source: trunk/essentials/net-misc/wget/doc/wget.texi

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wget 1.10.2

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1\input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
2
3@c %**start of header
4@setfilename wget.info
5@include version.texi
6@set UPDATED Apr 2005
7@settitle GNU Wget @value{VERSION} Manual
8@c Disable the monstrous rectangles beside overfull hbox-es.
9@finalout
10@c Use `odd' to print double-sided.
11@setchapternewpage on
12@c %**end of header
13
14@iftex
15@c Remove this if you don't use A4 paper.
16@afourpaper
17@end iftex
18
19@c Title for man page. The weird way texi2pod.pl is written requires
20@c the preceding @set.
21@set Wget Wget
22@c man title Wget The non-interactive network downloader.
23
24@dircategory Network Applications
25@direntry
26* Wget: (wget). The non-interactive network downloader.
27@end direntry
28
29@ifnottex
30This file documents the the GNU Wget utility for downloading network
31data.
32
33@c man begin COPYRIGHT
34Copyright @copyright{} 1996--2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
35
36Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of
37this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice
38are preserved on all copies.
39
40@ignore
41Permission is granted to process this file through TeX and print the
42results, provided the printed document carries a copying permission
43notice identical to this one except for the removal of this paragraph
44(this paragraph not being relevant to the printed manual).
45@end ignore
46Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
47under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
48any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
49Invariant Sections being ``GNU General Public License'' and ``GNU Free
50Documentation License'', with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no
51Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section
52entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License''.
53@c man end
54@end ifnottex
55
56@titlepage
57@title GNU Wget @value{VERSION}
58@subtitle The non-interactive download utility
59@subtitle Updated for Wget @value{VERSION}, @value{UPDATED}
60@author by Hrvoje Nik@v{s}i@'{c} and others
61
62@ignore
63@c man begin AUTHOR
64Originally written by Hrvoje Niksic <hniksic@xemacs.org>.
65@c man end
66@c man begin SEEALSO
67GNU Info entry for @file{wget}.
68@c man end
69@end ignore
70
71@page
72@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
73Copyright @copyright{} 1996--2005, Free Software Foundation, Inc.
74
75Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
76under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
77any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
78Invariant Sections being ``GNU General Public License'' and ``GNU Free
79Documentation License'', with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no
80Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section
81entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License''.
82@end titlepage
83
84@ifnottex
85@node Top
86@top Wget @value{VERSION}
87
88This manual documents version @value{VERSION} of GNU Wget, the freely
89available utility for network downloads.
90
91Copyright @copyright{} 1996--2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
92
93@menu
94* Overview:: Features of Wget.
95* Invoking:: Wget command-line arguments.
96* Recursive Download:: Downloading interlinked pages.
97* Following Links:: The available methods of chasing links.
98* Time-Stamping:: Mirroring according to time-stamps.
99* Startup File:: Wget's initialization file.
100* Examples:: Examples of usage.
101* Various:: The stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else.
102* Appendices:: Some useful references.
103* Copying:: You may give out copies of Wget and of this manual.
104* Concept Index:: Topics covered by this manual.
105@end menu
106@end ifnottex
107
108@node Overview
109@chapter Overview
110@cindex overview
111@cindex features
112
113@c man begin DESCRIPTION
114GNU Wget is a free utility for non-interactive download of files from
115the Web. It supports @sc{http}, @sc{https}, and @sc{ftp} protocols, as
116well as retrieval through @sc{http} proxies.
117
118@c man end
119This chapter is a partial overview of Wget's features.
120
121@itemize @bullet
122@item
123@c man begin DESCRIPTION
124Wget is non-interactive, meaning that it can work in the background,
125while the user is not logged on. This allows you to start a retrieval
126and disconnect from the system, letting Wget finish the work. By
127contrast, most of the Web browsers require constant user's presence,
128which can be a great hindrance when transferring a lot of data.
129@c man end
130
131@item
132@ignore
133@c man begin DESCRIPTION
134
135@c man end
136@end ignore
137@c man begin DESCRIPTION
138Wget can follow links in @sc{html} and @sc{xhtml} pages and create local
139versions of remote web sites, fully recreating the directory structure of
140the original site. This is sometimes referred to as ``recursive
141downloading.'' While doing that, Wget respects the Robot Exclusion
142Standard (@file{/robots.txt}). Wget can be instructed to convert the
143links in downloaded @sc{html} files to the local files for offline
144viewing.
