1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
7 @settitle GNU Wget @value{VERSION} Manual
8 @c Disable the monstrous rectangles beside overfull hbox-es.
10 @c Use `odd' to print double-sided.
15 @c Remove this if you don't use A4 paper.
19 @c Title for man page. The weird way texi2pod.pl is written requires
20 @c the preceding @set.
22 @c man title Wget The non-interactive network downloader.
24 @dircategory Network Applications
26 * Wget: (wget). The non-interactive network downloader.
30 This file documents the the GNU Wget utility for downloading network
33 @c man begin COPYRIGHT
34 Copyright @copyright{} 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 Free
35 Software Foundation, Inc.
37 Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
38 this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
39 are preserved on all copies.
42 Permission is granted to process this file through TeX and print the
43 results, provided the printed document carries a copying permission
44 notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph
45 (this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).
47 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
48 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
49 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
50 Invariant Sections being ``GNU General Public License'' and ``GNU Free
51 Documentation License'', with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no
52 Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section
53 entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License''.
58 @title GNU Wget @value{VERSION}
59 @subtitle The non-interactive download utility
60 @subtitle Updated for Wget @value{VERSION}, @value{UPDATED}
61 @author by Hrvoje Nik@v{s}i@'{c} and the developers
65 Originally written by Hrvoje Niksic <hniksic@arsdigita.com>.
68 GNU Info entry for @file{wget}.
73 @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
74 Copyright @copyright{} 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003 Free Software
77 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
78 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
79 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
80 Invariant Sections being ``GNU General Public License'' and ``GNU Free
81 Documentation License'', with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no
82 Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section
83 entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License''.
87 @node Top, Overview, (dir), (dir)
88 @top Wget @value{VERSION}
90 This manual documents version @value{VERSION} of GNU Wget, the freely
91 available utility for network downloads.
93 Copyright @copyright{} 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003 Free Software
97 * Overview:: Features of Wget.
98 * Invoking:: Wget command-line arguments.
99 * Recursive Retrieval:: Description of recursive retrieval.
100 * Following Links:: The available methods of chasing links.
101 * Time-Stamping:: Mirroring according to time-stamps.
102 * Startup File:: Wget's initialization file.
103 * Examples:: Examples of usage.
104 * Various:: The stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else.
105 * Appendices:: Some useful references.
106 * Copying:: You may give out copies of Wget and of this manual.
107 * Concept Index:: Topics covered by this manual.
111 @node Overview, Invoking, Top, Top
116 @c man begin DESCRIPTION
117 GNU Wget is a free utility for non-interactive download of files from
118 the Web. It supports @sc{http}, @sc{https}, and @sc{ftp} protocols, as
119 well as retrieval through @sc{http} proxies.
122 This chapter is a partial overview of Wget's features.
126 @c man begin DESCRIPTION
127 Wget is non-interactive, meaning that it can work in the background,
128 while the user is not logged on. This allows you to start a retrieval
129 and disconnect from the system, letting Wget finish the work. By
130 contrast, most of the Web browsers require constant user's presence,
131 which can be a great hindrance when transferring a lot of data.
137 @c man begin DESCRIPTION
141 @c man begin DESCRIPTION
142 Wget can follow links in @sc{html} and @sc{xhtml} pages and create local
143 versions of remote web sites, fully recreating the directory structure of
144 the original site. This is sometimes referred to as ``recursive
145 downloading.'' While doing that, Wget respects the Robot Exclusion
146 Standard (@file{/robots.txt}). Wget can be instructed to convert the
147 links in downloaded @sc{html} files to the local files for offline
153 File name wildcard matching and recursive mirroring of directories are
154 available when retrieving via @sc{ftp}. Wget can read the time-stamp
155 information given by both @sc{http} and @sc{ftp} servers, and store it
156 locally. Thus Wget can see if the remote file has changed since last
157 retrieval, and automatically retrieve the new version if it has. This
158 makes Wget suitable for mirroring of @sc{ftp} sites, as well as home
164 @c man begin DESCRIPTION
168 @c man begin DESCRIPTION
169 Wget has been designed for robustness over slow or unstable network
170 connections; if a download fails due to a network problem, it will
171 keep retrying until the whole file has been retrieved. If the server
172 supports regetting, it will instruct the server to continue the
173 download from where it left off.
178 Wget supports proxy servers, which can lighten the network load, speed
179 up retrieval and provide access behind firewalls. However, if you are
180 behind a firewall that requires that you use a socks style gateway, you
181 can get the socks library and build Wget with support for socks. Wget
182 also supports the passive @sc{ftp} downloading as an option.
186 Built-in features offer mechanisms to tune which links you wish to follow
187 (@pxref{Following Links}).
191 The retrieval is conveniently traced with printing dots, each dot
192 representing a fixed amount of data received (1KB by default). These
193 representations can be customized to your preferences.
197 Most of the features are fully configurable, either through command line
198 options, or via the initialization file @file{.wgetrc} (@pxref{Startup
199 File}). Wget allows you to define @dfn{global} startup files
200 (@file{/usr/local/etc/wgetrc} by default) for site settings.
205 @item /usr/local/etc/wgetrc
206 Default location of the @dfn{global} startup file.
216 Finally, GNU Wget is free software. This means that everyone may use
217 it, redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
218 Public License, as published by the Free Software Foundation
222 @node Invoking, Recursive Retrieval, Overview, Top
229 By default, Wget is very simple to invoke. The basic syntax is:
232 @c man begin SYNOPSIS
233 wget [@var{option}]@dots{} [@var{URL}]@dots{}
237 Wget will simply download all the @sc{url}s specified on the command
238 line. @var{URL} is a @dfn{Uniform Resource Locator}, as defined below.
240 However, you may wish to change some of the default parameters of
241 Wget. You can do it two ways: permanently, adding the appropriate
242 command to @file{.wgetrc} (@pxref{Startup File}), or specifying it on
248 * Basic Startup Options::
249 * Logging and Input File Options::
251 * Directory Options::
254 * Recursive Retrieval Options::
255 * Recursive Accept/Reject Options::
258 @node URL Format, Option Syntax, Invoking, Invoking
263 @dfn{URL} is an acronym for Uniform Resource Locator. A uniform
264 resource locator is a compact string representation for a resource
265 available via the Internet. Wget recognizes the @sc{url} syntax as per
266 @sc{rfc1738}. This is the most widely used form (square brackets denote
270 http://host[:port]/directory/file
271 ftp://host[:port]/directory/file
274 You can also encode your username and password within a @sc{url}:
277 ftp://user:password@@host/path
278 http://user:password@@host/path
281 Either @var{user} or @var{password}, or both, may be left out. If you
282 leave out either the @sc{http} username or password, no authentication
283 will be sent. If you leave out the @sc{ftp} username, @samp{anonymous}
284 will be used. If you leave out the @sc{ftp} password, your email
285 address will be supplied as a default password.@footnote{If you have a
286 @file{.netrc} file in your home directory, password will also be
289 @strong{Important Note}: if you specify a password-containing @sc{url}
290 on the command line, the username and password will be plainly visible
291 to all users on the system, by way of @code{ps}. On multi-user systems,
292 this is a big security risk. To work around it, use @code{wget -i -}
293 and feed the @sc{url}s to Wget's standard input, each on a separate
294 line, terminated by @kbd{C-d}.
296 You can encode unsafe characters in a @sc{url} as @samp{%xy}, @code{xy}
297 being the hexadecimal representation of the character's @sc{ascii}
298 value. Some common unsafe characters include @samp{%} (quoted as
299 @samp{%25}), @samp{:} (quoted as @samp{%3A}), and @samp{@@} (quoted as
300 @samp{%40}). Refer to @sc{rfc1738} for a comprehensive list of unsafe
303 Wget also supports the @code{type} feature for @sc{ftp} @sc{url}s. By
304 default, @sc{ftp} documents are retrieved in the binary mode (type
305 @samp{i}), which means that they are downloaded unchanged. Another
306 useful mode is the @samp{a} (@dfn{ASCII}) mode, which converts the line
307 delimiters between the different operating systems, and is thus useful
308 for text files. Here is an example:
311 ftp://host/directory/file;type=a
314 Two alternative variants of @sc{url} specification are also supported,
315 because of historical (hysterical?) reasons and their widespreaded use.
317 @sc{ftp}-only syntax (supported by @code{NcFTP}):
322 @sc{http}-only syntax (introduced by @code{Netscape}):
327 These two alternative forms are deprecated, and may cease being
328 supported in the future.
330 If you do not understand the difference between these notations, or do
331 not know which one to use, just use the plain ordinary format you use
332 with your favorite browser, like @code{Lynx} or @code{Netscape}.
334 @node Option Syntax, Basic Startup Options, URL Format, Invoking
335 @section Option Syntax
336 @cindex option syntax
337 @cindex syntax of options
339 Since Wget uses GNU getopts to process its arguments, every option has a
340 short form and a long form. Long options are more convenient to
341 remember, but take time to type. You may freely mix different option
342 styles, or specify options after the command-line arguments. Thus you
346 wget -r --tries=10 http://fly.srk.fer.hr/ -o log
349 The space between the option accepting an argument and the argument may
350 be omitted. Instead @samp{-o log} you can write @samp{-olog}.
352 You may put several options that do not require arguments together,
359 This is a complete equivalent of:
362 wget -d -r -c @var{URL}
365 Since the options can be specified after the arguments, you may
366 terminate them with @samp{--}. So the following will try to download
367 @sc{url} @samp{-x}, reporting failure to @file{log}:
373 The options that accept comma-separated lists all respect the convention
374 that specifying an empty list clears its value. This can be useful to
375 clear the @file{.wgetrc} settings. For instance, if your @file{.wgetrc}
376 sets @code{exclude_directories} to @file{/cgi-bin}, the following
377 example will first reset it, and then set it to exclude @file{/~nobody}
378 and @file{/~somebody}. You can also clear the lists in @file{.wgetrc}
379 (@pxref{Wgetrc Syntax}).
382 wget -X '' -X /~nobody,/~somebody
387 @node Basic Startup Options, Logging and Input File Options, Option Syntax, Invoking
388 @section Basic Startup Options
393 Display the version of Wget.
397 Print a help message describing all of Wget's command-line options.
401 Go to background immediately after startup. If no output file is
402 specified via the @samp{-o}, output is redirected to @file{wget-log}.
404 @cindex execute wgetrc command
405 @item -e @var{command}
406 @itemx --execute @var{command}
407 Execute @var{command} as if it were a part of @file{.wgetrc}
408 (@pxref{Startup File}). A command thus invoked will be executed
409 @emph{after} the commands in @file{.wgetrc}, thus taking precedence over
413 @node Logging and Input File Options, Download Options, Basic Startup Options, Invoking
414 @section Logging and Input File Options
419 @item -o @var{logfile}
420 @itemx --output-file=@var{logfile}
421 Log all messages to @var{logfile}. The messages are normally reported
424 @cindex append to log
425 @item -a @var{logfile}
426 @itemx --append-output=@var{logfile}
427 Append to @var{logfile}. This is the same as @samp{-o}, only it appends
428 to @var{logfile} instead of overwriting the old log file. If
429 @var{logfile} does not exist, a new file is created.
434 Turn on debug output, meaning various information important to the
435 developers of Wget if it does not work properly. Your system
436 administrator may have chosen to compile Wget without debug support, in
437 which case @samp{-d} will not work. Please note that compiling with
438 debug support is always safe---Wget compiled with the debug support will
439 @emph{not} print any debug info unless requested with @samp{-d}.
440 @xref{Reporting Bugs}, for more information on how to use @samp{-d} for
446 Turn off Wget's output.
451 Turn on verbose output, with all the available data. The default output
456 Non-verbose output---turn off verbose without being completely quiet
457 (use @samp{-q} for that), which means that error messages and basic
458 information still get printed.
462 @itemx --input-file=@var{file}
463 Read @sc{url}s from @var{file}, in which case no @sc{url}s need to be on
464 the command line. If there are @sc{url}s both on the command line and
465 in an input file, those on the command lines will be the first ones to
466 be retrieved. The @var{file} need not be an @sc{html} document (but no
467 harm if it is)---it is enough if the @sc{url}s are just listed
470 However, if you specify @samp{--force-html}, the document will be
471 regarded as @samp{html}. In that case you may have problems with
472 relative links, which you can solve either by adding @code{<base
473 href="@var{url}">} to the documents or by specifying
474 @samp{--base=@var{url}} on the command line.
479 When input is read from a file, force it to be treated as an @sc{html}
480 file. This enables you to retrieve relative links from existing
481 @sc{html} files on your local disk, by adding @code{<base
482 href="@var{url}">} to @sc{html}, or using the @samp{--base} command-line
485 @cindex base for relative links in input file
487 @itemx --base=@var{URL}
488 When used in conjunction with @samp{-F}, prepends @var{URL} to relative
489 links in the file specified by @samp{-i}.
492 @node Download Options, Directory Options, Logging and Input File Options, Invoking
493 @section Download Options
496 @cindex bind() address
497 @cindex client IP address
498 @cindex IP address, client
499 @item --bind-address=@var{ADDRESS}
500 When making client TCP/IP connections, @code{bind()} to @var{ADDRESS} on
501 the local machine. @var{ADDRESS} may be specified as a hostname or IP
502 address. This option can be useful if your machine is bound to multiple
507 @cindex number of retries
508 @item -t @var{number}
509 @itemx --tries=@var{number}
510 Set number of retries to @var{number}. Specify 0 or @samp{inf} for
511 infinite retrying. The default is to retry 20 times, with the exception
512 of fatal errors like ``connection refused'' or ``not found'' (404),
513 which are not retried.
516 @itemx --output-document=@var{file}
517 The documents will not be written to the appropriate files, but all will
518 be concatenated together and written to @var{file}. If @var{file}
519 already exists, it will be overwritten. If the @var{file} is @samp{-},
520 the documents will be written to standard output. Including this option
521 automatically sets the number of tries to 1.
523 @cindex clobbering, file
524 @cindex downloading multiple times
528 If a file is downloaded more than once in the same directory, Wget's
529 behavior depends on a few options, including @samp{-nc}. In certain
530 cases, the local file will be @dfn{clobbered}, or overwritten, upon
531 repeated download. In other cases it will be preserved.
533 When running Wget without @samp{-N}, @samp{-nc}, or @samp{-r},
534 downloading the same file in the same directory will result in the
535 original copy of @var{file} being preserved and the second copy being
536 named @samp{@var{file}.1}. If that file is downloaded yet again, the
537 third copy will be named @samp{@var{file}.2}, and so on. When
538 @samp{-nc} is specified, this behavior is suppressed, and Wget will
539 refuse to download newer copies of @samp{@var{file}}. Therefore,
540 ``@code{no-clobber}'' is actually a misnomer in this mode---it's not
541 clobbering that's prevented (as the numeric suffixes were already
542 preventing clobbering), but rather the multiple version saving that's
545 When running Wget with @samp{-r}, but without @samp{-N} or @samp{-nc},
546 re-downloading a file will result in the new copy simply overwriting the
547 old. Adding @samp{-nc} will prevent this behavior, instead causing the
548 original version to be preserved and any newer copies on the server to
551 When running Wget with @samp{-N}, with or without @samp{-r}, the
552 decision as to whether or not to download a newer copy of a file depends
553 on the local and remote timestamp and size of the file
554 (@pxref{Time-Stamping}). @samp{-nc} may not be specified at the same
557 Note that when @samp{-nc} is specified, files with the suffixes
558 @samp{.html} or (yuck) @samp{.htm} will be loaded from the local disk
559 and parsed as if they had been retrieved from the Web.
561 @cindex continue retrieval
562 @cindex incomplete downloads
563 @cindex resume download
566 Continue getting a partially-downloaded file. This is useful when you
567 want to finish up a download started by a previous instance of Wget, or
568 by another program. For instance:
571 wget -c ftp://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/ls-lR.Z
574 If there is a file named @file{ls-lR.Z} in the current directory, Wget
575 will assume that it is the first portion of the remote file, and will
576 ask the server to continue the retrieval from an offset equal to the
577 length of the local file.
579 Note that you don't need to specify this option if you just want the
580 current invocation of Wget to retry downloading a file should the
581 connection be lost midway through. This is the default behavior.
582 @samp{-c} only affects resumption of downloads started @emph{prior} to
583 this invocation of Wget, and whose local files are still sitting around.
585 Without @samp{-c}, the previous example would just download the remote
586 file to @file{ls-lR.Z.1}, leaving the truncated @file{ls-lR.Z} file
589 Beginning with Wget 1.7, if you use @samp{-c} on a non-empty file, and
590 it turns out that the server does not support continued downloading,
591 Wget will refuse to start the download from scratch, which would
592 effectively ruin existing contents. If you really want the download to
593 start from scratch, remove the file.
595 Also beginning with Wget 1.7, if you use @samp{-c} on a file which is of
596 equal size as the one on the server, Wget will refuse to download the
597 file and print an explanatory message. The same happens when the file
598 is smaller on the server than locally (presumably because it was changed
599 on the server since your last download attempt)---because ``continuing''
600 is not meaningful, no download occurs.
