-This is Info file wget.info, produced by Makeinfo version 1.67 from the
+This is Info file wget.info, produced by Makeinfo version 1.68 from the
input file ./wget.texi.
INFO-DIR-SECTION Net Utilities
This file documents the the GNU Wget utility for downloading network
data.
- Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+ Copyright (C) 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
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
+
+FTP Time-Stamping Internals
+===========================
+
+ In theory, FTP time-stamping works much the same as HTTP, only FTP
+has no headers--time-stamps must be received from the directory
+listings.
+
+ For each directory files must be retrieved from, Wget will use the
+`LIST' command to get the listing. It will try to analyze the listing,
+assuming that it is a Unix `ls -l' listing, and extract the
+time-stamps. The rest is exactly the same as for HTTP.
+
+ Assumption that every directory listing is a Unix-style listing may
+sound extremely constraining, but in practice it is not, as many
+non-Unix FTP servers use the Unixoid listing format because most (all?)
+of the clients understand it. Bear in mind that RFC959 defines no
+standard way to get a file list, let alone the time-stamps. We can
+only hope that a future standard will define this.
+
+ Another non-standard solution includes the use of `MDTM' command
+that is supported by some FTP servers (including the popular
+`wu-ftpd'), which returns the exact time of the specified file. Wget
+may support this command in the future.
+
+\1f
+File: wget.info, Node: Startup File, Next: Examples, Prev: Time-Stamping, Up: Top
+
+Startup File
+************
+
+ Once you know how to change default settings of Wget through command
+line arguments, you may wish to make some of those settings permanent.
+You can do that in a convenient way by creating the Wget startup
+file--`.wgetrc'.
+
+ Besides `.wgetrc' is the "main" initialization file, it is
+convenient to have a special facility for storing passwords. Thus Wget
+reads and interprets the contents of `$HOME/.netrc', if it finds it.
+You can find `.netrc' format in your system manuals.
+
+ Wget reads `.wgetrc' upon startup, recognizing a limited set of
+commands.
+
+* Menu:
+
+* Wgetrc Location:: Location of various wgetrc files.
+* Wgetrc Syntax:: Syntax of wgetrc.
+* Wgetrc Commands:: List of available commands.
+* Sample Wgetrc:: A wgetrc example.
+
+\1f
+File: wget.info, Node: Wgetrc Location, Next: Wgetrc Syntax, Prev: Startup File, Up: Startup File
+
+Wgetrc Location
+===============
+
+ When initializing, Wget will look for a "global" startup file,
+`/usr/local/etc/wgetrc' by default (or some prefix other than
+`/usr/local', if Wget was not installed there) and read commands from
+there, if it exists.
+
+ Then it will look for the user's file. If the environmental variable
+`WGETRC' is set, Wget will try to load that file. Failing that, no
+further attempts will be made.
+
+ If `WGETRC' is not set, Wget will try to load `$HOME/.wgetrc'.
+
+ The fact that user's settings are loaded after the system-wide ones
+means that in case of collision user's wgetrc *overrides* the
+system-wide wgetrc (in `/usr/local/etc/wgetrc' by default). Fascist
+admins, away!
+
\1f
File: wget.info, Node: Wgetrc Syntax, Next: Wgetrc Commands, Prev: Wgetrc Location, Up: Startup File
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.
- Most of the commands have their equivalent command-line option
-(*Note Invoking::), except some more obscure or rarely used ones.
+ 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 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,
+ just like `--follow-tags'.
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.
When set to on, ignore `Content-Length' header; the same as
`--ignore-length'.
+ignore_tags = STRING
+ Ignore certain HTML tags when doing a recursive retrieval, just
+ like `-G' / `--ignore-tags'.
+
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'.
-passive_ftp = on/off
- Set passive FTP, the same as `--passive-ftp'.
+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/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 global
- wgetrc. When download quota is specified, Wget will stop retrieving
- after the download sum has become greater than quota. The quota
- can be specified in bytes (default), kbytes `k' appended) or mbytes
- (`m' appended). Thus `quota = 5m' will set the quota to 5 mbytes.
- Note that the user's startup file overrides system settings.
+ Specify the download quota, which is useful to put in the global
+ `wgetrc'. When download quota is specified, Wget will stop
+ retrieving after the download sum has become greater than quota.
