resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission
notice identical to this one.
+\1f
+File: wget.info, Node: Directory-Based Limits, Next: FTP Links, Prev: Types of Files, Up: Following Links
+
+Directory-Based Limits
+======================
+
+ Regardless of other link-following facilities, it is often useful to
+place the restriction of what files to retrieve based on the directories
+those files are placed in. There can be many reasons for this--the
+home pages may be organized in a reasonable directory structure; or some
+directories may contain useless information, e.g. `/cgi-bin' or `/dev'
+directories.
+
+ Wget offers three different options to deal with this requirement.
+Each option description lists a short name, a long name, and the
+equivalent command in `.wgetrc'.
+
+`-I LIST'
+`--include LIST'
+`include_directories = LIST'
+ `-I' option accepts a comma-separated list of directories included
+ in the retrieval. Any other directories will simply be ignored.
+ The directories are absolute paths.
+
+ So, if you wish to download from `http://host/people/bozo/'
+ following only links to bozo's colleagues in the `/people'
+ directory and the bogus scripts in `/cgi-bin', you can specify:
+
+ wget -I /people,/cgi-bin http://host/people/bozo/
+
+`-X LIST'
+`--exclude LIST'
+`exclude_directories = LIST'
+ `-X' option is exactly the reverse of `-I'--this is a list of
+ directories *excluded* from the download. E.g. if you do not want
+ Wget to download things from `/cgi-bin' directory, specify `-X
+ /cgi-bin' on the command line.
+
+ The same as with `-A'/`-R', these two options can be combined to
+ get a better fine-tuning of downloading subdirectories. E.g. if
+ you want to load all the files from `/pub' hierarchy except for
+ `/pub/worthless', specify `-I/pub -X/pub/worthless'.
+
+`-np'
+`--no-parent'
+`no_parent = on'
+ The simplest, and often very useful way of limiting directories is
+ disallowing retrieval of the links that refer to the hierarchy
+ "above" than the beginning directory, i.e. disallowing ascent to
+ the parent directory/directories.
+
+ The `--no-parent' option (short `-np') is useful in this case.
+ Using it guarantees that you will never leave the existing
+ hierarchy. Supposing you issue Wget with:
+
+ wget -r --no-parent http://somehost/~luzer/my-archive/
+
+ You may rest assured that none of the references to
+ `/~his-girls-homepage/' or `/~luzer/all-my-mpegs/' will be
+ followed. Only the archive you are interested in will be
+ downloaded. Essentially, `--no-parent' is similar to
+ `-I/~luzer/my-archive', only it handles redirections in a more
+ intelligent fashion.
+
+\1f
+File: wget.info, Node: FTP Links, Prev: Directory-Based Limits, Up: Following Links
+
+Following FTP Links
+===================
+
+ The rules for FTP are somewhat specific, as it is necessary for them
+to be. FTP links in HTML documents are often included for purposes of
+reference, and it is often inconvenient to download them by default.
+
+ To have FTP links followed from HTML documents, you need to specify
+the `--follow-ftp' option. Having done that, FTP links will span hosts
+regardless of `-H' setting. This is logical, as FTP links rarely point
+to the same host where the HTTP server resides. For similar reasons,
+the `-L' options has no effect on such downloads. On the other hand,
+domain acceptance (`-D') and suffix rules (`-A' and `-R') apply
+normally.
+
+ Also note that followed links to FTP directories will not be
+retrieved recursively further.
+
+\1f
+File: wget.info, Node: Time-Stamping, Next: Startup File, Prev: Following Links, Up: Top
+
+Time-Stamping
+*************
+
+ One of the most important aspects of mirroring information from the
+Internet is updating your archives.
+
+ Downloading the whole archive again and again, just to replace a few
+changed files is expensive, both in terms of wasted bandwidth and money,
+and the time to do the update. This is why all the mirroring tools
+offer the option of incremental updating.
+
+ Such an updating mechanism means that the remote server is scanned in
+search of "new" files. Only those new files will be downloaded in the
+place of the old ones.
+
+ A file is considered new if one of these two conditions are met:
+
+ 1. A file of that name does not already exist locally.
+
+ 2. A file of that name does exist, but the remote file was modified
+ more recently than the local file.
+
+ To implement this, the program needs to be aware of the time of last
+modification of both remote and local files. Such information are
+called the "time-stamps".
+
+ The time-stamping in GNU Wget is turned on using `--timestamping'
+(`-N') option, or through `timestamping = on' directive in `.wgetrc'.
+With this option, for each file it intends to download, Wget will check
+whether a local file of the same name exists. If it does, and the
+remote file is older, Wget will not download it.
