 | This article needs to beupdated. The reason given is: Transmission 4.0.0 introduced massive major changes, this article is now very out of date.. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(February 2024) |
 | |
 Transmission 4.0.5 with an active download | |
| Original author(s) | Eric Petit, Josh Elsasser, Bryan Varner |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Mike Gelfand (Windows), Charles Kerr (aka Jordan Lee), Mitchell Livingston |
| Initial release | 15 September 2005; 19 years ago (2005-09-15)[1][2] |
| Stable release | |
| Repository | |
| Written in | C++,Objective-C++ |
| Operating system | Unix-like,macOS,Microsoft Windows[4] |
| Type | BitTorrent client |
| License | GPL-2.0-only orGPL-3.0-only[a][b],MIT[5] |
| Website | transmissionbt |
Transmission is aBitTorrent client which features a variety of user interfaces on top of across-platform back-end. Transmission isfree software licensed under the terms of theGNU General Public License, with parts under theMIT License.[6]
Transmission allows users to quickly download files from multiplepeers on the Internet and to upload their own files.[7] By addingtorrent files via the user interface, users can create a queue of files to be downloaded and uploaded. Within the file selection menus, users can customise their downloads at the level of individual files. Transmission alsoseeds, that is, it will automatically share downloaded content.[8]
Transmission allows the assigning of priorities to torrents and to files within torrents, thus potentially influencing which files download first. It supports theMagnet URI scheme[9] andencrypted connections. It allows torrent-file creation andpeer exchange compatible withVuze andμTorrent. It includes a built-in web server so that users can control Transmission remotely via the web.[10] It also supports automatic port-mapping usingUPnP/NAT-PMP, peer caching,blocklists for bad peers, bandwidth limits dependent on time-of-day, globally or per-torrent, and has partial support for IPv6.[11] It allows the use of multiple trackers simultaneously,[12]Local Peer Discovery,[13]Micro Transport Protocol (μTP),[14] andUDP tracker.[15]It does not support directly subscribing toRSS feeds containing torrent files for automatic download, but third-party add-ons can supply this functionality.[10]: 229
macOS-specific features includeDock andGrowl notifications, automatic updates usingSparkle andUniversal Binary (up until version 2.22).
Transmission 4.0.0, released in February 2023, added support for hybrid torrents so that it can work with v1 and hybrid (v1/v2) torrents.[16]
Transmission 1.60 and later removed support forMac OS X v10.4. Currently, Transmission 1.54 is the last version that runs on Mac OS X 10.4. Although it is possible to compile later versions from source, either by downloading from the project's website[17] or using a package manager likeFink orMacPorts, it is unsupported and any bugs specific to 10.4 will not be fixed. Starting with Transmission 2.30[18] an Apple Mac with anIntel CPU is needed;PowerPC-based systems are no longer supported natively. Since Transmission 4.0, Apple Silicon is supported as well.[19]
The Transmission back-end (libTransmission) also serves as the basis of the Transmissiondaemon. The daemon supports a webfront-end called Clutch. Older versions have been ported to form the basis of the update system for the video gameMetal Gear Online onPlayStation 3,[20][21] as well as the backend forImageShack's BitTorrent service.
A portable version is available onPortableApps.com.[22]
Transmission is a set of lightweight BitTorrent clients (in GUI, CLI and daemon form). All its incarnations feature a very simple, intuitive interface on top on an efficient, cross-platform back-end.
There are several transmission clients for different operating systems includingUnix-like,macOS andBeOS/ZETA. Each operating system front-end is built using nativewidget toolkits.[6] For example, transmission-gtk uses theGTK interface, transmission-qt theQt interface, and transmission-cli acommand-line interface. Transmission-remote-cli is anncurses interface for the transmission-daemon. Python-transmissionrpc is a Python module implementing theJSON-RPC protocol for Transmission.
An unofficialport of Transmission using acommand-line interface (CLI) oniOS was accomplished on 3 March 2008.[23] In November 2010, iTransmission, another unofficial port, was released for jailbroken iPhones sporting aGUI that is capable of downloading directly to the device over WiFi or 3G.[24] A Transmission remote was released forAndroid, with the name ofTransdroid but does not currently support downloading directly to devices.[25]
OnWindows, Transmission-Qt can be built withMinGW,[26] the daemon and console tools can be built withCygwin,[27] also there are two third-partyGUIs: transmission-remote-dotnet[28] and Transmission Remote GUI,[29] as well as unofficial full builds of Transmission's Qt Client.[30][31] There is also an unofficial full build of Transmissiondaemon which can be run as aWindows service.[32] This same unofficial full build of Transmissiondaemon running as aWindows service can be used for directstreaming of the downloading file(s).[33]
A port for all platforms enhanced with streaming of the downloading file(s) is located onGitHub.[34]
It is also ported to theMaemo OS of theNokia N810 internet tablet andN900 smartphone as well as to theMeeGo/Harmattan OS of theNokiaN9 andN950 smartphones, on which it does download the torrents to the device.
In March 2016,Palo Alto Networks reported that Transmission's official website was compromised and tainted.dmg files were uploaded to the site, using anApple Developer signature to bypass the OS Xgatekeeper feature.[35][36][37]
The tainted packages installed aransomware application (a variant ofLinux.Encoder.1, but recompiled for Mac, known asKeRanger) that encrypts the user's files and attempts to force users to pay 1Bitcoin (worth roughly US$404 at the time of the attack) in order to get the decryption pack. The Transmission website advised Mac users to immediately upgrade to a new version that removes the malware-infected file. Apple revoked the developer certificate that was used to sign the tainted package, and added the package's signature to theXProtect anti-malware system.
Transmission is the default BitTorrent client of manyUnix andLinux distributions,[38] includingUbuntu,[39]Mint,[40]Fedora,[41]Puppy,[42]Zenwalk,[43] and theGNOME flavor ofopenSUSE.[44]
Fon ships its routers with Transmission pre-installed.[45]
CNET editor Paul Huges praised Transmission for its "simplicity, lightweight, as well as being feature-packed" and as of April 2017 the software ranked third in P2P downloads for Mac onCNET.[46][47]
| Companies | |
|---|---|
| People | |
| Technology | |
| Clients (comparison, usage share) | |
| Tracker software (comparison) | |
| Search engines (comparison) | |
| Defunct sites (comparison) | |
| Related topics | |