145@c man end
146
147@item
148File name wildcard matching and recursive mirroring of directories are
149available when retrieving via @sc{ftp}. Wget can read the time-stamp
150information given by both @sc{http} and @sc{ftp} servers, and store it
151locally. Thus Wget can see if the remote file has changed since last
152retrieval, and automatically retrieve the new version if it has. This
153makes Wget suitable for mirroring of @sc{ftp} sites, as well as home
154pages.
155
156@item
157@ignore
158@c man begin DESCRIPTION
159
160@c man end
161@end ignore
162@c man begin DESCRIPTION
163Wget has been designed for robustness over slow or unstable network
164connections; if a download fails due to a network problem, it will
165keep retrying until the whole file has been retrieved. If the server
166supports regetting, it will instruct the server to continue the
167download from where it left off.
168@c man end
169
170@item
171Wget supports proxy servers, which can lighten the network load, speed
172up retrieval and provide access behind firewalls. However, if you are
173behind a firewall that requires that you use a socks style gateway,
174you can get the socks library and build Wget with support for socks.
175Wget uses the passive @sc{ftp} downloading by default, active @sc{ftp}
176being an option.
177
178@item
179Wget supports IP version 6, the next generation of IP. IPv6 is
180autodetected at compile-time, and can be disabled at either build or
181run time. Binaries built with IPv6 support work well in both
182IPv4-only and dual family environments.
183
184@item
185Built-in features offer mechanisms to tune which links you wish to follow
186(@pxref{Following Links}).
187
188@item
189The progress of individual downloads is traced using a progress gauge.
190Interactive downloads are tracked using a ``thermometer''-style gauge,
191whereas non-interactive ones are traced with dots, each dot
192representing a fixed amount of data received (1KB by default). Either
193gauge can be customized to your preferences.
194
195@item
196Most of the features are fully configurable, either through command line
197options, or via the initialization file @file{.wgetrc} (@pxref{Startup
198File}). Wget allows you to define @dfn{global} startup files
199(@file{/usr/local/etc/wgetrc} by default) for site settings.
200
201@ignore
202@c man begin FILES
203@table @samp
204@item /usr/local/etc/wgetrc
205Default location of the @dfn{global} startup file.
206
207@item .wgetrc
208User startup file.
209@end table
210@c man end
211@end ignore
212
213@item
214Finally, GNU Wget is free software. This means that everyone may use
215it, redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
216Public License, as published by the Free Software Foundation
217(@pxref{Copying}).
218@end itemize
219
220@node Invoking
221@chapter Invoking
222@cindex invoking
223@cindex command line
224@cindex arguments
225@cindex nohup
226
227By default, Wget is very simple to invoke. The basic syntax is:
228
229@example
230@c man begin SYNOPSIS
231wget [@var{option}]@dots{} [@var{URL}]@dots{}
232@c man end
233@end example
234
235Wget will simply download all the @sc{url}s specified on the command
236line. @var{URL} is a @dfn{Uniform Resource Locator}, as defined below.
237
238However, you may wish to change some of the default parameters of
239Wget. You can do it two ways: permanently, adding the appropriate
240command to @file{.wgetrc} (@pxref{Startup File}), or specifying it on
241the command line.
242
243@menu
244* URL Format::
245* Option Syntax::
246* Basic Startup Options::
247* Logging and Input File Options::
248* Download Options::
249* Directory Options::
250* HTTP Options::
251* HTTPS (SSL/TLS) Options::
252* FTP Options::
253* Recursive Retrieval Options::
254* Recursive Accept/Reject Options::
255@end menu
256
257@node URL Format
258@section URL Format
259@cindex URL
260@cindex URL syntax
261
262@dfn{URL} is an acronym for Uniform Resource Locator. A uniform
263resource locator is a compact string representation for a resource
264available via the Internet. Wget recognizes the @sc{url} syntax as per
265@sc{rfc1738}. This is the most widely used form (square brackets denote
266optional parts):
267
268@example
269http://host[:port]/directory/file
270ftp://host[:port]/directory/file
271@end example
272
273You can also encode your username and password within a @sc{url}:
274
275@example
276ftp://user:password@@host/path
277http://user:password@@host/path
278@end example
279
280Either @var{user} or @var{password}, or both, may be left out. If you
281leave out either the @sc{http} username or password, no authentication
282will be sent. If you leave out the @sc{ftp} username, @samp{anonymous}
283will be used. If you leave out the @sc{ftp} password, your email
284address will be supplied as a default password.@footnote{If you have a
285@file{.netrc} file in your home directory, password will also be
286searched for there.}
287
288@strong{Important Note}: if you specify a password-containing @sc{url}
289on the command line, the username and password will be plainly visible
290to all users on the system, by way of @code{ps}. On multi-user systems,
291this is a big security risk. To work around it, use @code{wget -i -}
292and feed the @sc{url}s to Wget's standard input, each on a separate
293line, terminated by @kbd{C-d}.