602 On the other side of the coin, while using @samp{-c}, any file that's
603 bigger on the server than locally will be considered an incomplete
604 download and only @code{(length(remote) - length(local))} bytes will be
605 downloaded and tacked onto the end of the local file. This behavior can
606 be desirable in certain cases---for instance, you can use @samp{wget -c}
607 to download just the new portion that's been appended to a data
608 collection or log file.
610 However, if the file is bigger on the server because it's been
611 @emph{changed}, as opposed to just @emph{appended} to, you'll end up
612 with a garbled file. Wget has no way of verifying that the local file
613 is really a valid prefix of the remote file. You need to be especially
614 careful of this when using @samp{-c} in conjunction with @samp{-r},
615 since every file will be considered as an "incomplete download" candidate.
617 Another instance where you'll get a garbled file if you try to use
618 @samp{-c} is if you have a lame @sc{http} proxy that inserts a
619 ``transfer interrupted'' string into the local file. In the future a
620 ``rollback'' option may be added to deal with this case.
622 Note that @samp{-c} only works with @sc{ftp} servers and with @sc{http}
623 servers that support the @code{Range} header.
625 @cindex progress indicator
627 @item --progress=@var{type}
628 Select the type of the progress indicator you wish to use. Legal
629 indicators are ``dot'' and ``bar''.
631 The ``bar'' indicator is used by default. It draws an @sc{ascii} progress
632 bar graphics (a.k.a ``thermometer'' display) indicating the status of
633 retrieval. If the output is not a TTY, the ``dot'' bar will be used by
636 Use @samp{--progress=dot} to switch to the ``dot'' display. It traces
637 the retrieval by printing dots on the screen, each dot representing a
638 fixed amount of downloaded data.
640 When using the dotted retrieval, you may also set the @dfn{style} by
641 specifying the type as @samp{dot:@var{style}}. Different styles assign
642 different meaning to one dot. With the @code{default} style each dot
643 represents 1K, there are ten dots in a cluster and 50 dots in a line.
644 The @code{binary} style has a more ``computer''-like orientation---8K
645 dots, 16-dots clusters and 48 dots per line (which makes for 384K
646 lines). The @code{mega} style is suitable for downloading very large
647 files---each dot represents 64K retrieved, there are eight dots in a
648 cluster, and 48 dots on each line (so each line contains 3M).
650 Note that you can set the default style using the @code{progress}
651 command in @file{.wgetrc}. That setting may be overridden from the
652 command line. The exception is that, when the output is not a TTY, the
653 ``dot'' progress will be favored over ``bar''. To force the bar output,
654 use @samp{--progress=bar:force}.
657 @itemx --timestamping
658 Turn on time-stamping. @xref{Time-Stamping}, for details.
660 @cindex server response, print
662 @itemx --server-response
663 Print the headers sent by @sc{http} servers and responses sent by
666 @cindex Wget as spider
669 When invoked with this option, Wget will behave as a Web @dfn{spider},
670 which means that it will not download the pages, just check that they
671 are there. For example, you can use Wget to check your bookmarks:
674 wget --spider --force-html -i bookmarks.html
677 This feature needs much more work for Wget to get close to the
678 functionality of real web spiders.
682 @itemx --timeout=@var{seconds}
683 Set the network timeout to @var{seconds} seconds. This is equivalent
684 to specifying @samp{--dns-timeout}, @samp{--connect-timeout}, and
685 @samp{--read-timeout}, all at the same time.
687 Whenever Wget connects to or reads from a remote host, it checks for a
688 timeout and aborts the operation if the time expires. This prevents
689 anomalous occurrences such as hanging reads or infinite connects. The
690 only timeout enabled by default is a 900-second timeout for reading.
691 Setting timeout to 0 disables checking for timeouts.
693 Unless you know what you are doing, it is best not to set any of the
694 timeout-related options.
698 @item --dns-timeout=@var{seconds}
699 Set the DNS lookup timeout to @var{seconds} seconds. DNS lookups that
700 don't complete within the specified time will fail. By default, there
701 is no timeout on DNS lookups, other than that implemented by system
704 @cindex connect timeout
705 @cindex timeout, connect
706 @item --connect-timeout=@var{seconds}
707 Set the connect timeout to @var{seconds} seconds. TCP connections that
708 take longer to establish will be aborted. By default, there is no
709 connect timeout, other than that implemented by system libraries.
712 @cindex timeout, read
713 @item --read-timeout=@var{seconds}
714 Set the read (and write) timeout to @var{seconds} seconds. Reads that
715 take longer will fail. The default value for read timeout is 900
718 @cindex bandwidth, limit
720 @cindex limit bandwidth
721 @item --limit-rate=@var{amount}
722 Limit the download speed to @var{amount} bytes per second. Amount may
723 be expressed in bytes, kilobytes with the @samp{k} suffix, or megabytes
724 with the @samp{m} suffix. For example, @samp{--limit-rate=20k} will
725 limit the retrieval rate to 20KB/s. This kind of thing is useful when,
726 for whatever reason, you don't want Wget to consume the entire available
729 Note that Wget implements the limiting by sleeping the appropriate
730 amount of time after a network read that took less time than specified
731 by the rate. Eventually this strategy causes the TCP transfer to slow
732 down to approximately the specified rate. However, it may take some
733 time for this balance to be achieved, so don't be surprised if limiting
734 the rate doesn't work well with very small files.
738 @item -w @var{seconds}
739 @itemx --wait=@var{seconds}
740 Wait the specified number of seconds between the retrievals. Use of
741 this option is recommended, as it lightens the server load by making the
742 requests less frequent. Instead of in seconds, the time can be
743 specified in minutes using the @code{m} suffix, in hours using @code{h}
744 suffix, or in days using @code{d} suffix.
746 Specifying a large value for this option is useful if the network or the
747 destination host is down, so that Wget can wait long enough to
748 reasonably expect the network error to be fixed before the retry.
750 @cindex retries, waiting between
751 @cindex waiting between retries
752 @item --waitretry=@var{seconds}
753 If you don't want Wget to wait between @emph{every} retrieval, but only
754 between retries of failed downloads, you can use this option. Wget will
755 use @dfn{linear backoff}, waiting 1 second after the first failure on a
756 given file, then waiting 2 seconds after the second failure on that
757 file, up to the maximum number of @var{seconds} you specify. Therefore,
758 a value of 10 will actually make Wget wait up to (1 + 2 + ... + 10) = 55
761 Note that this option is turned on by default in the global
767 Some web sites may perform log analysis to identify retrieval programs
768 such as Wget by looking for statistically significant similarities in
769 the time between requests. This option causes the time between requests
770 to vary between 0 and 2 * @var{wait} seconds, where @var{wait} was
771 specified using the @samp{--wait} option, in order to mask Wget's
772 presence from such analysis.
774 A recent article in a publication devoted to development on a popular
775 consumer platform provided code to perform this analysis on the fly.
776 Its author suggested blocking at the class C address level to ensure
777 automated retrieval programs were blocked despite changing DHCP-supplied
780 The @samp{--random-wait} option was inspired by this ill-advised
781 recommendation to block many unrelated users from a web site due to the
786 @itemx --proxy=on/off
787 Turn proxy support on or off. The proxy is on by default if the
788 appropriate environment variable is defined.
790 For more information about the use of proxies with Wget, @xref{Proxies}.
794 @itemx --quota=@var{quota}
795 Specify download quota for automatic retrievals. The value can be
796 specified in bytes (default), kilobytes (with @samp{k} suffix), or
797 megabytes (with @samp{m} suffix).
799 Note that quota will never affect downloading a single file. So if you
800 specify @samp{wget -Q10k ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/ls-lR.gz}, all of the
801 @file{ls-lR.gz} will be downloaded. The same goes even when several
802 @sc{url}s are specified on the command-line. However, quota is
803 respected when retrieving either recursively, or from an input file.
804 Thus you may safely type @samp{wget -Q2m -i sites}---download will be
805 aborted when the quota is exceeded.
807 Setting quota to 0 or to @samp{inf} unlimits the download quota.
810 @cindex caching of DNS lookups
811 @item --dns-cache=off
812 Turn off caching of DNS lookups. Normally, Wget remembers the addresses
813 it looked up from DNS so it doesn't have to repeatedly contact the DNS
814 server for the same (typically small) set of addresses it retrieves
815 from. This cache exists in memory only; a new Wget run will contact DNS
818 However, in some cases it is not desirable to cache host names, even for
819 the duration of a short-running application like Wget. For example,
820 some HTTP servers are hosted on machines with dynamically allocated IP
821 addresses that change from time to time. Their DNS entries are updated
822 along with each change. When Wget's download from such a host gets
823 interrupted by IP address change, Wget retries the download, but (due to
824 DNS caching) it contacts the old address. With the DNS cache turned
825 off, Wget will repeat the DNS lookup for every connect and will thus get
826 the correct dynamic address every time---at the cost of additional DNS
827 lookups where they're probably not needed.
829 If you don't understand the above description, you probably won't need
832 @cindex file names, restrict
833 @cindex Windows file names
834 @item --restrict-file-names=@var{mode}
835 Change which characters found in remote URLs may show up in local file
836 names generated from those URLs. Characters that are @dfn{restricted}
837 by this option are escaped, i.e. replaced with @samp{%HH}, where
838 @samp{HH} is the hexadecimal number that corresponds to the restricted
841 By default, Wget escapes the characters that are not valid as part of
842 file names on your operating system, as well as control characters that
843 are typically unprintable. This option is useful for changing these
844 defaults, either because you are downloading to a non-native partition,
845 or because you want to disable escaping of the control characters.
847 When mode is set to ``unix'', Wget escapes the character @samp{/} and
848 the control characters in the ranges 0--31 and 128--159. This is the
849 default on Unix-like OS'es.
851 When mode is set to ``windows'', Wget escapes the characters @samp{\},
852 @samp{|}, @samp{/}, @samp{:}, @samp{?}, @samp{"}, @samp{*}, @samp{<},
853 @samp{>}, and the control characters in the ranges 0--31 and 128--159.
854 In addition to this, Wget in Windows mode uses @samp{+} instead of
855 @samp{:} to separate host and port in local file names, and uses
856 @samp{@@} instead of @samp{?} to separate the query portion of the file
857 name from the rest. Therefore, a URL that would be saved as
858 @samp{www.xemacs.org:4300/search.pl?input=blah} in Unix mode would be
859 saved as @samp{www.xemacs.org+4300/search.pl@@input=blah} in Windows
860 mode. This mode is the default on Windows.
862 If you append @samp{,nocontrol} to the mode, as in
863 @samp{unix,nocontrol}, escaping of the control characters is also
864 switched off. You can use @samp{--restrict-file-names=nocontrol} to
865 turn off escaping of control characters without affecting the choice of
866 the OS to use as file name restriction mode.
869 @node Directory Options, HTTP Options, Download Options, Invoking
870 @section Directory Options
874 @itemx --no-directories
875 Do not create a hierarchy of directories when retrieving recursively.
876 With this option turned on, all files will get saved to the current
877 directory, without clobbering (if a name shows up more than once, the
878 filenames will get extensions @samp{.n}).
881 @itemx --force-directories
882 The opposite of @samp{-nd}---create a hierarchy of directories, even if
883 one would not have been created otherwise. E.g. @samp{wget -x
884 http://fly.srk.fer.hr/robots.txt} will save the downloaded file to
885 @file{fly.srk.fer.hr/robots.txt}.
888 @itemx --no-host-directories
889 Disable generation of host-prefixed directories. By default, invoking
890 Wget with @samp{-r http://fly.srk.fer.hr/} will create a structure of
891 directories beginning with @file{fly.srk.fer.hr/}. This option disables
894 @cindex cut directories
895 @item --cut-dirs=@var{number}
896 Ignore @var{number} directory components. This is useful for getting a
897 fine-grained control over the directory where recursive retrieval will
900 Take, for example, the directory at
901 @samp{ftp://ftp.xemacs.org/pub/xemacs/}. If you retrieve it with
902 @samp{-r}, it will be saved locally under
903 @file{ftp.xemacs.org/pub/xemacs/}. While the @samp{-nH} option can
904 remove the @file{ftp.xemacs.org/} part, you are still stuck with
905 @file{pub/xemacs}. This is where @samp{--cut-dirs} comes in handy; it
906 makes Wget not ``see'' @var{number} remote directory components. Here
907 are several examples of how @samp{--cut-dirs} option works.
911 No options -> ftp.xemacs.org/pub/xemacs/
913 -nH --cut-dirs=1 -> xemacs/
914 -nH --cut-dirs=2 -> .
916 --cut-dirs=1 -> ftp.xemacs.org/xemacs/
921 If you just want to get rid of the directory structure, this option is
922 similar to a combination of @samp{-nd} and @samp{-P}. However, unlike
923 @samp{-nd}, @samp{--cut-dirs} does not lose with subdirectories---for
924 instance, with @samp{-nH --cut-dirs=1}, a @file{beta/} subdirectory will
925 be placed to @file{xemacs/beta}, as one would expect.
927 @cindex directory prefix
928 @item -P @var{prefix}
929 @itemx --directory-prefix=@var{prefix}
930 Set directory prefix to @var{prefix}. The @dfn{directory prefix} is the
931 directory where all other files and subdirectories will be saved to,
932 i.e. the top of the retrieval tree. The default is @samp{.} (the
936 @node HTTP Options, FTP Options, Directory Options, Invoking
937 @section HTTP Options
940 @cindex .html extension
942 @itemx --html-extension
943 If a file of type @samp{application/xhtml+xml} or @samp{text/html} is
944 downloaded and the URL does not end with the regexp
945 @samp{\.[Hh][Tt][Mm][Ll]?}, this option will cause the suffix @samp{.html}
946 to be appended to the local filename. This is useful, for instance, when
947 you're mirroring a remote site that uses @samp{.asp} pages, but you want
948 the mirrored pages to be viewable on your stock Apache server. Another
949 good use for this is when you're downloading CGI-generated materials. A URL
950 like @samp{http://site.com/article.cgi?25} will be saved as
951 @file{article.cgi?25.html}.
953 Note that filenames changed in this way will be re-downloaded every time
954 you re-mirror a site, because Wget can't tell that the local
955 @file{@var{X}.html} file corresponds to remote URL @samp{@var{X}} (since
956 it doesn't yet know that the URL produces output of type
957 @samp{text/html} or @samp{application/xhtml+xml}. To prevent this
958 re-downloading, you must use @samp{-k} and @samp{-K} so that the original
959 version of the file will be saved as @file{@var{X}.orig} (@pxref{Recursive
963 @cindex http password
964 @cindex authentication
965 @item --http-user=@var{user}
966 @itemx --http-passwd=@var{password}
967 Specify the username @var{user} and password @var{password} on an
968 @sc{http} server. According to the type of the challenge, Wget will
969 encode them using either the @code{basic} (insecure) or the
970 @code{digest} authentication scheme.
972 Another way to specify username and password is in the @sc{url} itself
973 (@pxref{URL Format}). Either method reveals your password to anyone who
974 bothers to run @code{ps}. To prevent the passwords from being seen,
975 store them in @file{.wgetrc} or @file{.netrc}, and make sure to protect
976 those files from other users with @code{chmod}. If the passwords are
977 really important, do not leave them lying in those files either---edit
978 the files and delete them after Wget has started the download.
980 For more information about security issues with Wget, @xref{Security
986 @itemx --cache=on/off
987 When set to off, disable server-side cache. In this case, Wget will
988 send the remote server an appropriate directive (@samp{Pragma:
989 no-cache}) to get the file from the remote service, rather than
990 returning the cached version. This is especially useful for retrieving
991 and flushing out-of-date documents on proxy servers.
993 Caching is allowed by default.
996 @item --cookies=on/off
997 When set to off, disable the use of cookies. Cookies are a mechanism
998 for maintaining server-side state. The server sends the client a cookie
999 using the @code{Set-Cookie} header, and the client responds with the
1000 same cookie upon further requests. Since cookies allow the server
1001 owners to keep track of visitors and for sites to exchange this
1002 information, some consider them a breach of privacy. The default is to
1003 use cookies; however, @emph{storing} cookies is not on by default.
1005 @cindex loading cookies
1006 @cindex cookies, loading
1007 @item --load-cookies @var{file}
1008 Load cookies from @var{file} before the first HTTP retrieval.
1009 @var{file} is a textual file in the format originally used by Netscape's
1010 @file{cookies.txt} file.
1012 You will typically use this option when mirroring sites that require
1013 that you be logged in to access some or all of their content. The login
1014 process typically works by the web server issuing an @sc{http} cookie
1015 upon receiving and verifying your credentials. The cookie is then
1016 resent by the browser when accessing that part of the site, and so
1017 proves your identity.
