Transmission unable to download torrents

[stealer0517]

Ever since I reinstalled Freenas I have no been able to get Transmission to actually work. No matter what I have tried I have not been able to actually download a file. Whenever I open Transmission via its web link it shows up just fine, but whenever I try to add a torrent file it tries to download it into //Downloads, and even when I change it to the correct path it will not download it just gives me the error "Error: Permission denied (//Downloads/(torrent)"
Whenever I manually try to start up transmission I get this error

Any ideas?

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

You can ignore that error, I can explain why it's there but it may just cause more confusion.

Where did you set the downloads directory? With the latest version of the transmission plugin it should be set in the transmission WebUI.

Also, I assume you know all the other stuff about setting up a plugin (mounting storage to a jail, setting permissions so the plugin can write to that mounted dataset)

 

[stealer0517]

You can ignore that error, I can explain why it's there but it may just cause more confusion.

Where did you set the downloads directory? With the latest version of the transmission plugin it should be set in the transmission WebUI.

Also, I assume you know all the other stuff about setting up a plugin (mounting storage to a jail, setting permissions so the plugin can write to that mounted dataset)

here are my settings for transmission

and here are the mounting settings

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

That is no longer where you set the transmission download directory, double check the labels. Those, for the most part are more advanced settings.
More standard settings can be set in transmission directly from the WebUI, transmission remote program, or the commandline.

I specifically removed the duplicated settings from that menu so they wouldn't overwrite what was set in transmission.

 

[stealer0517]

That is no longer where you set the transmission download directory, double check the labels. Those, for the most part are more advanced settings.
More standard settings can be set in transmission directly from the WebUI, transmission remote program, or the commandline.

I specifically removed the duplicated settings from that menu so they wouldn't overwrite what was set in transmission.

I changed it and it shows the free space correctly (well close enough), but whenever I add a torrent it gives me the same error (even if I manually set it). Also whenever I restart transmission it just changes back to //Downloads again.
So what the hell does "script torrent done" do then?

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

I changed it and it shows the free space correctly (well close enough), but whenever I add a torrent it gives me the same error (even if I manually set it). Also whenever I restart transmission it just changes back to //Downloads again.
So what the hell does "script torrent done" do then?

That's not where you set the default download directory in the transmission WebUI, just the directory for a single upload. See attached.

The "Script Torrent Done" is a script transmission will run whenever a torrent completes. See here https://trac.transmissionbt.com/wiki/EditConfigFiles
For example in my setup, torrents are started from SickRage or CouchPotato, when done I have a script from the nzbToMedia project run which sends the download the Sickrage or CouchPotato to be post-processed.
You shouldn't be touching that unless you are making an automated setup.

 

[stealer0517]

That's not where you set the default download directory in the transmission WebUI, just the directory for a single upload. See attached.

The "Script Torrent Done" is a script transmission will run whenever a torrent completes. See here https://trac.transmissionbt.com/wiki/EditConfigFiles
For example in my setup, torrents are started from SickRage or CouchPotato, when done I have a script from the nzbToMedia project run which sends the download the Sickrage or CouchPotato to be post-processed.
You shouldn't be touching that unless you are making an automated setup.

I have it changed correctly in the settings. I uploaded it and planned to use it in my post, but decided not to and I guess I forgot to remove it.
In a previous install (when it wasn't working) I changed the folder where settings.json was located and edited it, but transmission still did not obey those settings.

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

Ok, I'm a bit confused. So downloads don't work at all (are there any errors), is the download setting being reset when you restart transmission?

If you post the output of the below commands from the transmission jail commandline we should be able to track this down.

Code:

cat /etc/rc.conf /etc/rc.conf.local | grep transmission
cat /usr/pbi/transmission-amd64/transmission/home/settings.json /var/db/transmission/settings.json | grep download-dir
ls -l /media

 

[stealer0517]

Ok, I'm a bit confused. So downloads don't work at all (are there any errors), is the download setting being reset when you restart transmission?

If you post the output of the below commands from the transmission jail commandline we should be able to track this down.