294
295You can encode unsafe characters in a @sc{url} as @samp{%xy}, @code{xy}
296being the hexadecimal representation of the character's @sc{ascii}
297value. Some common unsafe characters include @samp{%} (quoted as
298@samp{%25}), @samp{:} (quoted as @samp{%3A}), and @samp{@@} (quoted as
299@samp{%40}). Refer to @sc{rfc1738} for a comprehensive list of unsafe
300characters.
301
302Wget also supports the @code{type} feature for @sc{ftp} @sc{url}s. By
303default, @sc{ftp} documents are retrieved in the binary mode (type
304@samp{i}), which means that they are downloaded unchanged. Another
305useful mode is the @samp{a} (@dfn{ASCII}) mode, which converts the line
306delimiters between the different operating systems, and is thus useful
307for text files. Here is an example:
308
309@example
310ftp://host/directory/file;type=a
311@end example
312
313Two alternative variants of @sc{url} specification are also supported,
314because of historical (hysterical?) reasons and their widespreaded use.
315
316@sc{ftp}-only syntax (supported by @code{NcFTP}):
317@example
318host:/dir/file
319@end example
320
321@sc{http}-only syntax (introduced by @code{Netscape}):
322@example
323host[:port]/dir/file
324@end example
325
326These two alternative forms are deprecated, and may cease being
327supported in the future.
328
329If you do not understand the difference between these notations, or do
330not know which one to use, just use the plain ordinary format you use
331with your favorite browser, like @code{Lynx} or @code{Netscape}.
332
333@c man begin OPTIONS
334
335@node Option Syntax
336@section Option Syntax
337@cindex option syntax
338@cindex syntax of options
339
340Since Wget uses GNU getopt to process command-line arguments, every
341option has a long form along with the short one. Long options are
342more convenient to remember, but take time to type. You may freely
343mix different option styles, or specify options after the command-line
344arguments. Thus you may write:
345
346@example
347wget -r --tries=10 http://fly.srk.fer.hr/ -o log
348@end example
349
350The space between the option accepting an argument and the argument may
351be omitted. Instead @samp{-o log} you can write @samp{-olog}.
352
353You may put several options that do not require arguments together,
354like:
355
356@example
357wget -drc @var{URL}
358@end example
359
360This is a complete equivalent of:
361
362@example
363wget -d -r -c @var{URL}
364@end example
365
366Since the options can be specified after the arguments, you may
367terminate them with @samp{--}. So the following will try to download
368@sc{url} @samp{-x}, reporting failure to @file{log}:
369
370@example
371wget -o log -- -x
372@end example
373
374The options that accept comma-separated lists all respect the convention
375that specifying an empty list clears its value. This can be useful to
376clear the @file{.wgetrc} settings. For instance, if your @file{.wgetrc}
377sets @code{exclude_directories} to @file{/cgi-bin}, the following
378example will first reset it, and then set it to exclude @file{/~nobody}
379and @file{/~somebody}. You can also clear the lists in @file{.wgetrc}
380(@pxref{Wgetrc Syntax}).
381
382@example
383wget -X '' -X /~nobody,/~somebody
384@end example
385
386Most options that do not accept arguments are @dfn{boolean} options,
387so named because their state can be captured with a yes-or-no
388(``boolean'') variable. For example, @samp{--follow-ftp} tells Wget
389to follow FTP links from HTML files and, on the other hand,
390@samp{--no-glob} tells it not to perform file globbing on FTP URLs. A
391boolean option is either @dfn{affirmative} or @dfn{negative}
392(beginning with @samp{--no}). All such options share several
393properties.