1019 Mirroring such a site requires Wget to send the same cookies your
1020 browser sends when communicating with the site. This is achieved by
1021 @samp{--load-cookies}---simply point Wget to the location of the
1022 @file{cookies.txt} file, and it will send the same cookies your browser
1023 would send in the same situation. Different browsers keep textual
1024 cookie files in different locations:
1028 The cookies are in @file{~/.netscape/cookies.txt}.
1030 @item Mozilla and Netscape 6.x.
1031 Mozilla's cookie file is also named @file{cookies.txt}, located
1032 somewhere under @file{~/.mozilla}, in the directory of your profile.
1033 The full path usually ends up looking somewhat like
1034 @file{~/.mozilla/default/@var{some-weird-string}/cookies.txt}.
1036 @item Internet Explorer.
1037 You can produce a cookie file Wget can use by using the File menu,
1038 Import and Export, Export Cookies. This has been tested with Internet
1039 Explorer 5; it is not guaranteed to work with earlier versions.
1041 @item Other browsers.
1042 If you are using a different browser to create your cookies,
1043 @samp{--load-cookies} will only work if you can locate or produce a
1044 cookie file in the Netscape format that Wget expects.
1047 If you cannot use @samp{--load-cookies}, there might still be an
1048 alternative. If your browser supports a ``cookie manager'', you can use
1049 it to view the cookies used when accessing the site you're mirroring.
1050 Write down the name and value of the cookie, and manually instruct Wget
1051 to send those cookies, bypassing the ``official'' cookie support:
1054 wget --cookies=off --header "Cookie: @var{name}=@var{value}"
1057 @cindex saving cookies
1058 @cindex cookies, saving
1059 @item --save-cookies @var{file}
1060 Save cookies to @var{file} at the end of session. Cookies whose expiry
1061 time is not specified, or those that have already expired, are not
1064 @cindex Content-Length, ignore
1065 @cindex ignore length
1066 @item --ignore-length
1067 Unfortunately, some @sc{http} servers (@sc{cgi} programs, to be more
1068 precise) send out bogus @code{Content-Length} headers, which makes Wget
1069 go wild, as it thinks not all the document was retrieved. You can spot
1070 this syndrome if Wget retries getting the same document again and again,
1071 each time claiming that the (otherwise normal) connection has closed on
1074 With this option, Wget will ignore the @code{Content-Length} header---as
1075 if it never existed.
1078 @item --header=@var{additional-header}
1079 Define an @var{additional-header} to be passed to the @sc{http} servers.
1080 Headers must contain a @samp{:} preceded by one or more non-blank
1081 characters, and must not contain newlines.
1083 You may define more than one additional header by specifying
1084 @samp{--header} more than once.
1088 wget --header='Accept-Charset: iso-8859-2' \
1089 --header='Accept-Language: hr' \
1090 http://fly.srk.fer.hr/
1094 Specification of an empty string as the header value will clear all
1095 previous user-defined headers.
1098 @cindex proxy password
1099 @cindex proxy authentication
1100 @item --proxy-user=@var{user}
1101 @itemx --proxy-passwd=@var{password}
1102 Specify the username @var{user} and password @var{password} for
1103 authentication on a proxy server. Wget will encode them using the
1104 @code{basic} authentication scheme.
1106 Security considerations similar to those with @samp{--http-passwd}
1107 pertain here as well.
1109 @cindex http referer
1110 @cindex referer, http
1111 @item --referer=@var{url}
1112 Include `Referer: @var{url}' header in HTTP request. Useful for
1113 retrieving documents with server-side processing that assume they are
1114 always being retrieved by interactive web browsers and only come out
1115 properly when Referer is set to one of the pages that point to them.
1117 @cindex server response, save
1119 @itemx --save-headers
1120 Save the headers sent by the @sc{http} server to the file, preceding the
1121 actual contents, with an empty line as the separator.
1124 @item -U @var{agent-string}
1125 @itemx --user-agent=@var{agent-string}
1126 Identify as @var{agent-string} to the @sc{http} server.
1128 The @sc{http} protocol allows the clients to identify themselves using a
1129 @code{User-Agent} header field. This enables distinguishing the
1130 @sc{www} software, usually for statistical purposes or for tracing of
1131 protocol violations. Wget normally identifies as
1132 @samp{Wget/@var{version}}, @var{version} being the current version
1135 However, some sites have been known to impose the policy of tailoring
1136 the output according to the @code{User-Agent}-supplied information.
1137 While conceptually this is not such a bad idea, it has been abused by
1138 servers denying information to clients other than @code{Mozilla} or
1139 Microsoft @code{Internet Explorer}. This option allows you to change
1140 the @code{User-Agent} line issued by Wget. Use of this option is
1141 discouraged, unless you really know what you are doing.
1144 @item --post-data=@var{string}
1145 @itemx --post-file=@var{file}
1146 Use POST as the method for all HTTP requests and send the specified data
1147 in the request body. @code{--post-data} sends @var{string} as data,
1148 whereas @code{--post-file} sends the contents of @var{file}. Other than
1149 that, they work in exactly the same way.
1151 Please be aware that Wget needs to know the size of the POST data in
1152 advance. Therefore the argument to @code{--post-file} must be a regular
1153 file; specifying a FIFO or something like @file{/dev/stdin} won't work.
1154 It's not quite clear how to work around this limitation inherent in
1155 HTTP/1.0. Although HTTP/1.1 introduces @dfn{chunked} transfer that
1156 doesn't require knowing the request length in advance, a client can't
1157 use chunked unless it knows it's talking to an HTTP/1.1 server. And it
1158 can't know that until it receives a response, which in turn requires the
1159 request to have been completed -- a chicken-and-egg problem.
1161 Note: if Wget is redirected after the POST request is completed, it will
1162 not send the POST data to the redirected URL. This is because URLs that
1163 process POST often respond with a redirection to a regular page
1164 (although that's technically disallowed), which does not desire or
1165 accept POST. It is not yet clear that this behavior is optimal; if it
1166 doesn't work out, it will be changed.
1168 This example shows how to log to a server using POST and then proceed to
1169 download the desired pages, presumably only accessible to authorized
1174 # @r{Log in to the server. This can be done only once.}
1175 wget --save-cookies cookies.txt \
1176 --post-data 'user=foo&password=bar' \
1177 http://server.com/auth.php
1179 # @r{Now grab the page or pages we care about.}
1180 wget --load-cookies cookies.txt \
1181 -p http://server.com/interesting/article.php
1186 @node FTP Options, Recursive Retrieval Options, HTTP Options, Invoking
1187 @section FTP Options
1190 @cindex .listing files, removing
1192 @itemx --dont-remove-listing
1193 Don't remove the temporary @file{.listing} files generated by @sc{ftp}
1194 retrievals. Normally, these files contain the raw directory listings
1195 received from @sc{ftp} servers. Not removing them can be useful for
1196 debugging purposes, or when you want to be able to easily check on the
1197 contents of remote server directories (e.g. to verify that a mirror
1198 you're running is complete).
1200 Note that even though Wget writes to a known filename for this file,
1201 this is not a security hole in the scenario of a user making
1202 @file{.listing} a symbolic link to @file{/etc/passwd} or something and
1203 asking @code{root} to run Wget in his or her directory. Depending on
1204 the options used, either Wget will refuse to write to @file{.listing},
1205 making the globbing/recursion/time-stamping operation fail, or the
1206 symbolic link will be deleted and replaced with the actual
1207 @file{.listing} file, or the listing will be written to a
1208 @file{.listing.@var{number}} file.
1210 Even though this situation isn't a problem, though, @code{root} should
1211 never run Wget in a non-trusted user's directory. A user could do
1212 something as simple as linking @file{index.html} to @file{/etc/passwd}
1213 and asking @code{root} to run Wget with @samp{-N} or @samp{-r} so the file
1214 will be overwritten.
1216 @cindex globbing, toggle
1218 @itemx --glob=on/off
1219 Turn @sc{ftp} globbing on or off. Globbing means you may use the
1220 shell-like special characters (@dfn{wildcards}), like @samp{*},
1221 @samp{?}, @samp{[} and @samp{]} to retrieve more than one file from the
1222 same directory at once, like:
1225 wget ftp://gnjilux.srk.fer.hr/*.msg
1228 By default, globbing will be turned on if the @sc{url} contains a
1229 globbing character. This option may be used to turn globbing on or off
1232 You may have to quote the @sc{url} to protect it from being expanded by
1233 your shell. Globbing makes Wget look for a directory listing, which is
1234 system-specific. This is why it currently works only with Unix @sc{ftp}
1235 servers (and the ones emulating Unix @code{ls} output).
1239 Use the @dfn{passive} @sc{ftp} retrieval scheme, in which the client
1240 initiates the data connection. This is sometimes required for @sc{ftp}
1241 to work behind firewalls.
1243 @cindex symbolic links, retrieving
1244 @item --retr-symlinks
1245 Usually, when retrieving @sc{ftp} directories recursively and a symbolic
1246 link is encountered, the linked-to file is not downloaded. Instead, a
1247 matching symbolic link is created on the local filesystem. The
1248 pointed-to file will not be downloaded unless this recursive retrieval
1249 would have encountered it separately and downloaded it anyway.
1251 When @samp{--retr-symlinks} is specified, however, symbolic links are
1252 traversed and the pointed-to files are retrieved. At this time, this
1253 option does not cause Wget to traverse symlinks to directories and
1254 recurse through them, but in the future it should be enhanced to do
1257 Note that when retrieving a file (not a directory) because it was
1258 specified on the command-line, rather than because it was recursed to,
1259 this option has no effect. Symbolic links are always traversed in this
1263 @node Recursive Retrieval Options, Recursive Accept/Reject Options, FTP Options, Invoking
1264 @section Recursive Retrieval Options
1269 Turn on recursive retrieving. @xref{Recursive Retrieval}, for more
1272 @item -l @var{depth}
1273 @itemx --level=@var{depth}
1274 Specify recursion maximum depth level @var{depth} (@pxref{Recursive
1275 Retrieval}). The default maximum depth is 5.
1277 @cindex proxy filling
1278 @cindex delete after retrieval
1279 @cindex filling proxy cache
1280 @item --delete-after
1281 This option tells Wget to delete every single file it downloads,
1282 @emph{after} having done so. It is useful for pre-fetching popular
1283 pages through a proxy, e.g.:
1286 wget -r -nd --delete-after http://whatever.com/~popular/page/
1289 The @samp{-r} option is to retrieve recursively, and @samp{-nd} to not
1292 Note that @samp{--delete-after} deletes files on the local machine. It
1293 does not issue the @samp{DELE} command to remote FTP sites, for
1294 instance. Also note that when @samp{--delete-after} is specified,
1295 @samp{--convert-links} is ignored, so @samp{.orig} files are simply not
1296 created in the first place.
1298 @cindex conversion of links
1299 @cindex link conversion
1301 @itemx --convert-links
1302 After the download is complete, convert the links in the document to
1303 make them suitable for local viewing. This affects not only the visible
1304 hyperlinks, but any part of the document that links to external content,
1305 such as embedded images, links to style sheets, hyperlinks to non-@sc{html}
1308 Each link will be changed in one of the two ways:
1312 The links to files that have been downloaded by Wget will be changed to
1313 refer to the file they point to as a relative link.
1315 Example: if the downloaded file @file{/foo/doc.html} links to
1316 @file{/bar/img.gif}, also downloaded, then the link in @file{doc.html}
1317 will be modified to point to @samp{../bar/img.gif}. This kind of
1318 transformation works reliably for arbitrary combinations of directories.
1321 The links to files that have not been downloaded by Wget will be changed
1322 to include host name and absolute path of the location they point to.
1324 Example: if the downloaded file @file{/foo/doc.html} links to
1325 @file{/bar/img.gif} (or to @file{../bar/img.gif}), then the link in
1326 @file{doc.html} will be modified to point to
1327 @file{http://@var{hostname}/bar/img.gif}.
1330 Because of this, local browsing works reliably: if a linked file was
1331 downloaded, the link will refer to its local name; if it was not
1332 downloaded, the link will refer to its full Internet address rather than
1333 presenting a broken link. The fact that the former links are converted
1334 to relative links ensures that you can move the downloaded hierarchy to
1337 Note that only at the end of the download can Wget know which links have
1338 been downloaded. Because of that, the work done by @samp{-k} will be
1339 performed at the end of all the downloads.
1341 @cindex backing up converted files
1343 @itemx --backup-converted
1344 When converting a file, back up the original version with a @samp{.orig}
1345 suffix. Affects the behavior of @samp{-N} (@pxref{HTTP Time-Stamping
1350 Turn on options suitable for mirroring. This option turns on recursion
1351 and time-stamping, sets infinite recursion depth and keeps @sc{ftp}
1352 directory listings. It is currently equivalent to
1353 @samp{-r -N -l inf -nr}.
1355 @cindex page requisites
1356 @cindex required images, downloading
1358 @itemx --page-requisites
1359 This option causes Wget to download all the files that are necessary to
1360 properly display a given @sc{html} page. This includes such things as
1361 inlined images, sounds, and referenced stylesheets.
1363 Ordinarily, when downloading a single @sc{html} page, any requisite documents
1364 that may be needed to display it properly are not downloaded. Using
1365 @samp{-r} together with @samp{-l} can help, but since Wget does not
1366 ordinarily distinguish between external and inlined documents, one is
1367 generally left with ``leaf documents'' that are missing their
1370 For instance, say document @file{1.html} contains an @code{<IMG>} tag
1371 referencing @file{1.gif} and an @code{<A>} tag pointing to external
1372 document @file{2.html}. Say that @file{2.html} is similar but that its
1373 image is @file{2.gif} and it links to @file{3.html}. Say this
1374 continues up to some arbitrarily high number.
1376 If one executes the command:
1379 wget -r -l 2 http://@var{site}/1.html
1382 then @file{1.html}, @file{1.gif}, @file{2.html}, @file{2.gif}, and
1383 @file{3.html} will be downloaded. As you can see, @file{3.html} is
1384 without its requisite @file{3.gif} because Wget is simply counting the
1385 number of hops (up to 2) away from @file{1.html} in order to determine
1386 where to stop the recursion. However, with this command:
1389 wget -r -l 2 -p http://@var{site}/1.html
1392 all the above files @emph{and} @file{3.html}'s requisite @file{3.gif}
1393 will be downloaded. Similarly,
1396 wget -r -l 1 -p http://@var{site}/1.html
1399 will cause @file{1.html}, @file{1.gif}, @file{2.html}, and @file{2.gif}
1400 to be downloaded. One might think that:
1403 wget -r -l 0 -p http://@var{site}/1.html
1406 would download just @file{1.html} and @file{1.gif}, but unfortunately
1407 this is not the case, because @samp{-l 0} is equivalent to
1408 @samp{-l inf}---that is, infinite recursion. To download a single @sc{html}
1409 page (or a handful of them, all specified on the command-line or in a
1410 @samp{-i} @sc{url} input file) and its (or their) requisites, simply leave off
1411 @samp{-r} and @samp{-l}:
1414 wget -p http://@var{site}/1.html
1417 Note that Wget will behave as if @samp{-r} had been specified, but only
1418 that single page and its requisites will be downloaded. Links from that
1419 page to external documents will not be followed. Actually, to download
1420 a single page and all its requisites (even if they exist on separate
1421 websites), and make sure the lot displays properly locally, this author
1422 likes to use a few options in addition to @samp{-p}:
1425 wget -E -H -k -K -p http://@var{site}/@var{document}
1428 To finish off this topic, it's worth knowing that Wget's idea of an
1429 external document link is any URL specified in an @code{<A>} tag, an
1430 @code{<AREA>} tag, or a @code{<LINK>} tag other than @code{<LINK
1433 @cindex @sc{html} comments
1434 @cindex comments, @sc{html}
1435 @item --strict-comments
1436 Turn on strict parsing of @sc{html} comments. The default is to terminate
1437 comments at the first occurrence of @samp{-->}.
1439 According to specifications, @sc{html} comments are expressed as @sc{sgml}
1440 @dfn{declarations}. Declaration is special markup that begins with
1441 @samp{<!} and ends with @samp{>}, such as @samp{<!DOCTYPE ...>}, that
1442 may contain comments between a pair of @samp{--} delimiters. @sc{html}
1443 comments are ``empty declarations'', @sc{sgml} declarations without any
1444 non-comment text. Therefore, @samp{<!--foo-->} is a valid comment, and
1445 so is @samp{<!--one-- --two-->}, but @samp{<!--1--2-->} is not.
1447 On the other hand, most @sc{html} writers don't perceive comments as anything
1448 other than text delimited with @samp{<!--} and @samp{-->}, which is not
1449 quite the same. For example, something like @samp{<!------------>}
1450 works as a valid comment as long as the number of dashes is a multiple
1451 of four (!). If not, the comment technically lasts until the next
1452 @samp{--}, which may be at the other end of the document. Because of
1453 this, many popular browsers completely ignore the specification and
1454 implement what users have come to expect: comments delimited with
1455 @samp{<!--} and @samp{-->}.
