Howto Install BitTorrent Sync From Its Official Repository

Last updated: February 19, 2016

BitTorrent Sync Linux repository

BitTorrent, the cross platfrom P2P file synchronization tool, now provides official Linux packages for Debian-based and RPM-based systems. Here’s how to install and use it in Ubuntu (tested in 15.10 wily).

Install BitTorrent Sync:

Launch terminal from App Launcher, or via Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut key. When it opens, paste below commands one by one and hit run:

1. Add btsync official Linux repository:

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://linux-packages.getsync.com/btsync/deb btsync non-free" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/btsync.list'

Type in password (no visual feedback when typing) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. Install the public key so that your system will trust the packages from that repository:

wget -qO - http://linux-packages.getsync.com/btsync/key.asc | sudo apt-key add -

3. Update your system cache and finally install btsync:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install btsync

How to Use BT sync:

There’s already a few great tutorials about setting up Btsync in Ubuntu around the web. And below is a brief how-to:

First create a shared folder and set its permissions, here I created a folder shared_folder under the root of my current user:

cd && mkdir shared_folder

sudo chown YOUR_USER:btsync shared_folder

sudo chmod 2775 shared_folder

sudo usermod -a -G btsync YOUR_USER

Then start the btsync service:

sudo service btsync start

You may replace start with stop, enable, disable, or status to control Btsync.

Now go to localhost:8888 in your web browser and add the previous created folder:

Finally share the link, key, or QRcode with your friends and enjoy!

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I'm a freelance blogger who started using Ubuntu in 2007 and wishes to share my experiences and some useful tips with Ubuntu beginners and lovers. Please comment to let me know if the tutorial is outdated! And, notify me if you find any typo/grammar/language mistakes. English is not my native language. Contact me via ubuntuhandbook1@gmail.com Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/ubuntuhandbook1

5 responses to Howto Install BitTorrent Sync From Its Official Repository

  1. Hi Jim,

    I’ve followed your howto but when I try to setup a folder I get “Don’t have permission to write to the selected folder”

    I’ve got the following settings for the folder where [MY_USER] is the user I’m using.
    drwxrwsr-x 12 [MY_USER] btsync 4096 Dec 25 18:13 sync_folder

    What user does btsync run as?

    • Use sudo first next time.

      I get that post was months ago, but in case some other person comes and wonders the same thing I figured Id post it.

    • Hope this comment is not too late…. did you replace “MY_USER” with your userid on your computer?

      • No, best to replace it with $USER if you do not know your username, otherwise your username! Try ‘echo $USER’ if you do not know what it is whatever reason.

  2. To make this relevant for resilio-sync, simply replace ‘btsync’ with ‘rslsync’ in the Ubuntu terminal and it will start working :)