394
395Unless stated otherwise, it is assumed that the default behavior is
396the opposite of what the option accomplishes. For example, the
397documented existence of @samp{--follow-ftp} assumes that the default
398is to @emph{not} follow FTP links from HTML pages.
399
400Affirmative options can be negated by prepending the @samp{--no-} to
401the option name; negative options can be negated by omitting the
402@samp{--no-} prefix. This might seem superfluous---if the default for
403an affirmative option is to not do something, then why provide a way
404to explicitly turn it off? But the startup file may in fact change
405the default. For instance, using @code{follow_ftp = off} in
406@file{.wgetrc} makes Wget @emph{not} follow FTP links by default, and
407using @samp{--no-follow-ftp} is the only way to restore the factory
408default from the command line.
409
410@node Basic Startup Options
411@section Basic Startup Options
412
413@table @samp
414@item -V
415@itemx --version
416Display the version of Wget.
417
418@item -h
419@itemx --help
420Print a help message describing all of Wget's command-line options.
421
422@item -b
423@itemx --background
424Go to background immediately after startup. If no output file is
425specified via the @samp{-o}, output is redirected to @file{wget-log}.
426
427@cindex execute wgetrc command
428@item -e @var{command}
429@itemx --execute @var{command}
430Execute @var{command} as if it were a part of @file{.wgetrc}
431(@pxref{Startup File}). A command thus invoked will be executed
432@emph{after} the commands in @file{.wgetrc}, thus taking precedence over
433them. If you need to specify more than one wgetrc command, use multiple
434instances of @samp{-e}.
435
436@end table
437
438@node Logging and Input File Options
439@section Logging and Input File Options
440
441@table @samp
442@cindex output file
443@cindex log file
444@item -o @var{logfile}
445@itemx --output-file=@var{logfile}
446Log all messages to @var{logfile}. The messages are normally reported
447to standard error.
448
449@cindex append to log
450@item -a @var{logfile}
451@itemx --append-output=@var{logfile}
452Append to @var{logfile}. This is the same as @samp{-o}, only it appends
453to @var{logfile} instead of overwriting the old log file. If
454@var{logfile} does not exist, a new file is created.
455
456@cindex debug
457@item -d
458@itemx --debug
459Turn on debug output, meaning various information important to the
460developers of Wget if it does not work properly. Your system
461administrator may have chosen to compile Wget without debug support, in
462which case @samp{-d} will not work. Please note that compiling with
463debug support is always safe---Wget compiled with the debug support will
464@emph{not} print any debug info unless requested with @samp{-d}.
465@xref{Reporting Bugs}, for more information on how to use @samp{-d} for
466sending bug reports.
467
468@cindex quiet
469@item -q
470@itemx --quiet
471Turn off Wget's output.
472
473@cindex verbose
474@item -v
475@itemx --verbose
476Turn on verbose output, with all the available data. The default output
477is verbose.
478
479@item -nv
480@itemx --no-verbose
481Turn off verbose without being completely quiet (use @samp{-q} for
482that), which means that error messages and basic information still get
483printed.
484
485@cindex input-file
486@item -i @var{file}
487@itemx --input-file=@var{file}
488Read @sc{url}s from @var{file}. If @samp{-} is specified as
489@var{file}, @sc{url}s are read from the standard input. (Use
490@samp{./-} to read from a file literally named @samp{-}.)
491
492If this function is used, no @sc{url}s need be present on the command
493line. If there are @sc{url}s both on the command line and in an input
494file, those on the command lines will be the first ones to be
495retrieved. The @var{file} need not be an @sc{html} document (but no
496harm if it is)---it is enough if the @sc{url}s are just listed
497sequentially.
498
499However, if you specify @samp{--force-html}, the document will be
500regarded as @samp{html}. In that case you may have problems with
501relative links, which you can solve either by adding @code{<base
502href="@var{url}">} to the documents or by specifying
503@samp{--base=@var{url}} on the command line.
504
505@cindex force html
506@item -F
507@itemx --force-html
508When input is read from a file, force it to be treated as an @sc{html}
509file. This enables you to retrieve relative links from existing
510@sc{html} files on your local disk, by adding @code{<base
511href="@var{url}">} to @sc{html}, or using the @samp{--base} command-line
512option.