1457 Until version 1.9, Wget interpreted comments strictly, which resulted in
1458 missing links in many web pages that displayed fine in browsers, but had
1459 the misfortune of containing non-compliant comments. Beginning with
1460 version 1.9, Wget has joined the ranks of clients that implements
1461 ``naive'' comments, terminating each comment at the first occurrence of
1464 If, for whatever reason, you want strict comment parsing, use this
1465 option to turn it on.
1468 @node Recursive Accept/Reject Options, , Recursive Retrieval Options, Invoking
1469 @section Recursive Accept/Reject Options
1472 @item -A @var{acclist} --accept @var{acclist}
1473 @itemx -R @var{rejlist} --reject @var{rejlist}
1474 Specify comma-separated lists of file name suffixes or patterns to
1475 accept or reject (@pxref{Types of Files} for more details).
1477 @item -D @var{domain-list}
1478 @itemx --domains=@var{domain-list}
1479 Set domains to be followed. @var{domain-list} is a comma-separated list
1480 of domains. Note that it does @emph{not} turn on @samp{-H}.
1482 @item --exclude-domains @var{domain-list}
1483 Specify the domains that are @emph{not} to be followed.
1484 (@pxref{Spanning Hosts}).
1486 @cindex follow FTP links
1488 Follow @sc{ftp} links from @sc{html} documents. Without this option,
1489 Wget will ignore all the @sc{ftp} links.
1491 @cindex tag-based recursive pruning
1492 @item --follow-tags=@var{list}
1493 Wget has an internal table of @sc{html} tag / attribute pairs that it
1494 considers when looking for linked documents during a recursive
1495 retrieval. If a user wants only a subset of those tags to be
1496 considered, however, he or she should be specify such tags in a
1497 comma-separated @var{list} with this option.
1500 @itemx --ignore-tags=@var{list}
1501 This is the opposite of the @samp{--follow-tags} option. To skip
1502 certain @sc{html} tags when recursively looking for documents to download,
1503 specify them in a comma-separated @var{list}.
1505 In the past, the @samp{-G} option was the best bet for downloading a
1506 single page and its requisites, using a command-line like:
1509 wget -Ga,area -H -k -K -r http://@var{site}/@var{document}
1512 However, the author of this option came across a page with tags like
1513 @code{<LINK REL="home" HREF="/">} and came to the realization that
1514 @samp{-G} was not enough. One can't just tell Wget to ignore
1515 @code{<LINK>}, because then stylesheets will not be downloaded. Now the
1516 best bet for downloading a single page and its requisites is the
1517 dedicated @samp{--page-requisites} option.
1521 Enable spanning across hosts when doing recursive retrieving
1522 (@pxref{Spanning Hosts}).
1526 Follow relative links only. Useful for retrieving a specific home page
1527 without any distractions, not even those from the same hosts
1528 (@pxref{Relative Links}).
1531 @itemx --include-directories=@var{list}
1532 Specify a comma-separated list of directories you wish to follow when
1533 downloading (@pxref{Directory-Based Limits} for more details.) Elements
1534 of @var{list} may contain wildcards.
1537 @itemx --exclude-directories=@var{list}
1538 Specify a comma-separated list of directories you wish to exclude from
1539 download (@pxref{Directory-Based Limits} for more details.) Elements of
1540 @var{list} may contain wildcards.
1544 Do not ever ascend to the parent directory when retrieving recursively.
1545 This is a useful option, since it guarantees that only the files
1546 @emph{below} a certain hierarchy will be downloaded.
1547 @xref{Directory-Based Limits}, for more details.
1552 @node Recursive Retrieval, Following Links, Invoking, Top
1553 @chapter Recursive Retrieval
1556 @cindex recursive retrieval
1558 GNU Wget is capable of traversing parts of the Web (or a single
1559 @sc{http} or @sc{ftp} server), following links and directory structure.
1560 We refer to this as to @dfn{recursive retrieval}, or @dfn{recursion}.
1562 With @sc{http} @sc{url}s, Wget retrieves and parses the @sc{html} from
1563 the given @sc{url}, documents, retrieving the files the @sc{html}
1564 document was referring to, through markup like @code{href}, or
1565 @code{src}. If the freshly downloaded file is also of type
1566 @code{text/html} or @code{application/xhtml+xml}, it will be parsed and
1569 Recursive retrieval of @sc{http} and @sc{html} content is
1570 @dfn{breadth-first}. This means that Wget first downloads the requested
1571 @sc{html} document, then the documents linked from that document, then the
1572 documents linked by them, and so on. In other words, Wget first
1573 downloads the documents at depth 1, then those at depth 2, and so on
1574 until the specified maximum depth.
1576 The maximum @dfn{depth} to which the retrieval may descend is specified
1577 with the @samp{-l} option. The default maximum depth is five layers.
1579 When retrieving an @sc{ftp} @sc{url} recursively, Wget will retrieve all
1580 the data from the given directory tree (including the subdirectories up
1581 to the specified depth) on the remote server, creating its mirror image
1582 locally. @sc{ftp} retrieval is also limited by the @code{depth}
1583 parameter. Unlike @sc{http} recursion, @sc{ftp} recursion is performed
1586 By default, Wget will create a local directory tree, corresponding to
1587 the one found on the remote server.
1589 Recursive retrieving can find a number of applications, the most
1590 important of which is mirroring. It is also useful for @sc{www}
1591 presentations, and any other opportunities where slow network
1592 connections should be bypassed by storing the files locally.
1594 You should be warned that recursive downloads can overload the remote
1595 servers. Because of that, many administrators frown upon them and may
1596 ban access from your site if they detect very fast downloads of big
1597 amounts of content. When downloading from Internet servers, consider
1598 using the @samp{-w} option to introduce a delay between accesses to the
1599 server. The download will take a while longer, but the server
1600 administrator will not be alarmed by your rudeness.
1602 Of course, recursive download may cause problems on your machine. If
1603 left to run unchecked, it can easily fill up the disk. If downloading
1604 from local network, it can also take bandwidth on the system, as well as
1605 consume memory and CPU.
1607 Try to specify the criteria that match the kind of download you are
1608 trying to achieve. If you want to download only one page, use
1609 @samp{--page-requisites} without any additional recursion. If you want
1610 to download things under one directory, use @samp{-np} to avoid
1611 downloading things from other directories. If you want to download all
1612 the files from one directory, use @samp{-l 1} to make sure the recursion
1613 depth never exceeds one. @xref{Following Links}, for more information
1616 Recursive retrieval should be used with care. Don't say you were not
1619 @node Following Links, Time-Stamping, Recursive Retrieval, Top
1620 @chapter Following Links
1622 @cindex following links
1624 When retrieving recursively, one does not wish to retrieve loads of
1625 unnecessary data. Most of the time the users bear in mind exactly what
1626 they want to download, and want Wget to follow only specific links.
1628 For example, if you wish to download the music archive from
1629 @samp{fly.srk.fer.hr}, you will not want to download all the home pages
1630 that happen to be referenced by an obscure part of the archive.
1632 Wget possesses several mechanisms that allows you to fine-tune which
1633 links it will follow.
1636 * Spanning Hosts:: (Un)limiting retrieval based on host name.
1637 * Types of Files:: Getting only certain files.
1638 * Directory-Based Limits:: Getting only certain directories.
1639 * Relative Links:: Follow relative links only.
1640 * FTP Links:: Following FTP links.
1643 @node Spanning Hosts, Types of Files, Following Links, Following Links
1644 @section Spanning Hosts
1645 @cindex spanning hosts
1646 @cindex hosts, spanning
1648 Wget's recursive retrieval normally refuses to visit hosts different
1649 than the one you specified on the command line. This is a reasonable
1650 default; without it, every retrieval would have the potential to turn
1651 your Wget into a small version of google.
1653 However, visiting different hosts, or @dfn{host spanning,} is sometimes
1654 a useful option. Maybe the images are served from a different server.
1655 Maybe you're mirroring a site that consists of pages interlinked between
1656 three servers. Maybe the server has two equivalent names, and the @sc{html}
1657 pages refer to both interchangeably.
1660 @item Span to any host---@samp{-H}
1662 The @samp{-H} option turns on host spanning, thus allowing Wget's
1663 recursive run to visit any host referenced by a link. Unless sufficient
1664 recursion-limiting criteria are applied depth, these foreign hosts will
1665 typically link to yet more hosts, and so on until Wget ends up sucking
1666 up much more data than you have intended.
1668 @item Limit spanning to certain domains---@samp{-D}
1670 The @samp{-D} option allows you to specify the domains that will be
1671 followed, thus limiting the recursion only to the hosts that belong to
1672 these domains. Obviously, this makes sense only in conjunction with
1673 @samp{-H}. A typical example would be downloading the contents of
1674 @samp{www.server.com}, but allowing downloads from
1675 @samp{images.server.com}, etc.:
1678 wget -rH -Dserver.com http://www.server.com/
1681 You can specify more than one address by separating them with a comma,
1682 e.g. @samp{-Ddomain1.com,domain2.com}.
1684 @item Keep download off certain domains---@samp{--exclude-domains}
1686 If there are domains you want to exclude specifically, you can do it
1687 with @samp{--exclude-domains}, which accepts the same type of arguments
1688 of @samp{-D}, but will @emph{exclude} all the listed domains. For
1689 example, if you want to download all the hosts from @samp{foo.edu}
1690 domain, with the exception of @samp{sunsite.foo.edu}, you can do it like
1694 wget -rH -Dfoo.edu --exclude-domains sunsite.foo.edu \
1700 @node Types of Files, Directory-Based Limits, Spanning Hosts, Following Links
1701 @section Types of Files
1702 @cindex types of files
1704 When downloading material from the web, you will often want to restrict
1705 the retrieval to only certain file types. For example, if you are
1706 interested in downloading @sc{gif}s, you will not be overjoyed to get
1707 loads of PostScript documents, and vice versa.
1709 Wget offers two options to deal with this problem. Each option
1710 description lists a short name, a long name, and the equivalent command
1713 @cindex accept wildcards
1714 @cindex accept suffixes
1715 @cindex wildcards, accept
1716 @cindex suffixes, accept
1718 @item -A @var{acclist}
1719 @itemx --accept @var{acclist}
1720 @itemx accept = @var{acclist}
1721 The argument to @samp{--accept} option is a list of file suffixes or
1722 patterns that Wget will download during recursive retrieval. A suffix
1723 is the ending part of a file, and consists of ``normal'' letters,
1724 e.g. @samp{gif} or @samp{.jpg}. A matching pattern contains shell-like
1725 wildcards, e.g. @samp{books*} or @samp{zelazny*196[0-9]*}.
1727 So, specifying @samp{wget -A gif,jpg} will make Wget download only the
1728 files ending with @samp{gif} or @samp{jpg}, i.e. @sc{gif}s and
1729 @sc{jpeg}s. On the other hand, @samp{wget -A "zelazny*196[0-9]*"} will
1730 download only files beginning with @samp{zelazny} and containing numbers
1731 from 1960 to 1969 anywhere within. Look up the manual of your shell for
1732 a description of how pattern matching works.
1734 Of course, any number of suffixes and patterns can be combined into a
1735 comma-separated list, and given as an argument to @samp{-A}.
1737 @cindex reject wildcards
1738 @cindex reject suffixes
1739 @cindex wildcards, reject
1740 @cindex suffixes, reject
1741 @item -R @var{rejlist}
1742 @itemx --reject @var{rejlist}
1743 @itemx reject = @var{rejlist}
1744 The @samp{--reject} option works the same way as @samp{--accept}, only
1745 its logic is the reverse; Wget will download all files @emph{except} the
1746 ones matching the suffixes (or patterns) in the list.
1748 So, if you want to download a whole page except for the cumbersome
1749 @sc{mpeg}s and @sc{.au} files, you can use @samp{wget -R mpg,mpeg,au}.
1750 Analogously, to download all files except the ones beginning with
1751 @samp{bjork}, use @samp{wget -R "bjork*"}. The quotes are to prevent
1752 expansion by the shell.
1755 The @samp{-A} and @samp{-R} options may be combined to achieve even
1756 better fine-tuning of which files to retrieve. E.g. @samp{wget -A
1757 "*zelazny*" -R .ps} will download all the files having @samp{zelazny} as
1758 a part of their name, but @emph{not} the PostScript files.
1760 Note that these two options do not affect the downloading of @sc{html}
1761 files; Wget must load all the @sc{html}s to know where to go at
1762 all---recursive retrieval would make no sense otherwise.
1764 @node Directory-Based Limits, Relative Links, Types of Files, Following Links
1765 @section Directory-Based Limits
1767 @cindex directory limits
1769 Regardless of other link-following facilities, it is often useful to
1770 place the restriction of what files to retrieve based on the directories
1771 those files are placed in. There can be many reasons for this---the
1772 home pages may be organized in a reasonable directory structure; or some
1773 directories may contain useless information, e.g. @file{/cgi-bin} or
1774 @file{/dev} directories.
1776 Wget offers three different options to deal with this requirement. Each
1777 option description lists a short name, a long name, and the equivalent
1778 command in @file{.wgetrc}.
1780 @cindex directories, include
1781 @cindex include directories
1782 @cindex accept directories
1785 @itemx --include @var{list}
1786 @itemx include_directories = @var{list}
1787 @samp{-I} option accepts a comma-separated list of directories included
1788 in the retrieval. Any other directories will simply be ignored. The
1789 directories are absolute paths.
1791 So, if you wish to download from @samp{http://host/people/bozo/}
1792 following only links to bozo's colleagues in the @file{/people}
1793 directory and the bogus scripts in @file{/cgi-bin}, you can specify:
1796 wget -I /people,/cgi-bin http://host/people/bozo/
1799 @cindex directories, exclude
1800 @cindex exclude directories
1801 @cindex reject directories
1803 @itemx --exclude @var{list}
1804 @itemx exclude_directories = @var{list}
1805 @samp{-X} option is exactly the reverse of @samp{-I}---this is a list of
1806 directories @emph{excluded} from the download. E.g. if you do not want
1807 Wget to download things from @file{/cgi-bin} directory, specify @samp{-X
1808 /cgi-bin} on the command line.
1810 The same as with @samp{-A}/@samp{-R}, these two options can be combined
1811 to get a better fine-tuning of downloading subdirectories. E.g. if you
1812 want to load all the files from @file{/pub} hierarchy except for
1813 @file{/pub/worthless}, specify @samp{-I/pub -X/pub/worthless}.
1818 @itemx no_parent = on
1819 The simplest, and often very useful way of limiting directories is
1820 disallowing retrieval of the links that refer to the hierarchy
1821 @dfn{above} than the beginning directory, i.e. disallowing ascent to the
1822 parent directory/directories.
1824 The @samp{--no-parent} option (short @samp{-np}) is useful in this case.
1825 Using it guarantees that you will never leave the existing hierarchy.
1826 Supposing you issue Wget with:
1829 wget -r --no-parent http://somehost/~luzer/my-archive/
1832 You may rest assured that none of the references to
1833 @file{/~his-girls-homepage/} or @file{/~luzer/all-my-mpegs/} will be
1834 followed. Only the archive you are interested in will be downloaded.
1835 Essentially, @samp{--no-parent} is similar to
1836 @samp{-I/~luzer/my-archive}, only it handles redirections in a more
1837 intelligent fashion.
1840 @node Relative Links, FTP Links, Directory-Based Limits, Following Links
1841 @section Relative Links
1842 @cindex relative links
1844 When @samp{-L} is turned on, only the relative links are ever followed.
1845 Relative links are here defined those that do not refer to the web
1846 server root. For example, these links are relative:
1850 <a href="foo/bar.gif">
1851 <a href="../foo/bar.gif">
1854 These links are not relative:
1858 <a href="/foo/bar.gif">
1859 <a href="http://www.server.com/foo/bar.gif">
1862 Using this option guarantees that recursive retrieval will not span
1863 hosts, even without @samp{-H}. In simple cases it also allows downloads
1864 to ``just work'' without having to convert links.
1866 This option is probably not very useful and might be removed in a future
1869 @node FTP Links, , Relative Links, Following Links
1870 @section Following FTP Links
1871 @cindex following ftp links
1873 The rules for @sc{ftp} are somewhat specific, as it is necessary for
1874 them to be. @sc{ftp} links in @sc{html} documents are often included
1875 for purposes of reference, and it is often inconvenient to download them
1878 To have @sc{ftp} links followed from @sc{html} documents, you need to
1879 specify the @samp{--follow-ftp} option. Having done that, @sc{ftp}
1880 links will span hosts regardless of @samp{-H} setting. This is logical,
1881 as @sc{ftp} links rarely point to the same host where the @sc{http}
1882 server resides. For similar reasons, the @samp{-L} options has no
1883 effect on such downloads. On the other hand, domain acceptance
1884 (@samp{-D}) and suffix rules (@samp{-A} and @samp{-R}) apply normally.
1886 Also note that followed links to @sc{ftp} directories will not be
1887 retrieved recursively further.
