this is obsolete doc -- see http://doc.nethence.com/ instead

Installing rTorrent on Slackware 13.37 

Make sure 'curl' is installed, 

slackpkg search curl

Install libsigc++ from Slackbuilds (http://slackbuilds.org/repository/13.37/libraries/libsigc++/). 

I get segfaults when I start magnet links with Slackbuilds' 0.13.0/0.9.0 version. The latest version works fine. Fetch and compile rTorrent (http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/), 

wget http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/downloads/libtorrent-0.13.2.tar.gz

wget http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/downloads/rtorrent-0.9.2.tar.gz

tar xzf libtorrent-0.13.2.tar.gz

tar xzf rtorrent-0.9.2.tar.gz

cd libtorrent-0.13.2/

./configure && make && make install

cd ../rtorrent-0.9.2/

./configure && make && make install

Make sure '/usr/local/lib' is mentioned in '/etc/ld.so.conf' and run, 

ldconfig

Usage 

As user, configure rTorrent. Setup a session folder (important not to loose your torrent list when you quit the application), 

cd ~/

cp path/to/rtorrent-0.9.2/doc/rtorrent.rc .rtorrent.rc.dist

cp path/to/rtorrent-0.9.2/doc/rtorrent.rc .rtorrent.rc

vi .rtorrent.rc

like, 

max_uploads = 2

download_rate = 800

upload_rate = 20

directory = ./

session = ./session

schedule = low_diskspace,5,60,close_low_diskspace=100M

port_range = 6890-6999

check_hash = yes

#use_udp_trackers = yes

dht_port = 6881

peer_exchange = yes

encoding_list = UTF-8

system.method.set_key = event.download.finished,move_complete,"execute=mv,-u,$d.get_base_path=,~/torrent/done/;d.set_directory=~/torrent/done/"

Note. change your upload/download rates (first three lines) accordingly. 

Note. I also had to enable UTF8 to see internationalized titles in the list. 

Note. moves finished download to '~/torrent/done/'. 

Go to the download folder and launch rTorrent, 

cd ~/

mkdir -p torrent/session/

mkdir -p torrent/done/

cd torrent/

rtorrent

Here's a reminder of the most basic commands, 

ENTER    Copy/paste a magnet link or a torrent filename ==> adds the torrent to the list

^S    Start the torrent

BACKSPACE  Copy/paste a magnet link or a torrent filename ==> starts the torrent

^D ^D    Stop and remove a torrent

^K    Stop and close a torrent

->    See torrent's details

<-    Back to the torrent list

^Q    Quit

Change priorities, 

+ / - on a torrent      Prioritize a torrent

SPACE on a filename (file list)  Prioritize a file

References 

http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/wiki/RTorrentUserGuide 

http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/wiki/Install 

http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/wiki/RTorrentXMLRPCGuide 

http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/wiki/RTorrentCommonTasks