513
514@cindex base for relative links in input file
515@item -B @var{URL}
516@itemx --base=@var{URL}
517Prepends @var{URL} to relative links read from the file specified with
518the @samp{-i} option.
519@end table
520
521@node Download Options
522@section Download Options
523
524@table @samp
525@cindex bind address
526@cindex client IP address
527@cindex IP address, client
528@item --bind-address=@var{ADDRESS}
529When making client TCP/IP connections, bind to @var{ADDRESS} on
530the local machine. @var{ADDRESS} may be specified as a hostname or IP
531address. This option can be useful if your machine is bound to multiple
532IPs.
533
534@cindex retries
535@cindex tries
536@cindex number of retries
537@item -t @var{number}
538@itemx --tries=@var{number}
539Set number of retries to @var{number}. Specify 0 or @samp{inf} for
540infinite retrying. The default is to retry 20 times, with the exception
541of fatal errors like ``connection refused'' or ``not found'' (404),
542which are not retried.
543
544@item -O @var{file}
545@itemx --output-document=@var{file}
546The documents will not be written to the appropriate files, but all
547will be concatenated together and written to @var{file}. If @samp{-}
548is used as @var{file}, documents will be printed to standard output,
549disabling link conversion. (Use @samp{./-} to print to a file
550literally named @samp{-}.)
551
552Note that a combination with @samp{-k} is only well-defined for
553downloading a single document.
554
555@cindex clobbering, file
556@cindex downloading multiple times
557@cindex no-clobber
558@item -nc
559@itemx --no-clobber
560If a file is downloaded more than once in the same directory, Wget's
561behavior depends on a few options, including @samp{-nc}. In certain
562cases, the local file will be @dfn{clobbered}, or overwritten, upon
563repeated download. In other cases it will be preserved.
564
565When running Wget without @samp{-N}, @samp{-nc}, or @samp{-r},
566downloading the same file in the same directory will result in the
567original copy of @var{file} being preserved and the second copy being
568named @samp{@var{file}.1}. If that file is downloaded yet again, the
569third copy will be named @samp{@var{file}.2}, and so on. When
570@samp{-nc} is specified, this behavior is suppressed, and Wget will
571refuse to download newer copies of @samp{@var{file}}. Therefore,
572``@code{no-clobber}'' is actually a misnomer in this mode---it's not
573clobbering that's prevented (as the numeric suffixes were already
574preventing clobbering), but rather the multiple version saving that's
575prevented.
576
577When running Wget with @samp{-r}, but without @samp{-N} or @samp{-nc},
578re-downloading a file will result in the new copy simply overwriting the
579old. Adding @samp{-nc} will prevent this behavior, instead causing the
580original version to be preserved and any newer copies on the server to
581be ignored.
582
583When running Wget with @samp{-N}, with or without @samp{-r}, the
584decision as to whether or not to download a newer copy of a file depends
585on the local and remote timestamp and size of the file
586(@pxref{Time-Stamping}). @samp{-nc} may not be specified at the same
587time as @samp{-N}.
588
589Note that when @samp{-nc} is specified, files with the suffixes
590@samp{.html} or @samp{.htm} will be loaded from the local disk and
591parsed as if they had been retrieved from the Web.
592
593@cindex continue retrieval
594@cindex incomplete downloads
595@cindex resume download
596@item -c
597@itemx --continue
598Continue getting a partially-downloaded file. This is useful when you
599want to finish up a download started by a previous instance of Wget, or
600by another program. For instance:
601
602@example
603wget -c ftp://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/ls-lR.Z
604@end example
605
606If there is a file named @file{ls-lR.Z} in the current directory, Wget
607will assume that it is the first portion of the remote file, and will
608ask the server to continue the retrieval from an offset equal to the
609length of the local file.
610
611Note that you don't need to specify this option if you just want the
612current invocation of Wget to retry downloading a file should the
613connection be lost midway through. This is the default behavior.
614@samp{-c} only affects resumption of downloads started @emph{prior} to
615this invocation of Wget, and whose local files are still sitting around.
616
617Without @samp{-c}, the previous example would just download the remote
618file to @file{ls-lR.Z.1}, leaving the truncated @file{ls-lR.Z} file
619alone.