1889 @node Time-Stamping, Startup File, Following Links, Top
1890 @chapter Time-Stamping
1891 @cindex time-stamping
1892 @cindex timestamping
1893 @cindex updating the archives
1894 @cindex incremental updating
1896 One of the most important aspects of mirroring information from the
1897 Internet is updating your archives.
1899 Downloading the whole archive again and again, just to replace a few
1900 changed files is expensive, both in terms of wasted bandwidth and money,
1901 and the time to do the update. This is why all the mirroring tools
1902 offer the option of incremental updating.
1904 Such an updating mechanism means that the remote server is scanned in
1905 search of @dfn{new} files. Only those new files will be downloaded in
1906 the place of the old ones.
1908 A file is considered new if one of these two conditions are met:
1912 A file of that name does not already exist locally.
1915 A file of that name does exist, but the remote file was modified more
1916 recently than the local file.
1919 To implement this, the program needs to be aware of the time of last
1920 modification of both local and remote files. We call this information the
1921 @dfn{time-stamp} of a file.
1923 The time-stamping in GNU Wget is turned on using @samp{--timestamping}
1924 (@samp{-N}) option, or through @code{timestamping = on} directive in
1925 @file{.wgetrc}. With this option, for each file it intends to download,
1926 Wget will check whether a local file of the same name exists. If it
1927 does, and the remote file is older, Wget will not download it.
1929 If the local file does not exist, or the sizes of the files do not
1930 match, Wget will download the remote file no matter what the time-stamps
1934 * Time-Stamping Usage::
1935 * HTTP Time-Stamping Internals::
1936 * FTP Time-Stamping Internals::
1939 @node Time-Stamping Usage, HTTP Time-Stamping Internals, Time-Stamping, Time-Stamping
1940 @section Time-Stamping Usage
1941 @cindex time-stamping usage
1942 @cindex usage, time-stamping
1944 The usage of time-stamping is simple. Say you would like to download a
1945 file so that it keeps its date of modification.
1948 wget -S http://www.gnu.ai.mit.edu/
1951 A simple @code{ls -l} shows that the time stamp on the local file equals
1952 the state of the @code{Last-Modified} header, as returned by the server.
1953 As you can see, the time-stamping info is preserved locally, even
1954 without @samp{-N} (at least for @sc{http}).
1956 Several days later, you would like Wget to check if the remote file has
1957 changed, and download it if it has.
1960 wget -N http://www.gnu.ai.mit.edu/
1963 Wget will ask the server for the last-modified date. If the local file
1964 has the same timestamp as the server, or a newer one, the remote file
1965 will not be re-fetched. However, if the remote file is more recent,
1966 Wget will proceed to fetch it.
1968 The same goes for @sc{ftp}. For example:
1971 wget "ftp://ftp.ifi.uio.no/pub/emacs/gnus/*"
1974 (The quotes around that URL are to prevent the shell from trying to
1975 interpret the @samp{*}.)
1977 After download, a local directory listing will show that the timestamps
1978 match those on the remote server. Reissuing the command with @samp{-N}
1979 will make Wget re-fetch @emph{only} the files that have been modified
1980 since the last download.
1982 If you wished to mirror the GNU archive every week, you would use a
1983 command like the following, weekly:
1986 wget --timestamping -r ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/
1989 Note that time-stamping will only work for files for which the server
1990 gives a timestamp. For @sc{http}, this depends on getting a
1991 @code{Last-Modified} header. For @sc{ftp}, this depends on getting a
1992 directory listing with dates in a format that Wget can parse
1993 (@pxref{FTP Time-Stamping Internals}).
1995 @node HTTP Time-Stamping Internals, FTP Time-Stamping Internals, Time-Stamping Usage, Time-Stamping
1996 @section HTTP Time-Stamping Internals
1997 @cindex http time-stamping
1999 Time-stamping in @sc{http} is implemented by checking of the
2000 @code{Last-Modified} header. If you wish to retrieve the file
2001 @file{foo.html} through @sc{http}, Wget will check whether
2002 @file{foo.html} exists locally. If it doesn't, @file{foo.html} will be
2003 retrieved unconditionally.
2005 If the file does exist locally, Wget will first check its local
2006 time-stamp (similar to the way @code{ls -l} checks it), and then send a
2007 @code{HEAD} request to the remote server, demanding the information on
2010 The @code{Last-Modified} header is examined to find which file was
2011 modified more recently (which makes it ``newer''). If the remote file
2012 is newer, it will be downloaded; if it is older, Wget will give
2013 up.@footnote{As an additional check, Wget will look at the
2014 @code{Content-Length} header, and compare the sizes; if they are not the
2015 same, the remote file will be downloaded no matter what the time-stamp
2018 When @samp{--backup-converted} (@samp{-K}) is specified in conjunction
2019 with @samp{-N}, server file @samp{@var{X}} is compared to local file
2020 @samp{@var{X}.orig}, if extant, rather than being compared to local file
2021 @samp{@var{X}}, which will always differ if it's been converted by
2022 @samp{--convert-links} (@samp{-k}).
2024 Arguably, @sc{http} time-stamping should be implemented using the
2025 @code{If-Modified-Since} request.
2027 @node FTP Time-Stamping Internals, , HTTP Time-Stamping Internals, Time-Stamping
2028 @section FTP Time-Stamping Internals
2029 @cindex ftp time-stamping
2031 In theory, @sc{ftp} time-stamping works much the same as @sc{http}, only
2032 @sc{ftp} has no headers---time-stamps must be ferreted out of directory
2035 If an @sc{ftp} download is recursive or uses globbing, Wget will use the
2036 @sc{ftp} @code{LIST} command to get a file listing for the directory
2037 containing the desired file(s). It will try to analyze the listing,
2038 treating it like Unix @code{ls -l} output, extracting the time-stamps.
2039 The rest is exactly the same as for @sc{http}. Note that when
2040 retrieving individual files from an @sc{ftp} server without using
2041 globbing or recursion, listing files will not be downloaded (and thus
2042 files will not be time-stamped) unless @samp{-N} is specified.
2044 Assumption that every directory listing is a Unix-style listing may
2045 sound extremely constraining, but in practice it is not, as many
2046 non-Unix @sc{ftp} servers use the Unixoid listing format because most
2047 (all?) of the clients understand it. Bear in mind that @sc{rfc959}
2048 defines no standard way to get a file list, let alone the time-stamps.
2049 We can only hope that a future standard will define this.
2051 Another non-standard solution includes the use of @code{MDTM} command
2052 that is supported by some @sc{ftp} servers (including the popular
2053 @code{wu-ftpd}), which returns the exact time of the specified file.
2054 Wget may support this command in the future.
2056 @node Startup File, Examples, Time-Stamping, Top
2057 @chapter Startup File
2058 @cindex startup file
2064 Once you know how to change default settings of Wget through command
2065 line arguments, you may wish to make some of those settings permanent.
2066 You can do that in a convenient way by creating the Wget startup
2067 file---@file{.wgetrc}.
2069 Besides @file{.wgetrc} is the ``main'' initialization file, it is
2070 convenient to have a special facility for storing passwords. Thus Wget
2071 reads and interprets the contents of @file{$HOME/.netrc}, if it finds
2072 it. You can find @file{.netrc} format in your system manuals.
2074 Wget reads @file{.wgetrc} upon startup, recognizing a limited set of
2078 * Wgetrc Location:: Location of various wgetrc files.
2079 * Wgetrc Syntax:: Syntax of wgetrc.
2080 * Wgetrc Commands:: List of available commands.
2081 * Sample Wgetrc:: A wgetrc example.
2084 @node Wgetrc Location, Wgetrc Syntax, Startup File, Startup File
2085 @section Wgetrc Location
2086 @cindex wgetrc location
2087 @cindex location of wgetrc
2089 When initializing, Wget will look for a @dfn{global} startup file,
2090 @file{/usr/local/etc/wgetrc} by default (or some prefix other than
2091 @file{/usr/local}, if Wget was not installed there) and read commands
2092 from there, if it exists.
2094 Then it will look for the user's file. If the environmental variable
2095 @code{WGETRC} is set, Wget will try to load that file. Failing that, no
2096 further attempts will be made.
2098 If @code{WGETRC} is not set, Wget will try to load @file{$HOME/.wgetrc}.
2100 The fact that user's settings are loaded after the system-wide ones
2101 means that in case of collision user's wgetrc @emph{overrides} the
2102 system-wide wgetrc (in @file{/usr/local/etc/wgetrc} by default).
2103 Fascist admins, away!
2105 @node Wgetrc Syntax, Wgetrc Commands, Wgetrc Location, Startup File
2106 @section Wgetrc Syntax
2107 @cindex wgetrc syntax
2108 @cindex syntax of wgetrc
2110 The syntax of a wgetrc command is simple:
2116 The @dfn{variable} will also be called @dfn{command}. Valid
2117 @dfn{values} are different for different commands.
2119 The commands are case-insensitive and underscore-insensitive. Thus
2120 @samp{DIr__PrefiX} is the same as @samp{dirprefix}. Empty lines, lines
2121 beginning with @samp{#} and lines containing white-space only are
2124 Commands that expect a comma-separated list will clear the list on an
2125 empty command. So, if you wish to reset the rejection list specified in
2126 global @file{wgetrc}, you can do it with:
2132 @node Wgetrc Commands, Sample Wgetrc, Wgetrc Syntax, Startup File
2133 @section Wgetrc Commands
2134 @cindex wgetrc commands
2136 The complete set of commands is listed below. Legal values are listed
2137 after the @samp{=}. Simple Boolean values can be set or unset using
2138 @samp{on} and @samp{off} or @samp{1} and @samp{0}. A fancier kind of
2139 Boolean allowed in some cases is the @dfn{lockable Boolean}, which may
2140 be set to @samp{on}, @samp{off}, @samp{always}, or @samp{never}. If an
2141 option is set to @samp{always} or @samp{never}, that value will be
2142 locked in for the duration of the Wget invocation---command-line options
2145 Some commands take pseudo-arbitrary values. @var{address} values can be
2146 hostnames or dotted-quad IP addresses. @var{n} can be any positive
2147 integer, or @samp{inf} for infinity, where appropriate. @var{string}
2148 values can be any non-empty string.
2150 Most of these commands have command-line equivalents (@pxref{Invoking}),
2151 though some of the more obscure or rarely used ones do not.
2154 @item accept/reject = @var{string}
2155 Same as @samp{-A}/@samp{-R} (@pxref{Types of Files}).
2157 @item add_hostdir = on/off
2158 Enable/disable host-prefixed file names. @samp{-nH} disables it.
2160 @item continue = on/off
2161 If set to on, force continuation of preexistent partially retrieved
2162 files. See @samp{-c} before setting it.
2164 @item background = on/off
2165 Enable/disable going to background---the same as @samp{-b} (which
2168 @item backup_converted = on/off
2169 Enable/disable saving pre-converted files with the suffix
2170 @samp{.orig}---the same as @samp{-K} (which enables it).
2172 @c @item backups = @var{number}
2173 @c #### Document me!
2175 @item base = @var{string}
2176 Consider relative @sc{url}s in @sc{url} input files forced to be
2177 interpreted as @sc{html} as being relative to @var{string}---the same as
2180 @item bind_address = @var{address}
2181 Bind to @var{address}, like the @samp{--bind-address} option.
2183 @item cache = on/off
2184 When set to off, disallow server-caching. See the @samp{-C} option.
2186 @item convert links = on/off
2187 Convert non-relative links locally. The same as @samp{-k}.
2189 @item cookies = on/off
2190 When set to off, disallow cookies. See the @samp{--cookies} option.
2192 @item load_cookies = @var{file}
2193 Load cookies from @var{file}. See @samp{--load-cookies}.
2195 @item save_cookies = @var{file}
2196 Save cookies to @var{file}. See @samp{--save-cookies}.
2198 @item connect_timeout = @var{n}
2199 Set the connect timeout---the same as @samp{--connect-timeout}.
2201 @item cut_dirs = @var{n}
2202 Ignore @var{n} remote directory components.
2204 @item debug = on/off
2205 Debug mode, same as @samp{-d}.
2207 @item delete_after = on/off
2208 Delete after download---the same as @samp{--delete-after}.
2210 @item dir_prefix = @var{string}
2211 Top of directory tree---the same as @samp{-P}.
2213 @item dirstruct = on/off
2214 Turning dirstruct on or off---the same as @samp{-x} or @samp{-nd},
2217 @item dns_cache = on/off
2218 Turn DNS caching on/off. Since DNS caching is on by default, this
2219 option is normally used to turn it off. Same as @samp{--dns-cache}.
2221 @item dns_timeout = @var{n}
2222 Set the DNS timeout---the same as @samp{--dns-timeout}.
2224 @item domains = @var{string}
2225 Same as @samp{-D} (@pxref{Spanning Hosts}).
2227 @item dot_bytes = @var{n}
2228 Specify the number of bytes ``contained'' in a dot, as seen throughout
2229 the retrieval (1024 by default). You can postfix the value with
2230 @samp{k} or @samp{m}, representing kilobytes and megabytes,
2231 respectively. With dot settings you can tailor the dot retrieval to
2232 suit your needs, or you can use the predefined @dfn{styles}
2233 (@pxref{Download Options}).
2235 @item dots_in_line = @var{n}
2236 Specify the number of dots that will be printed in each line throughout
2237 the retrieval (50 by default).
2239 @item dot_spacing = @var{n}
2240 Specify the number of dots in a single cluster (10 by default).
2242 @item exclude_directories = @var{string}
2243 Specify a comma-separated list of directories you wish to exclude from
2244 download---the same as @samp{-X} (@pxref{Directory-Based Limits}).
2246 @item exclude_domains = @var{string}
2247 Same as @samp{--exclude-domains} (@pxref{Spanning Hosts}).
2249 @item follow_ftp = on/off
2250 Follow @sc{ftp} links from @sc{html} documents---the same as
2251 @samp{--follow-ftp}.
2253 @item follow_tags = @var{string}
2254 Only follow certain @sc{html} tags when doing a recursive retrieval, just like
2255 @samp{--follow-tags}.
2257 @item force_html = on/off
2258 If set to on, force the input filename to be regarded as an @sc{html}
2259 document---the same as @samp{-F}.
2261 @item ftp_proxy = @var{string}
2262 Use @var{string} as @sc{ftp} proxy, instead of the one specified in
2266 Turn globbing on/off---the same as @samp{-g}.
2268 @item header = @var{string}
2269 Define an additional header, like @samp{--header}.
2271 @item html_extension = on/off
2272 Add a @samp{.html} extension to @samp{text/html} or
2273 @samp{application/xhtml+xml} files without it, like
2276 @item http_passwd = @var{string}
2277 Set @sc{http} password.
2279 @item http_proxy = @var{string}
2280 Use @var{string} as @sc{http} proxy, instead of the one specified in
2283 @item http_user = @var{string}
2284 Set @sc{http} user to @var{string}.
2286 @item ignore_length = on/off
2287 When set to on, ignore @code{Content-Length} header; the same as
2288 @samp{--ignore-length}.
2290 @item ignore_tags = @var{string}
2291 Ignore certain @sc{html} tags when doing a recursive retrieval, just like
2292 @samp{-G} / @samp{--ignore-tags}.
2294 @item include_directories = @var{string}
2295 Specify a comma-separated list of directories you wish to follow when
2296 downloading---the same as @samp{-I}.
2298 @item input = @var{string}
2299 Read the @sc{url}s from @var{string}, like @samp{-i}.
2301 @item kill_longer = on/off
2302 Consider data longer than specified in content-length header as invalid
2303 (and retry getting it). The default behavior is to save as much data
2304 as there is, provided there is more than or equal to the value in
2305 @code{Content-Length}.
2307 @item limit_rate = @var{rate}
2308 Limit the download speed to no more than @var{rate} bytes per second.
2309 The same as @samp{--limit-rate}.
2311 @item logfile = @var{string}
2312 Set logfile---the same as @samp{-o}.
2314 @item login = @var{string}
2315 Your user name on the remote machine, for @sc{ftp}. Defaults to
2318 @item mirror = on/off
2319 Turn mirroring on/off. The same as @samp{-m}.
2321 @item netrc = on/off
2322 Turn reading netrc on or off.
2324 @item noclobber = on/off
2327 @item no_parent = on/off
2328 Disallow retrieving outside the directory hierarchy, like
2329 @samp{--no-parent} (@pxref{Directory-Based Limits}).
2331 @item no_proxy = @var{string}
2332 Use @var{string} as the comma-separated list of domains to avoid in
2333 proxy loading, instead of the one specified in environment.
2335 @item output_document = @var{string}
2336 Set the output filename---the same as @samp{-O}.
2338 @item page_requisites = on/off
2339 Download all ancillary documents necessary for a single @sc{html} page to
2340 display properly---the same as @samp{-p}.
2342 @item passive_ftp = on/off/always/never
2343 Set passive @sc{ftp}---the same as @samp{--passive-ftp}. Some scripts
2344 and @samp{.pm} (Perl module) files download files using @samp{wget
2345 --passive-ftp}. If your firewall does not allow this, you can set
2346 @samp{passive_ftp = never} to override the command-line.
