IvanShift/rutorrent

Opinionated ruTorrent + rTorrent container image with a focus on controlled source builds, small footprint, and a prepared ruTorrent fork.

Features

• Multi-arch image (linux/amd64, linux/arm64) built on Alpine Linux 3.23.4
• PHP 8.5 with the IvanShift/ruTorrent fork from its master branch, rTorrent/libtorrent 0.16.11, c-ares 1.34.6, and UnRAR 7.2.6
• rTorrent uses the tinyxml2 XML-RPC backend for faster ruTorrent plugin calls
• Non-root runtime (UID / GID configurable), healthcheck-ready, and persistent volumes
• Automatic log rotation for nginx access/error logs (prevents disk space exhaustion)
• Optional FileBot integration (portable 5.2.1) with OpenJDK 21 and on-demand multimedia dependencies
• Supply-chain aware build: ruTorrent fork fetched by explicit remote ref, shallow git fetches, and optional SHA256 verification for supported source tarballs
• Easy plugin/theme overrides through /config mounts
• Image additions: custom forked rutracker_check behavior for RuTracker/NNMClub plus build-time fetched geoip2 and ratiocolor plugins

Tags

• latest – standard image (default build args)
• filebot – same as latest but built with FILEBOT=true
• rtorrent-<major.minor.patch> / filebot-rtorrent-<major.minor.patch> – CI tags aligned with the rTorrent version from Dockerfile

Build

Build arguments

Argument	Description	Type	Default
ALPINE_VERSION	Alpine base image tag	optional	3.23.4
CARES_VERSION	c-ares release version	optional	1.34.6
MKTORRENT_VERSION	mktorrent release tag	optional	v1.1
DUMP_TORRENT_VERSION	dump-torrent release tag	optional	v1.7.0
UNRAR_VERSION	UnRAR source release version	optional	7.2.6
FILEBOT	Include FileBot + JRE/FFmpeg stack	optional	false
FILEBOT_VER	FileBot portable release tag	optional	5.2.1
RUTORRENT_REPO	ruTorrent fork repository URL	optional	https://github.com/IvanShift/ruTorrent.git
RUTORRENT_REF	ruTorrent fork remote ref, branch, tag, or commit	optional	refs/heads/master
LIBTORRENT_BRANCH	libtorrent release tag used for source checkout	optional	v0.16.11
RTORRENT_BRANCH	rTorrent release tag used for source checkout	optional	v0.16.11
STRICT_WERROR	Treat selected warnings as errors during C++ builds	optional	true
CARES_SHA256	Expected checksum for the c-ares tarball	optional	(empty)
GEOIP2_COMMIT_SHA, RATIOCOLOR_COMMIT_SHA	Pin build-time plugin clones to specific commits	optional	(empty)

Standard build

docker build --tag ivanshift/rutorrent:latest https://github.com/IvanShift/docker-rutorrent.git

FileBot build

docker build --tag ivanshift/rutorrent:filebot \
  --build-arg FILEBOT=true \
  https://github.com/IvanShift/docker-rutorrent.git

Custom ruTorrent ref build

docker build --tag ivanshift/rutorrent:ci \
  --build-arg CARES_SHA256="..." \
  --build-arg RUTORRENT_REF="refs/heads/master" \
  https://github.com/IvanShift/docker-rutorrent.git

Runtime configuration

Environment variables

Variable	Description	Default
UID / GID	User/group IDs used by rTorrent & services	991
PORT_RTORRENT	TCP listening port for rTorrent	45000
MODE_DHT	DHT mode (off, on, disable)	off
PORT_DHT	UDP DHT port	6881
PEER_EXCHANGE	Enable PEX (yes / no)	no
DOWNLOAD_DIRECTORY	Main downloads directory	/data/downloads
CHECK_PERM_DATA	Permission check toggle	true
HTTP_AUTH	Enable HTTP auth in nginx/ruTorrent	false

Additional variables when FileBot enabled

Variable	Description	Default
FILEBOT_LICENSE	Path to license file (/config/filebot/...)	(required)
FILEBOT_RENAME_METHOD	File renaming strategy	symlink
FILEBOT_LANG	Language preference	en
FILEBOT_CONFLICT	Conflict handling (skip, override, …)	skip

Volumes

• /data – downloads, watch folders, media symlinks
• /config – ruTorrent, rTorrent, FileBot configuration

Common subdirectories (auto-created on first start):

• /data/.watch – auto-load torrents
• /data/.session – rTorrent session files
• /data/downloads – active downloads
• /data/media – FileBot output (when enabled)
• /config/rtorrent – .rtorrent.rc and overrides
• /config/rutorrent/conf – ruTorrent global config
• /config/rutorrent/share – ruTorrent user data/cache
• /config/custom_plugins / /config/custom_themes – custom overrides
• /config/filebot/* – FileBot license and scripts

Fork Changes

The Docker build fetches the prepared ruTorrent fork by RUTORRENT_REF; by default it tracks refs/heads/master from IvanShift/ruTorrent. It no longer copies overrides/rutorrent over the downloaded tree and no longer applies sed patches to ruTorrent files. The build then clones third-party plugins into the image and removes unused docs, VCS metadata, and unwanted upstream plugins from the runtime image.

rutracker_check

A heavily modified tracker checker with stability and functionality improvements:

• Smart File Cleanup: Automatically removes obsolete files (renamed or deleted in the new torrent) after an update.
• Recursive Folder Cleanup: Removes empty directories left behind after file cleanup.
• Improved URL Detection: Prioritizes comment URLs over announce URLs (fixes RuTracker topic detection).
• Critical Bug Fixes: Fixed ratio group visibility (rat_Array bug) and label initialization.
• PHP 8 Compatibility: Fixed TypeError in scandir/array_diff and added defensive checks.
• Anti-Bot Protection: Uses a modern Chrome User-Agent to reduce 403 errors.
• Absorption Detection: Enhanced logic to detect "absorbed" topics by searching for links both before and after keywords.
• NNMClub Auto-Check Restored (trackers/nnmclub.php): Automatic torrent update checking for NNMClub is fully functional again despite Cloudflare Turnstile protection on the website.

