When clicking a magnet link in Chrome browser, it pops-up with “Open xdg-open” option allows to launch the default app to start the downloading.

Unlike Firefox, Google Chrome does not offer an option to choose which app to handle the link. Instead, it launches the default app directly. For those want to change this default app to handle magnet links, here’s how to do the trick in Ubuntu.

Click “Open xdg-open” to open link via default app

Step 1: Tell the default app for magnet links:

Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. When it opens, run the command below will tell the default app for magnet links:

xdg-mime query default x-scheme-handler/magnet

Here xdg-mime is the standard wrapper. User may also run this command instead, which will also output the registered applications:

gio mime x-scheme-handler/magnet

Tell the default app for magnet

Step 2: Set/Change the default app for magnet links:

As the previous steps shows, the both command also support for changing the default app. Say set “QBittorrent” as default app for magnet link, use command:

xdg-mime default org.qbittorrent.qBittorrent.desktop x-scheme-handler/magnet

Or use command:

gio mime x-scheme-handler/magnet org.qbittorrent.qBittorrent.desktop

For any other app, replace org.qbittorrent.qBittorrent.desktop in the previous commands via the .desktop file. You may even set an un-registered app as default, and gio command will register it automatically.

In addition, in case you don’t know the filename of the .desktop file for your app, try running following commands one by one to find it out:

• First, open terminal and run command to install mlocate (or plocate for 22.04 & higher):

  sudo apt install mlocate plocate

• Then, update the database:

  sudo updatedb

• Finally, search the .desktop file for your torrent app:

  locate "*ransmission*desktop"

  In command, replace ransmission with the keyboard for yours. Its case sensitive! I skipped the first letter because which one (‘T’ or ‘t’) is in use for the file-name.

Most torrent clients today have ability to detect clipboard for magnet links. However, after copied an URL link, user has to manually open the downloading app and then click ‘Open URL’ (or ‘Add Torrent Link’) option to let it paste the link automatically.

Instead of using web browser pop-up to choose app to open an URL, KDE desktop has a built-in feature ‘Klipper Actions‘ that detects clipboard contents and automatically pops-up a menu allows to open link with desired app.

Picture 1: Click the pop-up option will automatically launch the app and open the link from clipboard

So just copy a magnet link. It opens the previous context menu (see the picture above) automatically, allows to click the menu option to launch your desired app and open the URL.

Setup the Klipper Actions for Magnet link in KDE:

1.) Firstly, find out the ‘Clipboard’ indicator in system tray on panel (or click the ‘triangle‘ icon). Then right-click on the icon and choose ‘Configure Clipboard‘.

Open Klipper settings

2.) When the settings dialog opens, go to ‘Actions‘ in left pane and click on ‘Add Actions‘ button.

Add a Klipper action

3.) In next dialog, do:

• input regular expression ^magnet:.*. It means any content started with ‘magnet:‘ (without quotes). See more about regular extension.
• Add description (optional).
• Click ‘Add Command’ and use qbittorrent %s or ktorrent %s. Use any torrent client as you prefer.
• Type description for command (will display as text in pop-up menu).

4.) After adding an action, the settings dialog will look like the screenshot below. Here I added two actions to handle magnet link and url ends with torrent with qBittorrent client.

Actions for magnet links and url ends with .torrent

After clicking Apply (OK), copy a magnet link and the menu should pop-up automatically, allows to single click launching qBittorrent and open the download.

And, there are keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl+Alt+X to enable/disable Klipper actions, and Ctrl+Alt+R to trigger the menu (Picture 1) manually.

After more than half a year of development, the qBitTorrent app released version 4.4.0 with many new features and various bug-fixes.

qBitTorrent 4.4.0 added Qt6 support. It offers better HiDPI compatibility for Windows 10+ and Linux using AppImage package. Though, it has known issue about text display on the progress bar. The Qt5 build is still the primary packages, though the next major release will probably drop Qt5 support.