2348 @item passwd = @var{string}
2349 Set your @sc{ftp} password to @var{password}. Without this setting, the
2350 password defaults to @samp{username@@hostname.domainname}.
2352 @item post_data = @var{string}
2353 Use POST as the method for all HTTP requests and send @var{string} in
2354 the request body. The same as @samp{--post-data}.
2356 @item post_file = @var{file}
2357 Use POST as the method for all HTTP requests and send the contents of
2358 @var{file} in the request body. The same as @samp{--post-file}.
2360 @item progress = @var{string}
2361 Set the type of the progress indicator. Legal types are ``dot'' and
2364 @item proxy_user = @var{string}
2365 Set proxy authentication user name to @var{string}, like @samp{--proxy-user}.
2367 @item proxy_passwd = @var{string}
2368 Set proxy authentication password to @var{string}, like @samp{--proxy-passwd}.
2370 @item referer = @var{string}
2371 Set HTTP @samp{Referer:} header just like @samp{--referer}. (Note it
2372 was the folks who wrote the @sc{http} spec who got the spelling of
2373 ``referrer'' wrong.)
2375 @item quiet = on/off
2376 Quiet mode---the same as @samp{-q}.
2378 @item quota = @var{quota}
2379 Specify the download quota, which is useful to put in the global
2380 @file{wgetrc}. When download quota is specified, Wget will stop
2381 retrieving after the download sum has become greater than quota. The
2382 quota can be specified in bytes (default), kbytes @samp{k} appended) or
2383 mbytes (@samp{m} appended). Thus @samp{quota = 5m} will set the quota
2384 to 5 mbytes. Note that the user's startup file overrides system
2387 @item read_timeout = @var{n}
2388 Set the read (and write) timeout---the same as @samp{--read-timeout}.
2390 @item reclevel = @var{n}
2391 Recursion level---the same as @samp{-l}.
2393 @item recursive = on/off
2394 Recursive on/off---the same as @samp{-r}.
2396 @item relative_only = on/off
2397 Follow only relative links---the same as @samp{-L} (@pxref{Relative
2400 @item remove_listing = on/off
2401 If set to on, remove @sc{ftp} listings downloaded by Wget. Setting it
2402 to off is the same as @samp{-nr}.
2404 @item restrict_file_names = unix/windows
2405 Restrict the file names generated by Wget from URLs. See
2406 @samp{--restrict-file-names} for a more detailed description.
2408 @item retr_symlinks = on/off
2409 When set to on, retrieve symbolic links as if they were plain files; the
2410 same as @samp{--retr-symlinks}.
2412 @item robots = on/off
2413 Specify whether the norobots convention is respected by Wget, ``on'' by
2414 default. This switch controls both the @file{/robots.txt} and the
2415 @samp{nofollow} aspect of the spec. @xref{Robot Exclusion}, for more
2416 details about this. Be sure you know what you are doing before turning
2419 @item server_response = on/off
2420 Choose whether or not to print the @sc{http} and @sc{ftp} server
2421 responses---the same as @samp{-S}.
2423 @item span_hosts = on/off
2426 @item strict_comments = on/off
2427 Same as @samp{--strict-comments}.
2429 @item timeout = @var{n}
2430 Set timeout value---the same as @samp{-T}.
2432 @item timestamping = on/off
2433 Turn timestamping on/off. The same as @samp{-N} (@pxref{Time-Stamping}).
2435 @item tries = @var{n}
2436 Set number of retries per @sc{url}---the same as @samp{-t}.
2438 @item use_proxy = on/off
2439 Turn proxy support on/off. The same as @samp{-Y}.
2441 @item verbose = on/off
2442 Turn verbose on/off---the same as @samp{-v}/@samp{-nv}.
2444 @item wait = @var{n}
2445 Wait @var{n} seconds between retrievals---the same as @samp{-w}.
2447 @item waitretry = @var{n}
2448 Wait up to @var{n} seconds between retries of failed retrievals
2449 only---the same as @samp{--waitretry}. Note that this is turned on by
2450 default in the global @file{wgetrc}.
2452 @item randomwait = on/off
2453 Turn random between-request wait times on or off. The same as
2454 @samp{--random-wait}.
2457 @node Sample Wgetrc, , Wgetrc Commands, Startup File
2458 @section Sample Wgetrc
2459 @cindex sample wgetrc
2461 This is the sample initialization file, as given in the distribution.
2462 It is divided in two section---one for global usage (suitable for global
2463 startup file), and one for local usage (suitable for
2464 @file{$HOME/.wgetrc}). Be careful about the things you change.
2466 Note that almost all the lines are commented out. For a command to have
2467 any effect, you must remove the @samp{#} character at the beginning of
2471 @include sample.wgetrc.munged_for_texi_inclusion
2474 @node Examples, Various, Startup File, Top
2478 @c man begin EXAMPLES
2479 The examples are divided into three sections loosely based on their
2483 * Simple Usage:: Simple, basic usage of the program.
2484 * Advanced Usage:: Advanced tips.
2485 * Very Advanced Usage:: The hairy stuff.
2488 @node Simple Usage, Advanced Usage, Examples, Examples
2489 @section Simple Usage
2493 Say you want to download a @sc{url}. Just type:
2496 wget http://fly.srk.fer.hr/
2500 But what will happen if the connection is slow, and the file is lengthy?
2501 The connection will probably fail before the whole file is retrieved,
2502 more than once. In this case, Wget will try getting the file until it
2503 either gets the whole of it, or exceeds the default number of retries
2504 (this being 20). It is easy to change the number of tries to 45, to
2505 insure that the whole file will arrive safely:
2508 wget --tries=45 http://fly.srk.fer.hr/jpg/flyweb.jpg
2512 Now let's leave Wget to work in the background, and write its progress
2513 to log file @file{log}. It is tiring to type @samp{--tries}, so we
2514 shall use @samp{-t}.
2517 wget -t 45 -o log http://fly.srk.fer.hr/jpg/flyweb.jpg &
2520 The ampersand at the end of the line makes sure that Wget works in the
2521 background. To unlimit the number of retries, use @samp{-t inf}.
2524 The usage of @sc{ftp} is as simple. Wget will take care of login and
2528 wget ftp://gnjilux.srk.fer.hr/welcome.msg
2532 If you specify a directory, Wget will retrieve the directory listing,
2533 parse it and convert it to @sc{html}. Try:
2536 wget ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/
2541 @node Advanced Usage, Very Advanced Usage, Simple Usage, Examples
2542 @section Advanced Usage
2546 You have a file that contains the URLs you want to download? Use the
2553 If you specify @samp{-} as file name, the @sc{url}s will be read from
2557 Create a five levels deep mirror image of the GNU web site, with the
2558 same directory structure the original has, with only one try per
2559 document, saving the log of the activities to @file{gnulog}:
2562 wget -r http://www.gnu.org/ -o gnulog
2566 The same as the above, but convert the links in the @sc{html} files to
2567 point to local files, so you can view the documents off-line:
2570 wget --convert-links -r http://www.gnu.org/ -o gnulog
2574 Retrieve only one @sc{html} page, but make sure that all the elements needed
2575 for the page to be displayed, such as inline images and external style
2576 sheets, are also downloaded. Also make sure the downloaded page
2577 references the downloaded links.
2580 wget -p --convert-links http://www.server.com/dir/page.html
2583 The @sc{html} page will be saved to @file{www.server.com/dir/page.html}, and
2584 the images, stylesheets, etc., somewhere under @file{www.server.com/},
2585 depending on where they were on the remote server.
2588 The same as the above, but without the @file{www.server.com/} directory.
2589 In fact, I don't want to have all those random server directories
2590 anyway---just save @emph{all} those files under a @file{download/}
2591 subdirectory of the current directory.
2594 wget -p --convert-links -nH -nd -Pdownload \
2595 http://www.server.com/dir/page.html
2599 Retrieve the index.html of @samp{www.lycos.com}, showing the original
2603 wget -S http://www.lycos.com/
2607 Save the server headers with the file, perhaps for post-processing.
2610 wget -s http://www.lycos.com/
2615 Retrieve the first two levels of @samp{wuarchive.wustl.edu}, saving them
2619 wget -r -l2 -P/tmp ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/
2623 You want to download all the @sc{gif}s from a directory on an @sc{http}
2624 server. You tried @samp{wget http://www.server.com/dir/*.gif}, but that
2625 didn't work because @sc{http} retrieval does not support globbing. In
2629 wget -r -l1 --no-parent -A.gif http://www.server.com/dir/
2632 More verbose, but the effect is the same. @samp{-r -l1} means to
2633 retrieve recursively (@pxref{Recursive Retrieval}), with maximum depth
2634 of 1. @samp{--no-parent} means that references to the parent directory
2635 are ignored (@pxref{Directory-Based Limits}), and @samp{-A.gif} means to
2636 download only the @sc{gif} files. @samp{-A "*.gif"} would have worked
2640 Suppose you were in the middle of downloading, when Wget was
2641 interrupted. Now you do not want to clobber the files already present.
2645 wget -nc -r http://www.gnu.org/
2649 If you want to encode your own username and password to @sc{http} or
2650 @sc{ftp}, use the appropriate @sc{url} syntax (@pxref{URL Format}).
2653 wget ftp://hniksic:mypassword@@unix.server.com/.emacs
2656 Note, however, that this usage is not advisable on multi-user systems
2657 because it reveals your password to anyone who looks at the output of
2660 @cindex redirecting output
2662 You would like the output documents to go to standard output instead of
2666 wget -O - http://jagor.srce.hr/ http://www.srce.hr/
2669 You can also combine the two options and make pipelines to retrieve the
2670 documents from remote hotlists:
2673 wget -O - http://cool.list.com/ | wget --force-html -i -
2677 @node Very Advanced Usage, , Advanced Usage, Examples
2678 @section Very Advanced Usage
2683 If you wish Wget to keep a mirror of a page (or @sc{ftp}
2684 subdirectories), use @samp{--mirror} (@samp{-m}), which is the shorthand
2685 for @samp{-r -l inf -N}. You can put Wget in the crontab file asking it
2686 to recheck a site each Sunday:
2690 0 0 * * 0 wget --mirror http://www.gnu.org/ -o /home/me/weeklog
2694 In addition to the above, you want the links to be converted for local
2695 viewing. But, after having read this manual, you know that link
2696 conversion doesn't play well with timestamping, so you also want Wget to
2697 back up the original @sc{html} files before the conversion. Wget invocation
2698 would look like this:
2701 wget --mirror --convert-links --backup-converted \
2702 http://www.gnu.org/ -o /home/me/weeklog
2706 But you've also noticed that local viewing doesn't work all that well
2707 when @sc{html} files are saved under extensions other than @samp{.html},
2708 perhaps because they were served as @file{index.cgi}. So you'd like
2709 Wget to rename all the files served with content-type @samp{text/html}
2710 or @samp{application/xhtml+xml} to @file{@var{name}.html}.
2713 wget --mirror --convert-links --backup-converted \
2714 --html-extension -o /home/me/weeklog \
2718 Or, with less typing:
2721 wget -m -k -K -E http://www.gnu.org/ -o /home/me/weeklog
2726 @node Various, Appendices, Examples, Top
2730 This chapter contains all the stuff that could not fit anywhere else.
2733 * Proxies:: Support for proxy servers
2734 * Distribution:: Getting the latest version.
2735 * Mailing List:: Wget mailing list for announcements and discussion.
2736 * Reporting Bugs:: How and where to report bugs.
2737 * Portability:: The systems Wget works on.
2738 * Signals:: Signal-handling performed by Wget.
2741 @node Proxies, Distribution, Various, Various
2745 @dfn{Proxies} are special-purpose @sc{http} servers designed to transfer
2746 data from remote servers to local clients. One typical use of proxies
2747 is lightening network load for users behind a slow connection. This is
2748 achieved by channeling all @sc{http} and @sc{ftp} requests through the
2749 proxy which caches the transferred data. When a cached resource is
2750 requested again, proxy will return the data from cache. Another use for
2751 proxies is for companies that separate (for security reasons) their
2752 internal networks from the rest of Internet. In order to obtain
2753 information from the Web, their users connect and retrieve remote data
2754 using an authorized proxy.
2756 Wget supports proxies for both @sc{http} and @sc{ftp} retrievals. The
2757 standard way to specify proxy location, which Wget recognizes, is using
2758 the following environment variables:
2762 This variable should contain the @sc{url} of the proxy for @sc{http}
2766 This variable should contain the @sc{url} of the proxy for @sc{ftp}
2767 connections. It is quite common that @sc{http_proxy} and @sc{ftp_proxy}
2768 are set to the same @sc{url}.
2771 This variable should contain a comma-separated list of domain extensions
2772 proxy should @emph{not} be used for. For instance, if the value of
2773 @code{no_proxy} is @samp{.mit.edu}, proxy will not be used to retrieve
2777 In addition to the environment variables, proxy location and settings
2778 may be specified from within Wget itself.
2782 @itemx --proxy=on/off
2783 @itemx proxy = on/off
2784 This option may be used to turn the proxy support on or off. Proxy
2785 support is on by default, provided that the appropriate environment
2788 @item http_proxy = @var{URL}
2789 @itemx ftp_proxy = @var{URL}
2790 @itemx no_proxy = @var{string}
2791 These startup file variables allow you to override the proxy settings
2792 specified by the environment.
2795 Some proxy servers require authorization to enable you to use them. The
2796 authorization consists of @dfn{username} and @dfn{password}, which must
2797 be sent by Wget. As with @sc{http} authorization, several
2798 authentication schemes exist. For proxy authorization only the
2799 @code{Basic} authentication scheme is currently implemented.
2801 You may specify your username and password either through the proxy
2802 @sc{url} or through the command-line options. Assuming that the
2803 company's proxy is located at @samp{proxy.company.com} at port 8001, a
2804 proxy @sc{url} location containing authorization data might look like
2808 http://hniksic:mypassword@@proxy.company.com:8001/
2811 Alternatively, you may use the @samp{proxy-user} and
2812 @samp{proxy-password} options, and the equivalent @file{.wgetrc}
2813 settings @code{proxy_user} and @code{proxy_passwd} to set the proxy
2814 username and password.
2816 @node Distribution, Mailing List, Proxies, Various
2817 @section Distribution
2818 @cindex latest version
2820 Like all GNU utilities, the latest version of Wget can be found at the
2821 master GNU archive site ftp.gnu.org, and its mirrors. For example,
2822 Wget @value{VERSION} can be found at
2823 @url{ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/wget/wget-@value{VERSION}.tar.gz}
2825 @node Mailing List, Reporting Bugs, Distribution, Various
2826 @section Mailing List
2827 @cindex mailing list
2830 Wget has its own mailing list at @email{wget@@sunsite.dk}, thanks
2831 to Karsten Thygesen. The mailing list is for discussion of Wget
2832 features and web, reporting Wget bugs (those that you think may be of
2833 interest to the public) and mailing announcements. You are welcome to
2834 subscribe. The more people on the list, the better!
2836 To subscribe, simply send mail to @email{wget-subscribe@@sunsite.dk}.
2837 Unsubscribe by mailing to @email{wget-unsubscribe@@sunsite.dk}.
2839 The mailing list is archived at @url{http://fly.srk.fer.hr/archive/wget}.
2840 Alternative archive is available at
2841 @url{http://www.mail-archive.com/wget%40sunsite.auc.dk/}.
2843 @node Reporting Bugs, Portability, Mailing List, Various
2844 @section Reporting Bugs
2846 @cindex reporting bugs
2850 You are welcome to send bug reports about GNU Wget to
2851 @email{bug-wget@@gnu.org}.
2853 Before actually submitting a bug report, please try to follow a few
2858 Please try to ascertain that the behavior you see really is a bug. If
2859 Wget crashes, it's a bug. If Wget does not behave as documented,
2860 it's a bug. If things work strange, but you are not sure about the way
2861 they are supposed to work, it might well be a bug.
2864 Try to repeat the bug in as simple circumstances as possible. E.g. if
2865 Wget crashes while downloading @samp{wget -rl0 -kKE -t5 -Y0
2866 http://yoyodyne.com -o /tmp/log}, you should try to see if the crash is
2867 repeatable, and if will occur with a simpler set of options. You might
2868 even try to start the download at the page where the crash occurred to
2869 see if that page somehow triggered the crash.
2871 Also, while I will probably be interested to know the contents of your
2872 @file{.wgetrc} file, just dumping it into the debug message is probably
2873 a bad idea. Instead, you should first try to see if the bug repeats
2874 with @file{.wgetrc} moved out of the way. Only if it turns out that
2875 @file{.wgetrc} settings affect the bug, mail me the relevant parts of
2879 Please start Wget with @samp{-d} option and send the log (or the
2880 relevant parts of it). If Wget was compiled without debug support,
2881 recompile it. It is @emph{much} easier to trace bugs with debug support
2885 If Wget has crashed, try to run it in a debugger, e.g. @code{gdb `which
2886 wget` core} and type @code{where} to get the backtrace.