+
+ If the local file does not exist, or the sizes of the files do not
+match, Wget will download the remote file no matter what the time-stamps
+say.
+
+* Menu:
+
+* Time-Stamping Usage::
+* HTTP Time-Stamping Internals::
+* FTP Time-Stamping Internals::
+
+\1f
+File: wget.info, Node: Time-Stamping Usage, Next: HTTP Time-Stamping Internals, Prev: Time-Stamping, Up: Time-Stamping
+
+Time-Stamping Usage
+===================
+
+ The usage of time-stamping is simple. Say you would like to
+download a file so that it keeps its date of modification.
+
+ wget -S http://www.gnu.ai.mit.edu/
+
+ A simple `ls -l' shows that the time stamp on the local file equals
+the state of the `Last-Modified' header, as returned by the server. As
+you can see, the time-stamping info is preserved locally, even without
+`-N'.
+
+ Several days later, you would like Wget to check if the remote file
+has changed, and download it if it has.
+
+ wget -N http://www.gnu.ai.mit.edu/
+
+ Wget will ask the server for the last-modified date. If the local
+file is newer, the remote file will not be re-fetched. However, if the
+remote file is more recent, Wget will proceed fetching it normally.
+
+ The same goes for FTP. For example:
+
+ wget ftp://ftp.ifi.uio.no/pub/emacs/gnus/*
+
+ `ls' will show that the timestamps are set according to the state on
+the remote server. Reissuing the command with `-N' will make Wget
+re-fetch *only* the files that have been modified.
+
+ In both HTTP and FTP retrieval Wget will time-stamp the local file
+correctly (with or without `-N') if it gets the stamps, i.e. gets the
+directory listing for FTP or the `Last-Modified' header for HTTP.
+
+ If you wished to mirror the GNU archive every week, you would use the
+following command every week:
+
+ wget --timestamping -r ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/
+
+\1f
+File: wget.info, Node: HTTP Time-Stamping Internals, Next: FTP Time-Stamping Internals, Prev: Time-Stamping Usage, Up: Time-Stamping
+
+HTTP Time-Stamping Internals
+============================
+
+ Time-stamping in HTTP is implemented by checking of the
+`Last-Modified' header. If you wish to retrieve the file `foo.html'
+through HTTP, Wget will check whether `foo.html' exists locally. If it
+doesn't, `foo.html' will be retrieved unconditionally.
+
+ If the file does exist locally, Wget will first check its local
+time-stamp (similar to the way `ls -l' checks it), and then send a
+`HEAD' request to the remote server, demanding the information on the
+remote file.
+
+ The `Last-Modified' header is examined to find which file was
+modified more recently (which makes it "newer"). If the remote file is
+newer, it will be downloaded; if it is older, Wget will give up.(1)
+
+ When `--backup-converted' (`-K') is specified in conjunction with
+`-N', server file `X' is compared to local file `X.orig', if extant,
+rather than being compared to local file `X', which will always differ
+if it's been converted by `--convert-links' (`-k').
+
+ Arguably, HTTP time-stamping should be implemented using the
+`If-Modified-Since' request.
+
+ ---------- Footnotes ----------
+
+ (1) As an additional check, Wget will look at the `Content-Length'
+header, and compare the sizes; if they are not the same, the remote
+file will be downloaded no matter what the time-stamp says.
+
\1f
File: wget.info, Node: FTP Time-Stamping Internals, Prev: HTTP Time-Stamping Internals, Up: Time-Stamping
Wgetrc Commands
===============
- The complete set of commands is listed below, the letter after `='
-denoting the value the command takes. It is `on/off' for `on' or `off'
-(which can also be `1' or `0'), STRING for any non-empty string or N
-for a positive integer. For example, you may specify `use_proxy = off'
-to disable use of proxy servers by default. You may use `inf' for
-infinite values, where appropriate.
+ The complete set of commands is listed below. Legal values are
+listed after the `='. Simple Boolean values can be set or unset using
+`on' and `off' or `1' and `0'. A fancier kind of Boolean allowed in
+some cases is the "lockable" Boolean, which may be set to `on', `off',
+`always', or `never'. If an option is set to `always' or `never', that
+value will be locked in for the duration of the wget invocation -
+commandline options will not override.
+
+ Some commands take pseudo-arbitrary values. ADDRESS values can be
+hostnames or dotted-quad IP addresses. N can be any positive integer,
+or `inf' for infinity, where appropriate. STRING values can be any
+non-empty string.