Build-Time Plugins

• geoip2: Cloned from Micdu70/geoip2-rutorrent during Docker build, then .git metadata is removed from the runtime image.
• ratiocolor: Cloned from Micdu70/rutorrent-ratiocolor during Docker build, then .git metadata is removed from the runtime image.

Upstream Compatibility

General rTorrent 0.16.x / tinyxml2 / trusted httprpc compatibility is handled by upstream ruTorrent 5.3.1. The Docker image does not maintain a separate compatibility overlay for xmlrpc.php, httprpc, getplugins.php, or generic plugin command aliases.

Log Rotation

The image includes an automatic log rotation service for nginx logs:

Variable	Description	Default
LOG_DIR	Directory containing log files	/tmp
MAX_SIZE	Rotate when file exceeds this size (bytes)	10485760 (10MB)
SLEEP_SECS	Interval between rotation checks (seconds)	3600 (1 hour)

Rotation scheme: access.log → access.log.1 → access.log.1.gz → delete (keeps 2 files total).

Ports

• 8080/tcp – ruTorrent UI
• 45000/tcp (configurable via PORT_RTORRENT)
• 45000/udp, 6881/udp – DHT/peer ports (expose as needed)

FAQ

• Can I use one port for everything (peers + DHT)? Yes. Set port_range to a single value like 45000-45000, disable random ports, and set the DHT port (dht.port / dht.override_port.set) to the same number. Expose the listen port as TCP+UDP; if the DHT port is separate, open it as UDP.
• Listen port vs DHT port — what’s the difference? The listen port (network.listen.port / port_range) is where other peers connect to you for torrent data; it uses TCP (classic BitTorrent) and UDP (uTP). The DHT port (dht.port / dht.override_port.set) is UDP-only and used to talk to the distributed hash table for trackerless peer discovery. They can be the same (simpler firewall/NAT rules) or different if you need to split traffic; always keep the listen port open as TCP+UDP so peers can reach you.

Usage

Default launch

docker run --name rutorrent -d \
  --dns 1.1.1.1 \
  --dns 8.8.8.8 \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -p 45000:45000 \
  -v rutorrent_config:/config \
  -v rutorrent_data:/data \
  ivanshift/rutorrent:latest

Simple launch

docker run --name rutorrent -dt \
  --dns 1.1.1.1 \
  --dns 8.8.8.8 \
  -e UID=1000 \
  -e GID=1000 \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -p 45000:45000 \
  -v /mnt/docker/rutorrent/config:/config \
  -v /mnt/docker/rutorrent/data:/data \
  ivanshift/rutorrent:latest

UI: http://localhost:8080

The explicit DNS servers keep tracker plugin lookups independent from the Docker host resolver. This is required for rutracker_check when the default container DNS does not resolve rutracker.org.

FileBot launch

docker run --name rutorrent-filebot -dt \
  -e UID=1000 \
  -e GID=1000 \
  -e FILEBOT_LICENSE=/config/filebot/FileBot_License.psm \
  -p 9080:8080 \
  -p 6881:6881 \
  -p 6881:6881/udp \
  -v /mnt/docker/rutorrent/config:/config \
  -v /mnt/docker/rutorrent/data:/data \
  ivanshift/rutorrent:filebot

HTTP authentication

docker run --name rutorrent-auth -dt \
  -e HTTP_AUTH=true \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -v /mnt/docker/rutorrent/config:/config \
  -v /mnt/docker/rutorrent/data:/data \
  ivanshift/rutorrent:latest

docker exec -it rutorrent-auth gen-http-passwd

Generate your password:

docker exec -it rutorrent gen-http-passwd
Username: torrent
Password:
Verifying - Password:
Password was generated for the http user: torrent

URL: http://xx.xx.xx.xx:8080

Custom plugins/themes

mkdir -p /mnt/docker/rutorrent/config/custom_plugins
# ratiocolor is already installed by the image build; custom plugins can still be mounted here.
# git clone https://example.com/some-rutorrent-plugin.git \
#   /mnt/docker/rutorrent/config/custom_plugins/some-plugin

mkdir -p /mnt/docker/rutorrent/config/custom_themes
git clone https://github.com/artyuum/3rd-party-ruTorrent-Themes.git \
  /mnt/docker/rutorrent/config/custom_themes/themes-pack

Image internals

• Source assets are fetched in a dedicated stage to maximise cache hits.
• ruTorrent and third-party plugins are fetched by explicit refs or depth-limited clones; native source dependencies use release tarballs or depth-limited clones.
• Supported source tarballs can be guarded with checksum build args such as CARES_SHA256.
• rTorrent and libtorrent are compiled with optional -Werror controls (STRICT_WERROR arg).
• Runtime image stays small: only runtime packages and healthcheck dependencies are installed.
• Healthcheck queries the ruTorrent UI via curl every 60 seconds.

License

Docker image ivanshift/rutorrent is released under the MIT License.