Code:

cat /etc/rc.conf /etc/rc.conf.local | grep transmission
cat /usr/pbi/transmission-amd64/transmission/home/settings.json /var/db/transmission/settings.json | grep download-dir
ls -l /media

Code:

root@transmission_1:/ # cat /etc/rc.conf /etc/rc.conf.local | grep transmission
cat: /etc/rc.conf.local: No such file or directory
hostname="transmission_1"
hostname="transmission_1"
transmission_conf_dir="/var/db/transmission"
transmission_download_dir=""
transmission_enable="YES" 

Code:

 
root@transmission_1:/ # cat /usr/pbi/transmission-amd64/transmission/home/settings.json /var/db/transmission/settings.json | grep download-dir
cat: /usr/pbi/transmission-amd64/transmission/home/settings.json: No such file or directory
  "download-dir": "//Downloads",

Code:

root@transmission_1:/ # ls -l /media
total 187
drwxr-xr-x  2 root  1001  9 Jul 18 17:05 .AppleDB
-rw-r--r--  1 1001  1001  10244 Jul 18 17:05 .DS_Store
drwxrwxrwt  3 1001  1001  3 Jul 12 17:35 .TemporaryItems
-rw-r--r--  1 1001  1001  898 Jul 11 21:18 .cshrc
-rw-r--r--  1 1001  1001  186 Jul 11 21:18 .login
-rw-r--r--  1 1001  1001  91 Jul 11 21:18 .login_conf
-rw-------  1 1001  1001  301 Jul 11 21:18 .mail_aliases
-rw-r--r--  1 1001  1001  267 Jul 11 21:18 .mailrc
-rw-r--r--  1 1001  1001  680 Jul 11 21:18 .profile
-rw-------  1 1001  1001  212 Jul 11 21:18 .rhosts
-rw-r--r--  1 1001  1001  909 Jul 11 21:18 .shrc
drwxr-xr-x  2 1001  1001  7 Jun 29 17:13 Backup
drwxr-xr-x  2 1001  1001  58 Jul 18 17:06 Cats
drwxr-xr-x  2 1001  1001  2 Jul 15 04:57 Downloading
drwxr-xr-x  3 1001  1001  4 Jul 12 19:56 Downloads
drwxr-xr-x  3 1001  1001  4 Jul 12 03:24 Images
drwxr-xr-x  32 1001  1001  33 Jun 16 18:24 Music
drwxr-xr-x  3 1001  1001  10 Jul 16 12:04 Potatobook Pro.sparsebundle
drwxr-xr-x  4 1001  1001  8 Jul 16 03:49 Software
drwxr-xr-x  2 1001  1001  6 Jul 11 00:18 Videos
drwxr-xr-x  2 1001  1001  2 Jul 12 02:36 Watch
drwxr-xr-x  3 1001  1001  10 Jul 16 22:58 isaac???s iMac.sparsebundle

sorry if the code /code doesnt work, im basing it off of the quote.

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

So it looks like your download-dir setting wasn't saved to the config file (which is normal, but should get applied when transmission is stopped). Can you trying stopping and starting transmission, and showing the ouputs of the 2nd and 3rd command again.

 

[stealer0517]

Code:

