Get every new VMware image automatically!
New! You can now automatically get every VMware image as soon as it’s released.
You need a Linux or UNIX box with rsync and BitTorrent:
- rsync will check every day for new torrents, and download them
- BitTorrent will read the torrents, and download the VMware images
Setting this up will take about 4 minutes.
These instructions assume you use the official BitTorrent client.
If you use Fedora Core 5 or Fedora Core 6
# Switch to root su - root # Install rsync and bittorrent yum install rsync bittorrent # Run a test download of the torrent files rsync -Pr rsync-torrents.thoughtpolice.co.uk::vmware-images-torrents /srv/bittorrent/data/ # You should see a list of .torrent files # Tell cron to regularly download new torrent files using rsync # Create a ## Edit crontab vi /etc/crontab ## Add the line: @hourly root rsync -qr rsync-torrents.thoughtpolice.co.uk::vmware-images-torrents /srv/bittorrent/data/ ## Save the file. You do not need to restart cron. # Tell BitTorrent to watch the /srv/bittorrent/data/ directory for new files ## Start BitTorrent at boot chkconfig btseed on ## Start it now too (no need to reboot) /etc/init.d/btseed start # You're done! Your new images will be visible in the download directory ls /srv/bittorrent/data/
If you use Debian Sarge (Debian 3.1) or Debian Etch (Debian 4.0)
# Switch to root su - root # Install rsync and bittorrent apt-get install rsync bittorrent # Create a user "btgrabber" to run this as adduser --no-create-home --home /srv/bittorrent/data/ --disabled-login --gecos "" btgrabber # Make a directory to store the torrent files and the images mkdir -p /srv/bittorrent/data/ # Fix permissions chown btgrabber:btgrabber /srv/bittorrent/data/ # Tell cron to regularly download new torrent files using rsync ## Edit crontab vi /etc/crontab ## Add the line: @hourly btgrabber rsync -qr rsync-torrents.thoughtpolice.co.uk::vmware-images-torrents /srv/bittorrent/data/ ## Save the file. You do not need to restart cron. # Run a test download of the torrent files ## Switch user su - btgrabber ## Do the rsync rsync -Pr rsync-torrents.thoughtpolice.co.uk::vmware-images-torrents /srv/bittorrent/data/ ## Switch back to root exit # Tell BitTorrent to watch the /srv/bittorrent/data/ directory for new files ## Create a script to start BitTorrent vi /usr/local/bin/start-bittorrent.sh ## Add these two lines: #!/bin/sh nohup btlaunchmany /srv/bittorrent/data/ > /tmp/bittorrent.log & ## Save the file. ## Fix permissions chmod +x /usr/local/bin/start-bittorrent.sh ## Tell crontab to start BitTorrent at boot vi /etc/crontab ## Add the line: @reboot btgrabber /usr/local/bin/start-bittorrent.sh ## Save the file. ## Change to the new user su - btgrabber ## Start it now too (no need to reboot) /usr/local/bin/start-bittorrent.sh # You're done! Your new images will be visible in the download directory ls /srv/bittorrent/data/
If you use Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake) or or Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft)
# Install rsync and bittorrent sudo apt-get install rsync bittorrent # Create a user "btgrabber" to run this as sudo adduser --no-create-home --home /srv/bittorrent/data/ --disabled-login --gecos "" btgrabber # Make a directory to store the torrent files and the images sudo mkdir -p /srv/bittorrent/data/ # Fix permissions sudo chown btgrabber:btgrabber /srv/bittorrent/data/ # Tell cron to regularly download new torrent files using rsync ## Edit crontab sudo vi /etc/crontab ## Add the line: @hourly btgrabber rsync -qr rsync-torrents.thoughtpolice.co.uk::vmware-images-torrents /srv/bittorrent/data/ ## Save the file. You do not need to restart cron. # Run a test download of the torrent files ## Switch user su - btgrabber ## Do the rsync rsync -Pr rsync-torrents.thoughtpolice.co.uk::vmware-images-torrents /srv/bittorrent/data/ ## Switch back to root exit # Tell BitTorrent to watch the /srv/bittorrent/data/ directory for new files ## Create a script to start BitTorrent sudo vi /usr/local/bin/start-bittorrent.sh ## Add these two lines: #!/bin/sh nohup btlaunchmany /srv/bittorrent/data/ > /tmp/bittorrent.log & ## Save the file. ## Fix permissions sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/start-bittorrent.sh ## Tell crontab to start BitTorrent at boot sudo vi /etc/crontab ## Add the line: @reboot btgrabber /usr/local/bin/start-bittorrent.sh ## Save the file. ## Change to the new user su - btgrabber ## Start it now too (no need to reboot) /usr/local/bin/start-bittorrent.sh # You're done! Your new images will be visible in the download directory ls /srv/bittorrent/data/