htget(1) · carta

NAME

htget - Get files via HTTP protocol

SYNOPSIS

htget [options] url [urls..]

DESCRIPTION

htget is a file grabber that will get files from HTTP servers. The aim behind this program is to create a downloader that you can leave running in the background - one that's totally reliable and can cope with just about any problem, and won't stop downloading unless it's forced to.

htget is not a finished program, so while much of the above is true, it's not quite as reliable as it should be.

You can give htget urls to fetch, eg.

htget http://www.channel4.com/index.html

will get index.html from channel4.com. You don't need to specify http://. You can specify multiple urls at the command line. htget will get them in the order given, according to the options you give at the command line and in the resource file.

RESOURCE FILE

Much of the settings are controlled from htget's resource file, which is usually .htgetrc in your home directory. A sample htgetrc file can be found in the htget source distribution. This htgetrc file contains all of the available options, along with comments describing what they do.

htget normally checks first for htgetrc in the current directory, and then for .htgetrc in your home directory, unless you specify another location using the --rcfile option.

COMMAND LINE OPTIONS

Command line switches allow you to override the options in the resource file. You can have as many on as necessary. If you give two options that are mutually exclusive, eg. --noresume and --resume the latter will be used.

--noresume: Do not attempt to resume files.

--resume: Always attempt to resume files.

--rcfile=f: Use an alternative resource file f for defaults.

--timeout=n: Set the download timeout to n seconds. If no data comes in for n seconds, htget will cancel this download attempt. If you have also turned on the redial option, it will try again after the redial delay you specify. A zero timeout is interpreted to mean no timeout.

--redial=n: Sets the redial delay to n seconds. This is the time for which the server will wait after one download attempt fails before trying again. If n is zero, the redial feature is turned off.

Redial is a feature of htget that will continuously attempt to get a file until you tell it to stop. This is really useful, especially with servers that support file resuming.

--downloaddir=d: Output files to alternate directory d

--currentdir: Output files to current directory

--minrate=bytes: Set the minimum download rate to bytes bytes/sec. minrate is useful for servers that start off transmitting data at a good speed, then slow down. When the rate drops below minrate for the amount of time specified as the timeout, the connection is assumed to have timed out. Can be combined with redial.

--verbose: Verbose output

--noverbose: Only output essential messages

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