root@transmission_1:/ # cat /usr/pbi/transmission-amd64/transmission/home/settings.json /var/db/transmission/settings.json | grep download-dir
cat: /usr/pbi/transmission-amd64/transmission/home/settings.json: No such file or directory
  "download-dir": "/media/Downloads",
root@transmission_1:/ # ls -l /media
total 187
drwxr-xr-x  2 root  1001  9 Jul 18 17:05 .AppleDB
-rw-r--r--  1 1001  1001  10244 Jul 18 17:05 .DS_Store
drwxrwxrwt  3 1001  1001  3 Jul 12 17:35 .TemporaryItems
-rw-r--r--  1 1001  1001  898 Jul 11 21:18 .cshrc
-rw-r--r--  1 1001  1001  186 Jul 11 21:18 .login
-rw-r--r--  1 1001  1001  91 Jul 11 21:18 .login_conf
-rw-------  1 1001  1001  301 Jul 11 21:18 .mail_aliases
-rw-r--r--  1 1001  1001  267 Jul 11 21:18 .mailrc
-rw-r--r--  1 1001  1001  680 Jul 11 21:18 .profile
-rw-------  1 1001  1001  212 Jul 11 21:18 .rhosts
-rw-r--r--  1 1001  1001  909 Jul 11 21:18 .shrc
drwxr-xr-x  2 1001  1001  7 Jun 29 17:13 Backup
drwxr-xr-x  2 1001  1001  58 Jul 18 17:06 Cats
drwxr-xr-x  2 1001  1001  2 Jul 15 04:57 Downloading
drwxr-xr-x  3 1001  1001  4 Jul 12 19:56 Downloads
drwxr-xr-x  3 1001  1001  4 Jul 12 03:24 Images
drwxr-xr-x  32 1001  1001  33 Jun 16 18:24 Music
drwxr-xr-x  3 1001  1001  10 Jul 16 12:04 Potatobook Pro.sparsebundle
drwxr-xr-x  4 1001  1001  8 Jul 16 03:49 Software
drwxr-xr-x  2 1001  1001  6 Jul 11 00:18 Videos
drwxr-xr-x  2 1001  1001  2 Jul 12 02:36 Watch
drwxr-xr-x  3 1001  1001  10 Jul 16 22:58 isaac???s iMac.sparsebundle

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

Looks like your settings were saved so you could try a download now.

But... /media/Downloads isn't writeable by the user transmission runs as so you have change something.
See https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...plugins-write-permissions-to-your-data.27273/

 

[stealer0517]

Looks like your settings were saved so you could try a download now.

But... /media/Downloads isn't writeable by the user transmission runs as so you have change something.
See https://forums.freenas.org/index.ph...plugins-write-permissions-to-your-data.27273/

Thanks that fixed it! I guess whenever I moved my array over to the new install Freenas got rid of my permissions.
Not really sure why Transmission just now decided to change the default download directory (I've spent at least 10 hours trying to get this to work before), but it works now so I don't really care

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

Glad you got it working. Hopefully no more changes for a while now that it works, lol.

 

[stealer0517]

Glad you got it working. Hopefully no more changes for a while now that it works, lol.

wait... I appear to have broken something else now.
Now I cannot start transmission via the gui or via a command. When I try to start it with a command I get the error "su: pam_start: system error"

Code:

root@transmission_1:/usr/pbi/transmission-amd64/etc/rc.d # ./transmission forcestart
usage: chown [-fhvx] [-R [-H | -L | -P]] owner[:group] file ...
  chown [-fhvx] [-R [-H | -L | -P]] :group file ...
Starting transmission.
su: pam_start: system error
root@transmission_1:/usr/pbi/transmission-amd64/etc/rc.d #

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

wait... I appear to have broken something else now.
Now I cannot start transmission via the gui or via a command. When I try to start it with a command I get the error "su: pam_start: system error"

Code:

root@transmission_1:/usr/pbi/transmission-amd64/etc/rc.d # ./transmission forcestart
usage: chown [-fhvx] [-R [-H | -L | -P]] owner[:group] file ...
  chown [-fhvx] [-R [-H | -L | -P]] :group file ...
Starting transmission.
su: pam_start: system error
root@transmission_1:/usr/pbi/transmission-amd64/etc/rc.d #

Did you change the ownership or permissions of your jail/plugin dataset? That breaks it.
Never do that, only ever change ownership/permissions of datasets you mount into your jail.

 

[stealer0517]

Did you change the ownership or permissions of your jail/plugin dataset? That breaks it.
Never do that, only ever change ownership/permissions of datasets you mount into your jail.

I just used the gui setting inside of freenas to change the permissions of all files to 777 in my volume
What would be the best course of action? reinstall the jail?

 

[Joshua Parker Ruehlig]

I just used the gui setting inside of freenas to change the permissions of all files to 777 in my volume

Like I said, that action broke your jail. Only do that to datasets with data on them not jails (i.e. zpool/media not zpool/jails)

You can probably install a new instance of transmission, copy over /var/db/transmission, start the new instance, and delete the broken one.

 

[SweetAndLow]

I just used the gui setting inside of freenas to change the permissions of all files to 777 in my volume
What would be the best course of action? reinstall the jail?

Never directly modify the jails dataset or the root dataset. Only modify datasets you have shared.