2890 @node Portability, Signals, Reporting Bugs, Various
2891 @section Portability
2893 @cindex operating systems
2895 Since Wget uses GNU Autoconf for building and configuring, and avoids
2896 using ``special'' ultra--mega--cool features of any particular Unix, it
2897 should compile (and work) on all common Unix flavors.
2899 Various Wget versions have been compiled and tested under many kinds of
2900 Unix systems, including Solaris, Linux, SunOS, OSF (aka Digital Unix),
2901 Ultrix, *BSD, IRIX, and others; refer to the file @file{MACHINES} in the
2902 distribution directory for a comprehensive list. If you compile it on
2903 an architecture not listed there, please let me know so I can update it.
2905 Wget should also compile on the other Unix systems, not listed in
2906 @file{MACHINES}. If it doesn't, please let me know.
2908 Thanks to kind contributors, this version of Wget compiles and works on
2909 Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows NT platforms. It has been compiled
2910 successfully using MS Visual C++ 4.0, Watcom, and Borland C compilers,
2911 with Winsock as networking software. Naturally, it is crippled of some
2912 features available on Unix, but it should work as a substitute for
2913 people stuck with Windows. Note that the Windows port is
2914 @strong{neither tested nor maintained} by me---all questions and
2915 problems should be reported to Wget mailing list at
2916 @email{wget@@sunsite.dk} where the maintainers will look at them.
2918 @node Signals, , Portability, Various
2920 @cindex signal handling
2923 Since the purpose of Wget is background work, it catches the hangup
2924 signal (@code{SIGHUP}) and ignores it. If the output was on standard
2925 output, it will be redirected to a file named @file{wget-log}.
2926 Otherwise, @code{SIGHUP} is ignored. This is convenient when you wish
2927 to redirect the output of Wget after having started it.
2930 $ wget http://www.ifi.uio.no/~larsi/gnus.tar.gz &
2931 $ kill -HUP %% # Redirect the output to wget-log
2934 Other than that, Wget will not try to interfere with signals in any way.
2935 @kbd{C-c}, @code{kill -TERM} and @code{kill -KILL} should kill it alike.
2937 @node Appendices, Copying, Various, Top
2940 This chapter contains some references I consider useful.
2943 * Robot Exclusion:: Wget's support for RES.
2944 * Security Considerations:: Security with Wget.
2945 * Contributors:: People who helped.
2948 @node Robot Exclusion, Security Considerations, Appendices, Appendices
2949 @section Robot Exclusion
2950 @cindex robot exclusion
2952 @cindex server maintenance
2954 It is extremely easy to make Wget wander aimlessly around a web site,
2955 sucking all the available data in progress. @samp{wget -r @var{site}},
2956 and you're set. Great? Not for the server admin.
2958 As long as Wget is only retrieving static pages, and doing it at a
2959 reasonable rate (see the @samp{--wait} option), there's not much of a
2960 problem. The trouble is that Wget can't tell the difference between the
2961 smallest static page and the most demanding CGI. A site I know has a
2962 section handled by a CGI Perl script that converts Info files to @sc{html} on
2963 the fly. The script is slow, but works well enough for human users
2964 viewing an occasional Info file. However, when someone's recursive Wget
2965 download stumbles upon the index page that links to all the Info files
2966 through the script, the system is brought to its knees without providing
2967 anything useful to the user (This task of converting Info files could be
2968 done locally and access to Info documentation for all installed GNU
2969 software on a system is available from the @code{info} command).
2971 To avoid this kind of accident, as well as to preserve privacy for
2972 documents that need to be protected from well-behaved robots, the
2973 concept of @dfn{robot exclusion} was invented. The idea is that
2974 the server administrators and document authors can specify which
2975 portions of the site they wish to protect from robots and those
2976 they will permit access.
2978 The most popular mechanism, and the @i{de facto} standard supported by
2979 all the major robots, is the ``Robots Exclusion Standard'' (RES) written
2980 by Martijn Koster et al. in 1994. It specifies the format of a text
2981 file containing directives that instruct the robots which URL paths to
2982 avoid. To be found by the robots, the specifications must be placed in
2983 @file{/robots.txt} in the server root, which the robots are expected to
2986 Although Wget is not a web robot in the strictest sense of the word, it
2987 can downloads large parts of the site without the user's intervention to
2988 download an individual page. Because of that, Wget honors RES when
2989 downloading recursively. For instance, when you issue:
2992 wget -r http://www.server.com/
2995 First the index of @samp{www.server.com} will be downloaded. If Wget
2996 finds that it wants to download more documents from that server, it will
2997 request @samp{http://www.server.com/robots.txt} and, if found, use it
2998 for further downloads. @file{robots.txt} is loaded only once per each
3001 Until version 1.8, Wget supported the first version of the standard,
3002 written by Martijn Koster in 1994 and available at
3003 @url{http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/norobots.html}. As of version 1.8,
3004 Wget has supported the additional directives specified in the internet
3005 draft @samp{<draft-koster-robots-00.txt>} titled ``A Method for Web
3006 Robots Control''. The draft, which has as far as I know never made to
3007 an @sc{rfc}, is available at
3008 @url{http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/norobots-rfc.txt}.
3010 This manual no longer includes the text of the Robot Exclusion Standard.
3012 The second, less known mechanism, enables the author of an individual
3013 document to specify whether they want the links from the file to be
3014 followed by a robot. This is achieved using the @code{META} tag, like
3018 <meta name="robots" content="nofollow">
3021 This is explained in some detail at
3022 @url{http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/meta-user.html}. Wget supports this
3023 method of robot exclusion in addition to the usual @file{/robots.txt}
3026 If you know what you are doing and really really wish to turn off the
3027 robot exclusion, set the @code{robots} variable to @samp{off} in your
3028 @file{.wgetrc}. You can achieve the same effect from the command line
3029 using the @code{-e} switch, e.g. @samp{wget -e robots=off @var{url}...}.
3031 @node Security Considerations, Contributors, Robot Exclusion, Appendices
3032 @section Security Considerations
3035 When using Wget, you must be aware that it sends unencrypted passwords
3036 through the network, which may present a security problem. Here are the
3037 main issues, and some solutions.
3040 @item The passwords on the command line are visible using @code{ps}.
3041 The best way around it is to use @code{wget -i -} and feed the @sc{url}s
3042 to Wget's standard input, each on a separate line, terminated by
3043 @kbd{C-d}. Another workaround is to use @file{.netrc} to store
3044 passwords; however, storing unencrypted passwords is also considered a
3048 Using the insecure @dfn{basic} authentication scheme, unencrypted
3049 passwords are transmitted through the network routers and gateways.
3052 The @sc{ftp} passwords are also in no way encrypted. There is no good
3053 solution for this at the moment.
3056 Although the ``normal'' output of Wget tries to hide the passwords,
3057 debugging logs show them, in all forms. This problem is avoided by
3058 being careful when you send debug logs (yes, even when you send them to
3062 @node Contributors, , Security Considerations, Appendices
3063 @section Contributors
3064 @cindex contributors
3067 GNU Wget was written by Hrvoje Nik@v{s}i@'{c} @email{hniksic@@arsdigita.com}.
3070 GNU Wget was written by Hrvoje Niksic @email{hniksic@@arsdigita.com}.
3072 However, its development could never have gone as far as it has, were it
3073 not for the help of many people, either with bug reports, feature
3074 proposals, patches, or letters saying ``Thanks!''.
3076 Special thanks goes to the following people (no particular order):
3080 Karsten Thygesen---donated system resources such as the mailing list,
3081 web space, and @sc{ftp} space, along with a lot of time to make these
3085 Shawn McHorse---bug reports and patches.
3088 Kaveh R. Ghazi---on-the-fly @code{ansi2knr}-ization. Lots of
3092 Gordon Matzigkeit---@file{.netrc} support.
3096 Zlatko @v{C}alu@v{s}i@'{c}, Tomislav Vujec and Dra@v{z}en
3097 Ka@v{c}ar---feature suggestions and ``philosophical'' discussions.
3100 Zlatko Calusic, Tomislav Vujec and Drazen Kacar---feature suggestions
3101 and ``philosophical'' discussions.
3105 Darko Budor---initial port to Windows.
3108 Antonio Rosella---help and suggestions, plus the Italian translation.
3112 Tomislav Petrovi@'{c}, Mario Miko@v{c}evi@'{c}---many bug reports and
3116 Tomislav Petrovic, Mario Mikocevic---many bug reports and suggestions.
3121 Fran@,{c}ois Pinard---many thorough bug reports and discussions.
3124 Francois Pinard---many thorough bug reports and discussions.
3128 Karl Eichwalder---lots of help with internationalization and other
3132 Junio Hamano---donated support for Opie and @sc{http} @code{Digest}
3136 The people who provided donations for development, including Brian
3140 The following people have provided patches, bug/build reports, useful
3141 suggestions, beta testing services, fan mail and all the other things
3142 that make maintenance so much fun:
3161 Kristijan @v{C}onka@v{s},
3180 Aleksandar Erkalovi@'{c},
3183 Aleksandar Erkalovic,
3200 Erik Magnus Hulthen,
3218 Goran Kezunovi@'{c},
3229 $\Sigma\acute{\iota}\mu o\varsigma\;
3230 \Xi\varepsilon\nu\iota\tau\acute{\epsilon}\lambda\lambda\eta\varsigma$
3231 (Simos KSenitellis),
3239 Nicol@'{a}s Lichtmeier,
3245 Alexander V. Lukyanov,
3273 @c Texinfo doesn't grok @'{@i}, so we have to use TeX itself.
3275 Juan Jos\'{e} Rodr\'{\i}gues,
3278 Juan Jose Rodrigues,
3291 Szakacsits Szabolcs,
3299 Douglas E. Wegscheid,
3309 Apologies to all who I accidentally left out, and many thanks to all the
3310 subscribers of the Wget mailing list.
3312 @node Copying, Concept Index, Appendices, Top
3317 @cindex free software
3319 GNU Wget is licensed under the GNU GPL, which makes it @dfn{free
3322 Please note that ``free'' in ``free software'' refers to liberty, not
3323 price. As some GNU project advocates like to point out, think of ``free
3324 speech'' rather than ``free beer''. The exact and legally binding
3325 distribution terms are spelled out below; in short, you have the right
3326 (freedom) to run and change Wget and distribute it to other people, and
3327 even---if you want---charge money for doing either. The important
3328 restriction is that you have to grant your recipients the same rights
3329 and impose the same restrictions.
3331 This method of licensing software is also known as @dfn{open source}
3332 because, among other things, it makes sure that all recipients will
3333 receive the source code along with the program, and be able to improve
3334 it. The GNU project prefers the term ``free software'' for reasons
3336 @url{http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html}.
3338 The exact license terms are defined by this paragraph and the GNU
3339 General Public License it refers to:
3342 GNU Wget is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
3343 under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
3344 Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
3345 option) any later version.
3347 GNU Wget is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
3348 ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
3349 FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License
3352 A copy of the GNU General Public License is included as part of this
3353 manual; if you did not receive it, write to the Free Software
3354 Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
3357 In addition to this, this manual is free in the same sense:
3360 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
3361 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
3362 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
3363 Invariant Sections being ``GNU General Public License'' and ``GNU Free
3364 Documentation License'', with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no
3365 Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section
3366 entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License''.
3369 @c #### Maybe we should wrap these licenses in ifinfo? Stallman says
3370 @c that the GFDL needs to be present in the manual, and to me it would
3371 @c suck to include the license for the manual and not the license for
3374 The full texts of the GNU General Public License and of the GNU Free
3375 Documentation License are available below.
3378 * GNU General Public License::
3379 * GNU Free Documentation License::
3382 @node GNU General Public License, GNU Free Documentation License, Copying, Copying
3383 @section GNU General Public License
3384 @center Version 2, June 1991
3387 Copyright @copyright{} 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3388 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
3390 Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
3391 of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
3394 @unnumberedsec Preamble
3396 The licenses for most software are designed to take away your
3397 freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public
3398 License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free
3399 software---to make sure the software is free for all its users. This
3400 General Public License applies to most of the Free Software
3401 Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit to
3402 using it. (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by
3403 the GNU Library General Public License instead.) You can apply it to
3406 When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not
3407 price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you
3408 have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for
3409 this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it
3410 if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it
3411 in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.
3413 To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid
3414 anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights.
3415 These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you
3416 distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.
3418 For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether
3419 gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that
3420 you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the
3421 source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their
3424 We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and
3425 (2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy,
3426 distribute and/or modify the software.
3428 Also, for each author's protection and ours, we want to make certain
3429 that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free
3430 software. If the software is modified by someone else and passed on, we
3431 want its recipients to know that what they have is not the original, so
3432 that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on the original
3433 authors' reputations.
3435 Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software
3436 patents. We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free
3437 program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the
3438 program proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any
3439 patent must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all.
3441 The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and
3442 modification follow.
3445 @unnumberedsec TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
3448 @center TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
3453 This License applies to any program or other work which contains
3454 a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed
3455 under the terms of this General Public License. The ``Program'', below,
3456 refers to any such program or work, and a ``work based on the Program''
3457 means either the Program or any derivative work under copyright law:
3458 that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it,
3459 either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another
3460 language. (Hereinafter, translation is included without limitation in
3461 the term ``modification''.) Each licensee is addressed as ``you''.
3463 Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not
3464 covered by this License; they are outside its scope. The act of
3465 running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program
3466 is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the
3467 Program (independent of having been made by running the Program).
3468 Whether that is true depends on what the Program does.
3471 You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's
3472 source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you
3473 conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate
3474 copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the
3475 notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty;
3476 and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License
3477 along with the Program.
3479 You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and
3480 you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee.
3483 You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion
3484 of it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and
3485 distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1
3486 above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:
3490 You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices
3491 stating that you changed the files and the date of any change.
3494 You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in
3495 whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any
3496 part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third
3497 parties under the terms of this License.
3500 If the modified program normally reads commands interactively
3501 when run, you must cause it, when started running for such
3502 interactive use in the most ordinary way, to print or display an
3503 announcement including an appropriate copyright notice and a
3504 notice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that you provide
3505 a warranty) and that users may redistribute the program under
3506 these conditions, and telling the user how to view a copy of this
3507 License. (Exception: if the Program itself is interactive but
3508 does not normally print such an announcement, your work based on
3509 the Program is not required to print an announcement.)
3512 These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If
3513 identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program,
3514 and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in
3515 themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those
3516 sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you
3517 distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based
3518 on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of
3519 this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the
3520 entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it.
3522 Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest
3523 your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to
3524 exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or
3525 collective works based on the Program.
3527 In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Program
3528 with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of
3529 a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other work under
3530 the scope of this License.
3533 You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it,
3534 under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of
3535 Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:
3539 Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable
3540 source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections
3541 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or,
3544 Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three
3545 years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your
3546 cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete
3547 machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be
3548 distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium
3549 customarily used for software interchange; or,
3552 Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer
3553 to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is
3554 allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you
3555 received the program in object code or executable form with such
3556 an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.)
3559 The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for
3560 making modifications to it. For an executable work, complete source
3561 code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any
3562 associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to
3563 control compilation and installation of the executable. However, as a
3564 special exception, the source code distributed need not include
3565 anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary
3566 form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the
3567 operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component
3568 itself accompanies the executable.
3570 If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering
3571 access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent
3572 access to copy the source code from the same place counts as
3573 distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not
3574 compelled to copy the source along with the object code.
3577 You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program
3578 except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt
3579 otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is
3580 void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License.
3581 However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under
3582 this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such
3583 parties remain in full compliance.
3586 You are not required to accept this License, since you have not
3587 signed it. However, nothing else grants you permission to modify or
3588 distribute the Program or its derivative works. These actions are
3589 prohibited by law if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by
3590 modifying or distributing the Program (or any work based on the
3591 Program), you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and
3592 all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying
3593 the Program or works based on it.
3596 Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the
3597 Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the
3598 original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to
3599 these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further
3600 restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein.
3601 You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to
3605 If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent
3606 infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent issues),
3607 conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or
3608 otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not
3609 excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot
3610 distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this
3611 License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you
3612 may not distribute the Program at all. For example, if a patent
3613 license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by
3614 all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then
3615 the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to
3616 refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.
3618 If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable under
3619 any particular circumstance, the balance of the section is intended to
3620 apply and the section as a whole is intended to apply in other
3623 It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any
3624 patents or other property right claims or to contest validity of any
3625 such claims; this section has the sole purpose of protecting the
3626 integrity of the free software distribution system, which is
3627 implemented by public license practices. Many people have made
3628 generous contributions to the wide range of software distributed
3629 through that system in reliance on consistent application of that
3630 system; it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is willing
3631 to distribute software through any other system and a licensee cannot
3634 This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed to
3635 be a consequence of the rest of this License.