The new release also supports BitTorrent v2 protocol and libtorrent 2.0.x, that use SHA-256 to provide a safer cryptographic hash function.

There are also some other new features, including announce to all trackers if IP changed, “Checking” filter in side pane, “Forced metadata downloading” state, “Skip hash check” option, double-click to show torrent options, temp folder per torrent/category, folder based UI themes, and more.

Other changes in qBitTorrent 4.4.0 include:

• Remember last viewed page in options.
• Add ‘Notification timeout’ option.
• Add context menu to toggle content tab columns.
• Add windows-clang support and update python installer URL for Windows.
• Prolong wait time for shutdown for qbittorrent-nox for Linux.
• Install vector program icon for Linux.
• Add detection for OpenBSD, Haiku in configure script
• Update Mac icons for Big Sur
• Stick Unread row to top in RSS feed list
• Setting to store/load fastresume/torrent files in an SQLite database
• More tool-tips, web UI updates, and bug-fixes.

How to Install qBitTorrent 4.4.0:

For Windows, MacOS, Linux AppImage, and source tarball, go to the official download page:

For Linux, the AppImage package is the only way to get the Qt6 build. Just grab it from the link above, make executable in file “Properties” dialog under ‘Permissions’ tab. Finally, click run the package to launch the torrent client.

qBitTorrent is also available as native .deb package for Ubuntu based system via its official Ubuntu PPA. The package will be available in next few days. However, Ubuntu 20.04 is no longer supported because its system Qt5 library does not meet the minimum requirement.

It’s also available to install as universal Flatpak package. Though it takes more disk space due to run-time libraries, the Flatpak was built with GUI lock support.

The Deluge BitTorrent client got an update after more than 2 years of development by releasing v2.0.4 and then v2.0.5 with a quick fix.

Deluge is a lightweight, free and open-source, and cross-platform BitTorrent client written in Python. It uses libtorrent library and features full encryption, GTK, Web and console UI. And, it has a daemon package to run as a system service, allowing user to control remotely over the web.

The latest Deluge 2.0.5 was released a few days ago, introduced automatic detection of clipboard for the GTK UI. When you copied torrent URL or magnet link, the app will automatically open the link on focus, allowing to start downloading with a single mouse click.

Automatic detect URL from clipboard and open the dialog to start downloading

It also added menu option “View -> Tabs -> Position” to change the tabs (e.g., Status, Details, Options, Tracker) to top, left, right, or left side of window bottom.

Other changes in Deluge 2.0.5 (and 2.0.4) include:

• Hide pygame community banner in console.
• Add menu option to copy magnet URI for Web UI.
• Add country flag alt/title for accessibility for Web UI.
• Add workaround libtorrent 2.0 file_progress error
• Fix Python 3.8 compatibility
• Various bug-fixes.

How to Install Deluge 2.0.5 in Ubuntu via PPA:

The app provides source tarball, Windows, macOS, and Linux packages available to download at its website.

For Ubuntu / Linux Mint based systems, an official Ubuntu PPA is available with supports for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, Ubuntu 21.10, and next Ubuntu 22.04.

1.) Add the Deluge PPA

Either press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or search for and open terminal from start menu. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deluge-team/stable

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

2.) Install or upgrade Deluge BitTorrent Client:

If you’ve an old version installed on your system, use ‘Software Updater’ or Update Manager to upgrade the package to the latest:

Or, run command in terminal to check updates and install the client:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install deluge

The command will install the app with GTK user interface. For daemon (run as service), web UI, or console UI, install deluged, deluge-web, deluge-console package instead.

Uninstall / Downgrade Deluge:

For any reason, you may purge the Ubuntu PPA which also downgrade installed packages to the stock version in Ubuntu universe repository:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:deluge-team/stable

Or remote the BitTorrent client by running command:

sudo apt remove --auto-remove deluge*

Without purging the PPA, you may manage it via “Software & Updates” tool under “Other Software” tab.