compile and install current rtorrent for debian lenny on NSLU2

A solution without using subversion. For subversion we would only need the client, but you only get the full package from the repositories, together with all dependencies we would quickly reach > 50 MB. It's just too much for my little slug (1 GB USB-Flash Stick).

Well,

first of all, we create a directory in /usr/src named rtorrent. This is where we will download the sources to and where we are going to decompress the archives.:

# mkdir /usr/src/rtorrent
# cd /usr/src/rtorrent

We get the sources (note that the numbers in the filenames will change with new versions. It's best you verify at http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/wiki.

# wget libtorrent-0.12.2.tar.gz
# wget rtorrent-0.8.2.tar.gz

assuming a fresh basic install of debian lenny, we need:

# apt-get install build-essential
# apt-get install libtool
# apt-get install automake autoconf
# apt-get install libsigc++-2.0-dev
# apt-get install pkg-config
# apt-get install libssl-dev
# apt-get install libcurl3-dev [libcurl4-openssl-dev]
# apt-get install libncurses5 libncurses5-dev


now we unzip the sources:

# tar xvzf libtorrent-0.12.2.tar.gz
# tar xzvf rtorrent-0.8.2.tar.gz

create a symbolic link to the cryptic extracted directories:

# ln -s libtorrent-0.12.2 libtorrent
# ln -s rtorrent-0.8.2 rtorrent


then move up to the libtorrent directory:

# cd libtorrent


I got an error like "make[4]: *** [file_list_iterator.lo] Error 1" when compiling with make. Fortunately, this is known and can be easily fixed by applying the libtorrent-gcc43-v2.patch before compiling.

So, when in the libtorrent source directory, wget the patch

# wget http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/raw-attachment/ticket/1266/libtorrent-gcc43-v2.patch

and apply it with

# patch -p1 < libtorrent-gcc43-v2.patch

next, we start the usual procedure (cf. here). Before we begin we open a screen session, so that we don't need to stay connected to the NSLU2 the whole time. If you've not already done so, install screen (you will probably use it with rtorrent anyways).

# apt-get install screen

Then, start a new screen session. We name it rtorrcompiling (chose whatever you want).

# screen -S rtorrcompiling.

Now do:

# ./autogen.sh
# ./configure
# make

note that make is going to take several hours (in my case more than 6). Sigh. You can detach the screen with CTRL-A d. Logout, power off your PC (not the NSLU ;)), get a coffee or go to sleep. Or you can take a look how hard your slug is working by

# top

Exit top by pressing q.

If you want to check how far make got, login to your slug and resume the screen session with

# screen -r

When make is done, go on with

# make install

and we're done with libtorrent. Next is rtorrent:

# cd ..
# cd rtorrent
# wget http://libtorrent.rakshasa.no/raw-attachment/ticket/1554/rtorrent-0.8.2-g%2B%2B4.3.patch
# patch -p1 < rtorrent-0.8.2-g++4.3.patch
# ./autogen.sh
# ./configure
# make
# make install

That's it.
Please leave a comment if this worked or not worked for you. Thanks.