620
621Beginning with Wget 1.7, if you use @samp{-c} on a non-empty file, and
622it turns out that the server does not support continued downloading,
623Wget will refuse to start the download from scratch, which would
624effectively ruin existing contents. If you really want the download to
625start from scratch, remove the file.
626
627Also beginning with Wget 1.7, if you use @samp{-c} on a file which is of
628equal size as the one on the server, Wget will refuse to download the
629file and print an explanatory message. The same happens when the file
630is smaller on the server than locally (presumably because it was changed
631on the server since your last download attempt)---because ``continuing''
632is not meaningful, no download occurs.
633
634On the other side of the coin, while using @samp{-c}, any file that's
635bigger on the server than locally will be considered an incomplete
636download and only @code{(length(remote) - length(local))} bytes will be
637downloaded and tacked onto the end of the local file. This behavior can
638be desirable in certain cases---for instance, you can use @samp{wget -c}
639to download just the new portion that's been appended to a data
640collection or log file.
641
642However, if the file is bigger on the server because it's been
643@emph{changed}, as opposed to just @emph{appended} to, you'll end up
644with a garbled file. Wget has no way of verifying that the local file
645is really a valid prefix of the remote file. You need to be especially
646careful of this when using @samp{-c} in conjunction with @samp{-r},
647since every file will be considered as an "incomplete download" candidate.
648
649Another instance where you'll get a garbled file if you try to use
650@samp{-c} is if you have a lame @sc{http} proxy that inserts a
651``transfer interrupted'' string into the local file. In the future a
652``rollback'' option may be added to deal with this case.
653
654Note that @samp{-c} only works with @sc{ftp} servers and with @sc{http}
655servers that support the @code{Range} header.
656
657@cindex progress indicator
658@cindex dot style
659@item --progress=@var{type}
660Select the type of the progress indicator you wish to use. Legal
661indicators are ``dot'' and ``bar''.
662
663The ``bar'' indicator is used by default. It draws an @sc{ascii} progress
664bar graphics (a.k.a ``thermometer'' display) indicating the status of
665retrieval. If the output is not a TTY, the ``dot'' bar will be used by
666default.
667
668Use @samp{--progress=dot} to switch to the ``dot'' display. It traces
669the retrieval by printing dots on the screen, each dot representing a
670fixed amount of downloaded data.
671
672When using the dotted retrieval, you may also set the @dfn{style} by
673specifying the type as @samp{dot:@var{style}}. Different styles assign
674different meaning to one dot. With the @code{default} style each dot
675represents 1K, there are ten dots in a cluster and 50 dots in a line.
676The @code{binary} style has a more ``computer''-like orientation---8K
677dots, 16-dots clusters and 48 dots per line (which makes for 384K
678lines). The @code{mega} style is suitable for downloading very large
679files---each dot represents 64K retrieved, there are eight dots in a
680cluster, and 48 dots on each line (so each line contains 3M).
681
682Note that you can set the default style using the @code{progress}
683command in @file{.wgetrc}. That setting may be overridden from the
684command line. The exception is that, when the output is not a TTY, the
685``dot'' progress will be favored over ``bar''. To force the bar output,
686use @samp{--progress=bar:force}.
687
688@item -N
689@itemx --timestamping
690Turn on time-stamping. @xref{Time-Stamping}, for details.
691
692@cindex server response, print
693@item -S
694@itemx --server-response
695Print the headers sent by @sc{http} servers and responses sent by
696@sc{ftp} servers.
697
698@cindex Wget as spider
699@cindex spider
700@item --spider
701When invoked with this option, Wget will behave as a Web @dfn{spider},
702which means that it will not download the pages, just check that they
703are there. For example, you can use Wget to check your bookmarks:
704
705@example
706wget --spider --force-html -i bookmarks.html
707@end example
708
709This feature needs much more work for Wget to get close to the
710functionality of real web spiders.
711
712@cindex timeout
713@item -T seconds
714@itemx --timeout=@var{seconds}
715Set the network timeout to @var{seconds} seconds. This is equivalent
716to specifying @samp{--dns-timeout}, @samp{--connect-timeout}, and
717@samp{--read-timeout}, all at the same time.