3638 If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in
3639 certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the
3640 original copyright holder who places the Program under this License
3641 may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding
3642 those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among
3643 countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates
3644 the limitation as if written in the body of this License.
3647 The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions
3648 of the General Public License from time to time. Such new versions will
3649 be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to
3650 address new problems or concerns.
3652 Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program
3653 specifies a version number of this License which applies to it and ``any
3654 later version'', you have the option of following the terms and conditions
3655 either of that version or of any later version published by the Free
3656 Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a version number of
3657 this License, you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software
3661 If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free
3662 programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the author
3663 to ask for permission. For software which is copyrighted by the Free
3664 Software Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation; we sometimes
3665 make exceptions for this. Our decision will be guided by the two goals
3666 of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free software and
3667 of promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally.
3670 @heading NO WARRANTY
3678 BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY
3679 FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN
3680 OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES
3681 PROVIDE THE PROGRAM ``AS IS'' WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED
3682 OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
3683 MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS
3684 TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE
3685 PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING,
3686 REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
3689 IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING
3690 WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR
3691 REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES,
3692 INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING
3693 OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED
3694 TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY
3695 YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER
3696 PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
3697 POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
3701 @heading END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
3704 @center END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
3708 @unnumberedsec How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
3710 If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest
3711 possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it
3712 free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these terms.
3714 To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest
3715 to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively
3716 convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least
3717 the ``copyright'' line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.
3720 @var{one line to give the program's name and an idea of what it does.}
3721 Copyright (C) 19@var{yy} @var{name of author}
3723 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
3724 modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
3725 as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
3726 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
3728 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
3729 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
3730 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
3731 GNU General Public License for more details.
3733 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
3734 along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
3735 Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
3738 Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.
3740 If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this
3741 when it starts in an interactive mode:
3744 Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) 19@var{yy} @var{name of author}
3745 Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details
3746 type `show w'. This is free software, and you are welcome
3747 to redistribute it under certain conditions; type `show c'
3751 The hypothetical commands @samp{show w} and @samp{show c} should show
3752 the appropriate parts of the General Public License. Of course, the
3753 commands you use may be called something other than @samp{show w} and
3754 @samp{show c}; they could even be mouse-clicks or menu items---whatever
3757 You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your
3758 school, if any, to sign a ``copyright disclaimer'' for the program, if
3759 necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names:
3763 Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright
3764 interest in the program `Gnomovision'
3765 (which makes passes at compilers) written
3768 @var{signature of Ty Coon}, 1 April 1989
3769 Ty Coon, President of Vice
3773 This General Public License does not permit incorporating your program into
3774 proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you may
3775 consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the
3776 library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Library General
3777 Public License instead of this License.
3779 @node GNU Free Documentation License, , GNU General Public License, Copying
3780 @section GNU Free Documentation License
3781 @center Version 1.1, March 2000
3784 Copyright (C) 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3785 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
3787 Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
3788 of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
3795 The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other
3796 written document ``free'' in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone
3797 the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it, with or without
3798 modifying it, either commercially or noncommercially. Secondarily,
3799 this License preserves for the author and publisher a way to get
3800 credit for their work, while not being considered responsible for
3801 modifications made by others.
3803 This License is a kind of ``copyleft'', which means that derivative
3804 works of the document must themselves be free in the same sense. It
3805 complements the GNU General Public License, which is a copyleft
3806 license designed for free software.
3808 We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for free
3809 software, because free software needs free documentation: a free
3810 program should come with manuals providing the same freedoms that the
3811 software does. But this License is not limited to software manuals;
3812 it can be used for any textual work, regardless of subject matter or
3813 whether it is published as a printed book. We recommend this License
3814 principally for works whose purpose is instruction or reference.
3818 APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS
3820 This License applies to any manual or other work that contains a
3821 notice placed by the copyright holder saying it can be distributed
3822 under the terms of this License. The ``Document'', below, refers to any
3823 such manual or work. Any member of the public is a licensee, and is
3824 addressed as ``you''.
3826 A ``Modified Version'' of the Document means any work containing the
3827 Document or a portion of it, either copied verbatim, or with
3828 modifications and/or translated into another language.
3830 A ``Secondary Section'' is a named appendix or a front-matter section of
3831 the Document that deals exclusively with the relationship of the
3832 publishers or authors of the Document to the Document's overall subject
3833 (or to related matters) and contains nothing that could fall directly
3834 within that overall subject. (For example, if the Document is in part a
3835 textbook of mathematics, a Secondary Section may not explain any
3836 mathematics.) The relationship could be a matter of historical
3837 connection with the subject or with related matters, or of legal,
3838 commercial, philosophical, ethical or political position regarding
3841 The ``Invariant Sections'' are certain Secondary Sections whose titles
3842 are designated, as being those of Invariant Sections, in the notice
3843 that says that the Document is released under this License.
3845 The ``Cover Texts'' are certain short passages of text that are listed,
3846 as Front-Cover Texts or Back-Cover Texts, in the notice that says that
3847 the Document is released under this License.
3849 A ``Transparent'' copy of the Document means a machine-readable copy,
3850 represented in a format whose specification is available to the
3851 general public, whose contents can be viewed and edited directly and
3852 straightforwardly with generic text editors or (for images composed of
3853 pixels) generic paint programs or (for drawings) some widely available
3854 drawing editor, and that is suitable for input to text formatters or
3855 for automatic translation to a variety of formats suitable for input
3856 to text formatters. A copy made in an otherwise Transparent file
3857 format whose markup has been designed to thwart or discourage
3858 subsequent modification by readers is not Transparent. A copy that is
3859 not ``Transparent'' is called ``Opaque''.
3861 Examples of suitable formats for Transparent copies include plain
3862 @sc{ascii} without markup, Texinfo input format, LaTeX input format, @sc{sgml}
3863 or @sc{xml} using a publicly available @sc{dtd}, and standard-conforming simple
3864 @sc{html} designed for human modification. Opaque formats include
3865 PostScript, @sc{pdf}, proprietary formats that can be read and edited only
3866 by proprietary word processors, @sc{sgml} or @sc{xml} for which the @sc{dtd} and/or
3867 processing tools are not generally available, and the
3868 machine-generated @sc{html} produced by some word processors for output
3871 The ``Title Page'' means, for a printed book, the title page itself,
3872 plus such following pages as are needed to hold, legibly, the material
3873 this License requires to appear in the title page. For works in
3874 formats which do not have any title page as such, ``Title Page'' means
3875 the text near the most prominent appearance of the work's title,
3876 preceding the beginning of the body of the text.
3881 You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either
3882 commercially or noncommercially, provided that this License, the
3883 copyright notices, and the license notice saying this License applies
3884 to the Document are reproduced in all copies, and that you add no other
3885 conditions whatsoever to those of this License. You may not use
3886 technical measures to obstruct or control the reading or further
3887 copying of the copies you make or distribute. However, you may accept
3888 compensation in exchange for copies. If you distribute a large enough
3889 number of copies you must also follow the conditions in section 3.
3891 You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above, and
3892 you may publicly display copies.
3897 If you publish printed copies of the Document numbering more than 100,
3898 and the Document's license notice requires Cover Texts, you must enclose
3899 the copies in covers that carry, clearly and legibly, all these Cover
3900 Texts: Front-Cover Texts on the front cover, and Back-Cover Texts on
3901 the back cover. Both covers must also clearly and legibly identify
3902 you as the publisher of these copies. The front cover must present
3903 the full title with all words of the title equally prominent and
3904 visible. You may add other material on the covers in addition.
3905 Copying with changes limited to the covers, as long as they preserve
3906 the title of the Document and satisfy these conditions, can be treated
3907 as verbatim copying in other respects.
3909 If the required texts for either cover are too voluminous to fit
3910 legibly, you should put the first ones listed (as many as fit
3911 reasonably) on the actual cover, and continue the rest onto adjacent
3914 If you publish or distribute Opaque copies of the Document numbering
3915 more than 100, you must either include a machine-readable Transparent
3916 copy along with each Opaque copy, or state in or with each Opaque copy
3917 a publicly-accessible computer-network location containing a complete
3918 Transparent copy of the Document, free of added material, which the
3919 general network-using public has access to download anonymously at no
3920 charge using public-standard network protocols. If you use the latter
3921 option, you must take reasonably prudent steps, when you begin
3922 distribution of Opaque copies in quantity, to ensure that this
3923 Transparent copy will remain thus accessible at the stated location
3924 until at least one year after the last time you distribute an Opaque
3925 copy (directly or through your agents or retailers) of that edition to
3928 It is requested, but not required, that you contact the authors of the
3929 Document well before redistributing any large number of copies, to give
3930 them a chance to provide you with an updated version of the Document.
3935 You may copy and distribute a Modified Version of the Document under
3936 the conditions of sections 2 and 3 above, provided that you release
3937 the Modified Version under precisely this License, with the Modified
3938 Version filling the role of the Document, thus licensing distribution
3939 and modification of the Modified Version to whoever possesses a copy
3940 of it. In addition, you must do these things in the Modified Version:
3942 A. Use in the Title Page (and on the covers, if any) a title distinct
3943 from that of the Document, and from those of previous versions
3944 (which should, if there were any, be listed in the History section
3945 of the Document). You may use the same title as a previous version
3946 if the original publisher of that version gives permission.@*
3947 B. List on the Title Page, as authors, one or more persons or entities
3948 responsible for authorship of the modifications in the Modified
3949 Version, together with at least five of the principal authors of the
3950 Document (all of its principal authors, if it has less than five).@*
3951 C. State on the Title page the name of the publisher of the
3952 Modified Version, as the publisher.@*
3953 D. Preserve all the copyright notices of the Document.@*
3954 E. Add an appropriate copyright notice for your modifications
3955 adjacent to the other copyright notices.@*
3956 F. Include, immediately after the copyright notices, a license notice
3957 giving the public permission to use the Modified Version under the
3958 terms of this License, in the form shown in the Addendum below.@*
3959 G. Preserve in that license notice the full lists of Invariant Sections
3960 and required Cover Texts given in the Document's license notice.@*
3961 H. Include an unaltered copy of this License.@*
3962 I. Preserve the section entitled ``History'', and its title, and add to
3963 it an item stating at least the title, year, new authors, and
3964 publisher of the Modified Version as given on the Title Page. If
3965 there is no section entitled ``History'' in the Document, create one
3966 stating the title, year, authors, and publisher of the Document as
3967 given on its Title Page, then add an item describing the Modified
3968 Version as stated in the previous sentence.@*
3969 J. Preserve the network location, if any, given in the Document for
3970 public access to a Transparent copy of the Document, and likewise
3971 the network locations given in the Document for previous versions
3972 it was based on. These may be placed in the ``History'' section.
3973 You may omit a network location for a work that was published at
3974 least four years before the Document itself, or if the original
3975 publisher of the version it refers to gives permission.@*
3976 K. In any section entitled ``Acknowledgements'' or ``Dedications'',
3977 preserve the section's title, and preserve in the section all the
3978 substance and tone of each of the contributor acknowledgements
3979 and/or dedications given therein.@*
3980 L. Preserve all the Invariant Sections of the Document,
3981 unaltered in their text and in their titles. Section numbers
3982 or the equivalent are not considered part of the section titles.@*
3983 M. Delete any section entitled ``Endorsements''. Such a section
3984 may not be included in the Modified Version.@*
3985 N. Do not retitle any existing section as ``Endorsements''
3986 or to conflict in title with any Invariant Section.@*
3988 If the Modified Version includes new front-matter sections or
3989 appendices that qualify as Secondary Sections and contain no material
3990 copied from the Document, you may at your option designate some or all
3991 of these sections as invariant. To do this, add their titles to the
3992 list of Invariant Sections in the Modified Version's license notice.
3993 These titles must be distinct from any other section titles.
3995 You may add a section entitled ``Endorsements'', provided it contains
3996 nothing but endorsements of your Modified Version by various
3997 parties--for example, statements of peer review or that the text has
3998 been approved by an organization as the authoritative definition of a
4001 You may add a passage of up to five words as a Front-Cover Text, and a
4002 passage of up to 25 words as a Back-Cover Text, to the end of the list
4003 of Cover Texts in the Modified Version. Only one passage of
4004 Front-Cover Text and one of Back-Cover Text may be added by (or
4005 through arrangements made by) any one entity. If the Document already
4006 includes a cover text for the same cover, previously added by you or
4007 by arrangement made by the same entity you are acting on behalf of,
4008 you may not add another; but you may replace the old one, on explicit
4009 permission from the previous publisher that added the old one.
4011 The author(s) and publisher(s) of the Document do not by this License
4012 give permission to use their names for publicity for or to assert or
4013 imply endorsement of any Modified Version.
4018 You may combine the Document with other documents released under this
4019 License, under the terms defined in section 4 above for modified
4020 versions, provided that you include in the combination all of the
4021 Invariant Sections of all of the original documents, unmodified, and
4022 list them all as Invariant Sections of your combined work in its
4025 The combined work need only contain one copy of this License, and
4026 multiple identical Invariant Sections may be replaced with a single
4027 copy. If there are multiple Invariant Sections with the same name but
4028 different contents, make the title of each such section unique by
4029 adding at the end of it, in parentheses, the name of the original
4030 author or publisher of that section if known, or else a unique number.
4031 Make the same adjustment to the section titles in the list of
4032 Invariant Sections in the license notice of the combined work.
4034 In the combination, you must combine any sections entitled ``History''
4035 in the various original documents, forming one section entitled
4036 ``History''; likewise combine any sections entitled ``Acknowledgements'',
4037 and any sections entitled ``Dedications''. You must delete all sections
4038 entitled ``Endorsements.''
4041 COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS
4043 You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other documents
4044 released under this License, and replace the individual copies of this
4045 License in the various documents with a single copy that is included in
4046 the collection, provided that you follow the rules of this License for
4047 verbatim copying of each of the documents in all other respects.
4049 You may extract a single document from such a collection, and distribute
4050 it individually under this License, provided you insert a copy of this
4051 License into the extracted document, and follow this License in all
4052 other respects regarding verbatim copying of that document.
4055 AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS
4057 A compilation of the Document or its derivatives with other separate
4058 and independent documents or works, in or on a volume of a storage or
4059 distribution medium, does not as a whole count as a Modified Version
4060 of the Document, provided no compilation copyright is claimed for the
4061 compilation. Such a compilation is called an ``aggregate'', and this
4062 License does not apply to the other self-contained works thus compiled
4063 with the Document, on account of their being thus compiled, if they
4064 are not themselves derivative works of the Document.
4066 If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these
4067 copies of the Document, then if the Document is less than one quarter
4068 of the entire aggregate, the Document's Cover Texts may be placed on
4069 covers that surround only the Document within the aggregate.
4070 Otherwise they must appear on covers around the whole aggregate.
4075 Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may
4076 distribute translations of the Document under the terms of section 4.
4077 Replacing Invariant Sections with translations requires special
4078 permission from their copyright holders, but you may include
4079 translations of some or all Invariant Sections in addition to the
4080 original versions of these Invariant Sections. You may include a
4081 translation of this License provided that you also include the
4082 original English version of this License. In case of a disagreement
4083 between the translation and the original English version of this
4084 License, the original English version will prevail.
4089 You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except
4090 as expressly provided for under this License. Any other attempt to
4091 copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Document is void, and will
4092 automatically terminate your rights under this License. However,
4093 parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this
4094 License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such
4095 parties remain in full compliance.
4098 FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE
4100 The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions
4101 of the GNU Free Documentation License from time to time. Such new
4102 versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may
4103 differ in detail to address new problems or concerns. See
4104 http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/.
4106 Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version number.
4107 If the Document specifies that a particular numbered version of this
4108 License ``or any later version'' applies to it, you have the option of
4109 following the terms and conditions either of that specified version or
4110 of any later version that has been published (not as a draft) by the
4111 Free Software Foundation. If the Document does not specify a version
4112 number of this License, you may choose any version ever published (not
4113 as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation.
4117 @unnumberedsec ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents
4119 To use this License in a document you have written, include a copy of
4120 the License in the document and put the following copyright and
4121 license notices just after the title page:
4126 Copyright (C) @var{year} @var{your name}.
4127 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
4128 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1
4129 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
4130 with the Invariant Sections being @var{list their titles}, with the
4131 Front-Cover Texts being @var{list}, and with the Back-Cover Texts being @var{list}.
4132 A copy of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU
4133 Free Documentation License''.
4136 If you have no Invariant Sections, write ``with no Invariant Sections''
4137 instead of saying which ones are invariant. If you have no
4138 Front-Cover Texts, write ``no Front-Cover Texts'' instead of
4139 ``Front-Cover Texts being @var{list}''; likewise for Back-Cover Texts.
4141 If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we
4142 recommend releasing these examples in parallel under your choice of
4143 free software license, such as the GNU General Public License,
4144 to permit their use in free software.
4147 @node Concept Index, , Copying, Top
4148 @unnumbered Concept Index