+ The quota can be specified in bytes (default), kbytes `k'
+ appended) or mbytes (`m' appended). Thus `quota = 5m' will set
+ the quota to 5 mbytes. Note that the user's startup file overrides
+ 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 -
+ the same as `--waitretry'. Note that this is turned on by default
+ in the global `wgetrc'.
\1f
File: wget.info, Node: Sample Wgetrc, Prev: Wgetrc Commands, Up: Startup File
startup file), and one for local usage (suitable for `$HOME/.wgetrc').
Be careful about the things you change.
- Note that all the lines are commented out. For any line to have
-effect, you must remove the `#' prefix at the beginning of line.
+ Note that almost all the lines are commented out. For a command to
+have any effect, you must remove the `#' character at the beginning of
+its line.
###
### Sample Wget initialization file .wgetrc
## Wget initialization file can reside in /usr/local/etc/wgetrc
## (global, for all users) or $HOME/.wgetrc (for a single user).
##
- ## To use any of the settings in this file, you will have to uncomment
- ## them (and probably change them).
+ ## To use the settings in this file, you will have to uncomment them,
+ ## as well as change them, in most cases, as the values on the
+ ## commented-out lines are the default values (e.g. "off").
##
# can turn this on to make Wget use passive FTP by default.
#passive_ftp = off
+ # The "wait" command below makes Wget wait between every connection.
+ # If, instead, you want Wget to wait only between retries of failed
+ # downloads, set waitretry to maximum number of seconds to wait (Wget
+ # will use "linear backoff", waiting 1 second after the first failure
+ # on a file, 2 seconds after the second failure, etc. up to this max).
+ waitretry = 10
+
##
## Local settings (for a user to set in his $HOME/.wgetrc). It is
# you are not sure you know what it means) by setting this to on.
#recursive = off
+ # To always back up file X as X.orig before converting its links (due
+ # to -k / --convert-links / convert_links = on having been specified),
+ # set this variable to on:
+ #backup_converted = off
+
# To have Wget follow FTP links from HTML files by default, set this
# to on:
#follow_ftp = off
Like all GNU utilities, the latest version of Wget can be found at
the master GNU archive site prep.ai.mit.edu, and its mirrors. For
-example, Wget 1.5.3 can be found at
-`ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/wget-1.5.3.tar.gz'
+example, Wget 1.5.3+dev can be found at
+`ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/gnu/wget/wget-1.5.3+dev.tar.gz'
\1f
File: wget.info, Node: Mailing List, Next: Reporting Bugs, Prev: Distribution, Up: Various
The description of the norobots standard was written, and is
maintained by Martijn Koster <m.koster@webcrawler.com>. With his
-permission, I contribute a (slightly modified) texified version of the
+permission, I contribute a (slightly modified) TeXified version of the
RES.
* Menu:
The field name is case insensitive.
- Comments can be included in file using UNIX bourne shell conventions:
+ Comments can be included in file using UNIX Bourne shell conventions:
the `#' character is used to indicate that preceding space (if any) and
the remainder of the line up to the line termination is discarded.
Lines containing only a comment are discarded completely, and therefore
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@srce.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, plust 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, Mark Boyns, John Burden, Wanderlei Cavassin, Gilles Cedoc, Tim
-Charron, Noel Cragg, Kristijan Conkas, Damir Dzeko, Andrew Davison,
-Ulrich Drepper, Marc Duponcheel, Aleksandar Erkalovic, Andy Eskilsson,
-Masashi Fujita, Howard Gayle, Marcel Gerrits, Hans Grobler, Mathieu
-Guillaume, Karl Heuer, Gregor Hoffleit, Erik Magnus Hulthen, Richard
-Huveneers, Simon Josefsson, Mario Juric, Goran Kezunovic, Robert Kleine,
-Fila Kolodny, Alexander Kourakos, Martin Kraemer, Simos KSenitellis,
-Tage Stabell-Kulo, Hrvoje Lacko, Dave Love, Jordan Mendelson, Lin Zhe
-Min, Charlie Negyesi, Andrew Pollock, Steve Pothier, Marin Purgar, Jan
-Prikryl, Keith Refson, Tobias Ringstrom, Juan Jose Rodrigues, Heinz
-Salzmann, Robert Schmidt, Toomas Soome, Sven Sternberger, Markus
-Strasser, Szakacsits Szabolcs, Mike Thomas, Russell Vincent, 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