Transmission, Ubuntu’s default BitTorrent client, announced a new bug-fix 4.0.5 release a day ago.

The release fixed the following bugs:

• the IP address field in UDP announces were not encoded in network byte order.
• json string serializer improperly escaping characters
• decreased download speeds for people who set a low upload bandwidth limit.
• magnet data invalidates tracker IDs
• HTTP tracker announces and scrapes sometimes failing after adding a torrent file by HTTPS URL.
• In RPC, change the default sort order of torrents to match Transmission 3.00.
• Fixed tr_sys_path_copy() behavior on some Synology Devices
• larger group display name in macOS client.
• Crash when opening torrent file from “Recently used” in GTK 4 client.
• only append .added suffix to watchdir files for Qt client.

How to Install Transmission 4.0.5 in Ubuntu

Transmission has an unofficial Snap package, available to install through Ubuntu Software (or App Center).

It’s NOT updated to v4.0.5 at the moment of writing, but after installation, it will update automatically once new version published.

For choice, I’ve made this release into unofficial PPA for all current Ubuntu releases, meaning Ubuntu 20.04, 22.04, 23.04 and 23.10.

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/transmission

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. After adding the PPA, you can then launch Software Updater (Update Manager) and upgrade the system pre-installed transmission package to the new release.

For Ubuntu based system without the BitTorrent client pre-installed, you may run command below to install it:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install transmission-gtk

You may replace transmission-gtk with (or add) following package:

• transmission-qt – Qt user interface for KDE, LXQt, etc.
• transmission-cli – command line interface.
• transmission-daemon – the daemon for running in background, and access via webUI, remote client, etc.

Uninstall Transmission 4.0.5

You can choose to downgrade the BitTorrent client to system pre-installed version, by running command in terminal:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/transmission

Or, remove the software packages instead by running command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove transmission-gtk transmission-qt transmission-cli transmission-daemon

And remove the PPA repository either via “Software & Updates” tool by removing the source line under “Other Software” tab, or by running command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/transmission

That’s all. Enjoy!