- Most of the commands have their equivalent command-line option
-(*Note Invoking::), except some more obscure or rarely used ones.
+ Most of these commands have commandline equivalents (*Note
+Invoking::), though some of the more obscure or rarely used ones do not.
accept/reject = STRING
Same as `-A'/`-R' (*Note Types of Files::).
Enable/disable host-prefixed file names. `-nH' disables it.
continue = on/off
- Enable/disable continuation of the retrieval, the same as `-c'
+ Enable/disable continuation of the retrieval - the same as `-c'
(which enables it).
background = on/off
- Enable/disable going to background, the same as `-b' (which enables
- it).
+ Enable/disable going to background - the same as `-b' (which
+ enables it).
backup_converted = on/off
Enable/disable saving pre-converted files with the suffix `.orig'
- the same as `-K' (which enables it).
base = STRING
- Set base for relative URLs, the same as `-B'.
+ Consider relative URLs in URL input files forced to be interpreted
+ as HTML as being relative to STRING - the same as `-B'.
+
+bind_address = ADDRESS
+ Bind to ADDRESS, like the `--bind-address' option.
cache = on/off
When set to off, disallow server-caching. See the `-C' option.
Debug mode, same as `-d'.
delete_after = on/off
- Delete after download, the same as `--delete-after'.
+ Delete after download - the same as `--delete-after'.
dir_prefix = STRING
- Top of directory tree, the same as `-P'.
+ Top of directory tree - the same as `-P'.
dirstruct = on/off
- Turning dirstruct on or off, the same as `-x' or `-nd',
+ Turning dirstruct on or off - the same as `-x' or `-nd',
respectively.
domains = STRING
exclude_directories = STRING
Specify a comma-separated list of directories you wish to exclude
- from download, the same as `-X' (*Note Directory-Based Limits::).
+ from download - the same as `-X' (*Note Directory-Based Limits::).
exclude_domains = STRING
Same as `--exclude-domains' (*Note Domain Acceptance::).
follow_ftp = on/off
- Follow FTP links from HTML documents, the same as `-f'.
+ Follow FTP links from HTML documents - the same as `-f'.
follow_tags = STRING
Only follow certain HTML tags when doing a recursive retrieval,
force_html = on/off
If set to on, force the input filename to be regarded as an HTML
- document, the same as `-F'.
+ document - the same as `-F'.
ftp_proxy = STRING
Use STRING as FTP proxy, instead of the one specified in
environment.
glob = on/off
- Turn globbing on/off, the same as `-g'.
+ Turn globbing on/off - the same as `-g'.
header = STRING
Define an additional header, like `--header'.
+html_extension = on/off
+ Add a `.html' extension to `text/html' files without it, like `-E'.
+
http_passwd = STRING
Set HTTP password.
include_directories = STRING
Specify a comma-separated list of directories you wish to follow
- when downloading, the same as `-I'.
+ when downloading - the same as `-I'.
input = STRING
Read the URLs from STRING, like `-i'.
the value in `Content-Length'.
logfile = STRING
- Set logfile, the same as `-o'.
+ Set logfile - the same as `-o'.
login = STRING
Your user name on the remote machine, for FTP. Defaults to
proxy loading, instead of the one specified in environment.
output_document = STRING
- Set the output filename, the same as `-O'.
+ Set the output filename - the same as `-O'.
+
+page_requisites = on/off
+ Download all ancillary documents necessary for a single HTML page
+ to display properly - the same as `-p'.
-passive_ftp = on/off
- Set passive FTP, the same as `--passive-ftp'.
+passive_ftp = on/off/always/never
+ Set passive FTP - the same as `--passive-ftp'. Some scripts and
+ `.pm' (Perl module) files download files using `wget
+ --passive-ftp'. If your firewall does not allow this, you can set
+ `passive_ftp = never' to override the commandline.
passwd = STRING
Set your FTP password to PASSWORD. Without this setting, the
proxy_passwd = STRING
Set proxy authentication password to STRING, like `--proxy-passwd'.
+referer = STRING
+ Set HTTP `Referer:' header just like `--referer'. (Note it was
+ the folks who wrote the HTTP spec who got the spelling of
+ "referrer" wrong.)
+
quiet = on/off
- Quiet mode, the same as `-q'.
+ Quiet mode - the same as `-q'.
quota = QUOTA
Specify the download quota, which is useful to put in the global
system settings.
reclevel = N
- Recursion level, the same as `-l'.
+ Recursion level - the same as `-l'.
recursive = on/off
- Recursive on/off, the same as `-r'.
