cfg.dir.session,    string|const|private, (cat,(cfg.dir.sub),".session/")

directory.default.set = (cat,(cfg.dir.incomplete))
session.path.set = (cat,(cfg.dir.session))

### begin: Handle magnet links specail way ###
# Start any magnet torrent from the "load" watch directory (that only loads downloads into rtorrent)
method.set_key = event.download.inserted_new, auto_start_meta_in_load_dir, "branch=\"and={d.is_meta=,not=$d.state=}\",d.start="

# helper method: compose the full path of the wrong meta file in "incomplete" dir
method.insert = d.get_wrong_magnet_meta_file_path,   simple|private, "cat=$cfg.dir.incomplete=,$d.hash=,.meta"
# helper method: compose the full path of the right torrent file in ".session" dir
method.insert = d.get_session_magnet_meta_file_path, simple|private, "cat=$cfg.dir.session=,$d.hash=,.torrent"
# helper method: compose the new full path of the right torrent file in watch dir
method.insert = d.get_new_magnet_meta_file_path,     simple|private, "cat=$cfg.dir.meta_downl=,$d.name=,-,$d.hash=,.torrent"
# helper method: delete wrong meta file from "incomplete dir"
method.insert = d.delete_wrong_magnet_meta_file,     simple|private, "execute.nothrow={rm,-rf,--,$d.get_wrong_magnet_meta_file_path=}"
# helper method: copy the right torrent file from ".session" dir into watch dir
method.insert = d.copy_session_magnet_meta_file,     simple|private, "execute.nothrow={cp,--,$d.get_session_magnet_meta_file_path=,$d.get_new_magnet_meta_file_path=}"
# helper method: copies right one into its proper place, sets d.tied_to_file property to it, deletes the wrong one, saves session
method.insert = d.fix_magnet_tied_file, simple|private, "d.copy_session_magnet_meta_file=; d.tied_to_file.set=$d.get_new_magnet_meta_file_path=; d.delete_wrong_magnet_meta_file=; d.save_full_session="

# Fix tied torrent file of an initially magnet link when its download has been just started: delete the wrong one from "incomplete" dir and copy the right one from ".session" dir if they exist
method.set_key = event.download.inserted_new, fix_magnet_tied_file, "branch=\"and={\\\"check_object.value=$cat=$d.get_session_magnet_meta_file_path=,,f\\\",\\\"check_object.value=$cat=$d.get_wrong_magnet_meta_file_path=,,f\\\"}\",d.fix_magnet_tied_file="
### end: Handle magnet links specail way ###

The good thing about this solution is:

• entirely automatic with new magnet links (although you have to fix your old ones)

It uses 2 ideas:

• we know that the full torrent file is available in the session directory when downloading a magnet-link is finished
• a generic check_object.value method is used to check whether a dir/file/symlink exist
• so, when a new download is started:
  • check whether the valid torrent file is in the session dir AND the *.meta file is in the directory.default dir
    • if both are true that means we are dealing with a download that was a magnet link originally
    • if so, do our magic

But I still prefer @getmeacuboftea's solution: it still works when only encrypted connections are allowed.

PS:

• only this part of the hack (which is unrelevant to the problem, but I left it in here) needs this patch that creates a new command: d.is_meta :

method.set_key = event.download.inserted_new, auto_start_meta_in_load_dir, "branch=\"and={d.is_meta=,not=$d.state=}\",d.start="

[Avamander]

If the .meta files are almost like magnet links, why not just store the magnet links? Or .torrent files? That way it'd be actually possible to re-add, backup and add torrents to be downloaded instead of manually converting hundreds of .meta files to just a tad bit different format.