718
719When interacting with the network, Wget can check for timeout and
720abort the operation if it takes too long. This prevents anomalies
721like hanging reads and infinite connects. The only timeout enabled by
722default is a 900-second read timeout. Setting a timeout to 0 disables
723it altogether. Unless you know what you are doing, it is best not to
724change the default timeout settings.
725
726All timeout-related options accept decimal values, as well as
727subsecond values. For example, @samp{0.1} seconds is a legal (though
728unwise) choice of timeout. Subsecond timeouts are useful for checking
729server response times or for testing network latency.
730
731@cindex DNS timeout
732@cindex timeout, DNS
733@item --dns-timeout=@var{seconds}
734Set the DNS lookup timeout to @var{seconds} seconds. DNS lookups that
735don't complete within the specified time will fail. By default, there
736is no timeout on DNS lookups, other than that implemented by system
737libraries.
738
739@cindex connect timeout
740@cindex timeout, connect
741@item --connect-timeout=@var{seconds}
742Set the connect timeout to @var{seconds} seconds. TCP connections that
743take longer to establish will be aborted. By default, there is no
744connect timeout, other than that implemented by system libraries.
745
746@cindex read timeout
747@cindex timeout, read
748@item --read-timeout=@var{seconds}
749Set the read (and write) timeout to @var{seconds} seconds. The
750``time'' of this timeout refers @dfn{idle time}: if, at any point in
751the download, no data is received for more than the specified number
752of seconds, reading fails and the download is restarted. This option
753does not directly affect the duration of the entire download.
754
755Of course, the remote server may choose to terminate the connection
756sooner than this option requires. The default read timeout is 900
757seconds.
758
759@cindex bandwidth, limit
760@cindex rate, limit
761@cindex limit bandwidth
762@item --limit-rate=@var{amount}
763Limit the download speed to @var{amount} bytes per second. Amount may
764be expressed in bytes, kilobytes with the @samp{k} suffix, or megabytes
765with the @samp{m} suffix. For example, @samp{--limit-rate=20k} will
766limit the retrieval rate to 20KB/s. This is useful when, for whatever
767reason, you don't want Wget to consume the entire available bandwidth.
768
769This option allows the use of decimal numbers, usually in conjunction
770with power suffixes; for example, @samp{--limit-rate=2.5k} is a legal
771value.
772
773Note that Wget implements the limiting by sleeping the appropriate
774amount of time after a network read that took less time than specified
775by the rate. Eventually this strategy causes the TCP transfer to slow
776down to approximately the specified rate. However, it may take some
777time for this balance to be achieved, so don't be surprised if limiting
778the rate doesn't work well with very small files.
779
780@cindex pause
781@cindex wait
782@item -w @var{seconds}
783@itemx --wait=@var{seconds}
784Wait the specified number of seconds between the retrievals. Use of
785this option is recommended, as it lightens the server load by making the
786requests less frequent. Instead of in seconds, the time can be
787specified in minutes using the @code{m} suffix, in hours using @code{h}
788suffix, or in days using @code{d} suffix.
789
790Specifying a large value for this option is useful if the network or the
791destination host is down, so that Wget can wait long enough to
792reasonably expect the network error to be fixed before the retry.
793
794@cindex retries, waiting between
795@cindex waiting between retries
796@item --waitretry=@var{seconds}
797If you don't want Wget to wait between @emph{every} retrieval, but only
798between retries of failed downloads, you can use this option. Wget will
799use @dfn{linear backoff}, waiting 1 second after the first failure on a
800given file, then waiting 2 seconds after the second failure on that
801file, up to the maximum number of @var{seconds} you specify. Therefore,
802a value of 10 will actually make Wget wait up to (1 + 2 + ... + 10) = 55
803seconds per file.
804
805Note that this option is turned on by default in the global
806@file{wgetrc} file.
807
808@cindex wait, random
809@cindex random wait
810@item --random-wait
811Some web sites may perform log analysis to identify retrieval programs
812such as Wget by looking for statistically significant similarities in
813the time between requests. This option causes the time between requests
814to vary between 0 and 2 * @var{wait} seconds, where @var{wait} was
815specified using the @samp{--wait} option, in order to mask Wget's
816presence from such analysis.
817
818A recent article in a publication devoted to development on a popular
819consumer platform provided code to perform this analysis on the fly.