+ Recursive on/off - the same as `-r'.
relative_only = on/off
- Follow only relative links, the same as `-L' (*Note Relative
+ Follow only relative links - the same as `-L' (*Note Relative
Links::).
remove_listing = on/off
what you are doing before changing the default (which is `on').
server_response = on/off
- Choose whether or not to print the HTTP and FTP server responses,
+ Choose whether or not to print the HTTP and FTP server responses -
the same as `-S'.
simple_host_check = on/off
Same as `-H'.
timeout = N
- Set timeout value, the same as `-T'.
+ Set timeout value - the same as `-T'.
timestamping = on/off
Turn timestamping on/off. The same as `-N' (*Note Time-Stamping::).
tries = N
- Set number of retries per URL, the same as `-t'.
+ Set number of retries per URL - the same as `-t'.
use_proxy = on/off
Turn proxy support on/off. The same as `-Y'.
verbose = on/off
- Turn verbose on/off, the same as `-v'/`-nv'.
+ Turn verbose on/off - the same as `-v'/`-nv'.
wait = N
- Wait N seconds between retrievals, the same as `-w'.
+ Wait N seconds between retrievals - the same as `-w'.
waitretry = N
Wait up to N seconds between retries of failed retrievals only -
being careful when you send debug logs (yes, even when you send
them to me).
-\1f
-File: wget.info, Node: Contributors, Prev: Security Considerations, Up: Appendices
-
-Contributors
-============
-
- GNU Wget was written by Hrvoje Niksic <hniksic@iskon.hr>. However,
-its development could never have gone as far as it has, were it not for
-the help of many people, either with bug reports, feature proposals,
-patches, or letters saying "Thanks!".
-
- Special thanks goes to the following people (no particular order):
-
- * Karsten Thygesen--donated the mailing list and the initial FTP
- space.
-
- * Shawn McHorse--bug reports and patches.
-
- * Kaveh R. Ghazi--on-the-fly `ansi2knr'-ization.
-
- * Gordon Matzigkeit--`.netrc' support.
-
- * Zlatko Calusic, Tomislav Vujec and Drazen Kacar--feature
- suggestions and "philosophical" discussions.
-
- * Darko Budor--initial port to Windows.
-
- * Antonio Rosella--help and suggestions, plus the Italian
- translation.
-
- * Tomislav Petrovic, Mario Mikocevic--many bug reports and
- suggestions.
-
- * Francois Pinard--many thorough bug reports and discussions.
-
- * Karl Eichwalder--lots of help with internationalization and other
- things.
-
- * Junio Hamano--donated support for Opie and HTTP `Digest'
- authentication.
-
- * Brian Gough--a generous donation.
-
- The following people have provided patches, bug/build reports, useful
-suggestions, beta testing services, fan mail and all the other things
-that make maintenance so much fun:
-
- Tim Adam, Martin Baehr, Dieter Baron, Roger Beeman and the Gurus at
-Cisco, Dan Berger, Mark Boyns, John Burden, Wanderlei Cavassin, Gilles
-Cedoc, Tim Charron, Noel Cragg, Kristijan Conkas, Andrew Deryabin,
-Damir Dzeko, Andrew Davison, Ulrich Drepper, Marc Duponcheel,
-Aleksandar Erkalovic, Andy Eskilsson, Masashi Fujita, Howard Gayle,
-Marcel Gerrits, Hans Grobler, Mathieu Guillaume, Dan Harkless, Heiko
-Herold, Karl Heuer, HIROSE Masaaki, Gregor Hoffleit, Erik Magnus
-Hulthen, Richard Huveneers, Simon Josefsson, Mario Juric, Goran
-Kezunovic, Robert Kleine, Fila Kolodny, Alexander Kourakos, Martin
-Kraemer, Simos KSenitellis, Hrvoje Lacko, Daniel S. Lewart, Dave Love,
-Jordan Mendelson, Lin Zhe Min, Charlie Negyesi, Andrew Pollock, Steve
-Pothier, Jan Prikryl, Marin Purgar, Keith Refson, Tobias Ringstrom,
-Juan Jose Rodrigues, Edward J. Sabol, Heinz Salzmann, Robert Schmidt,
-Toomas Soome, Tage Stabell-Kulo, Sven Sternberger, Markus Strasser,
-Szakacsits Szabolcs, Mike Thomas, Russell Vincent, Charles G Waldman,
-Douglas E. Wegscheid, Jasmin Zainul, Bojan Zdrnja, Kristijan Zimmer.
-
- Apologies to all who I accidentally left out, and many thanks to all
-the subscribers of the Wget mailing list.
-
projects / wget / blobdiff