820Its author suggested blocking at the class C address level to ensure
821automated retrieval programs were blocked despite changing DHCP-supplied
822addresses.
823
824The @samp{--random-wait} option was inspired by this ill-advised
825recommendation to block many unrelated users from a web site due to the
826actions of one.
827
828@cindex proxy
829@itemx --no-proxy
830Don't use proxies, even if the appropriate @code{*_proxy} environment
831variable is defined.
832
833For more information about the use of proxies with Wget, @xref{Proxies}.
834
835@cindex quota
836@item -Q @var{quota}
837@itemx --quota=@var{quota}
838Specify download quota for automatic retrievals. The value can be
839specified in bytes (default), kilobytes (with @samp{k} suffix), or
840megabytes (with @samp{m} suffix).
841
842Note that quota will never affect downloading a single file. So if you
843specify @samp{wget -Q10k ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/ls-lR.gz}, all of the
844@file{ls-lR.gz} will be downloaded. The same goes even when several
845@sc{url}s are specified on the command-line. However, quota is
846respected when retrieving either recursively, or from an input file.
847Thus you may safely type @samp{wget -Q2m -i sites}---download will be
848aborted when the quota is exceeded.
849
850Setting quota to 0 or to @samp{inf} unlimits the download quota.
851
852@cindex DNS cache
853@cindex caching of DNS lookups
854@item --no-dns-cache
855Turn off caching of DNS lookups. Normally, Wget remembers the IP
856addresses it looked up from DNS so it doesn't have to repeatedly
857contact the DNS server for the same (typically small) set of hosts it
858retrieves from. This cache exists in memory only; a new Wget run will
859contact DNS again.
860
861However, it has been reported that in some situations it is not
862desirable to cache host names, even for the duration of a
863short-running application like Wget. With this option Wget issues a
864new DNS lookup (more precisely, a new call to @code{gethostbyname} or
865@code{getaddrinfo}) each time it makes a new connection. Please note
866that this option will @emph{not} affect caching that might be
867performed by the resolving library or by an external caching layer,
868such as NSCD.
869
870If you don't understand exactly what this option does, you probably
871won't need it.
872
873@cindex file names, restrict
874@cindex Windows file names
875@item --restrict-file-names=@var{mode}
876Change which characters found in remote URLs may show up in local file
877names generated from those URLs. Characters that are @dfn{restricted}
878by this option are escaped, i.e. replaced with @samp{%HH}, where
879@samp{HH} is the hexadecimal number that corresponds to the restricted
880character.
881
882By default, Wget escapes the characters that are not valid as part of
883file names on your operating system, as well as control characters that
884are typically unprintable. This option is useful for changing these
885defaults, either because you are downloading to a non-native partition,
886or because you want to disable escaping of the control characters.
887
888When mode is set to ``unix'', Wget escapes the character @samp{/} and
889the control characters in the ranges 0--31 and 128--159. This is the
890default on Unix-like OS'es.
891
892When mode is set to ``windows'', Wget escapes the characters @samp{\},
893@samp{|}, @samp{/}, @samp{:}, @samp{?}, @samp{"}, @samp{*}, @samp{<},
894@samp{>}, and the control characters in the ranges 0--31 and 128--159.
895In addition to this, Wget in Windows mode uses @samp{+} instead of
896@samp{:} to separate host and port in local file names, and uses
897@samp{@@} instead of @samp{?} to separate the query portion of the file
898name from the rest. Therefore, a URL that would be saved as
899@samp{www.xemacs.org:4300/search.pl?input=blah} in Unix mode would be
900saved as @samp{www.xemacs.org+4300/search.pl@@input=blah} in Windows
901mode. This mode is the default on Windows.
902
903If you append @samp{,nocontrol} to the mode, as in
904@samp{unix,nocontrol}, escaping of the control characters is also
905switched off. You can use @samp{--restrict-file-names=nocontrol} to
906turn off escaping of control characters without affecting the choice of
907the OS to use as file name restriction mode.
908
909@cindex IPv6
910@itemx -4
911@itemx --inet4-only
912@itemx -6
913@itemx --inet6-only
914Force connecting to IPv4 or IPv6 addresses. With @samp{--inet4-only}
915or @samp{-4}, Wget will only connect to IPv4 hosts, ignoring AAAA
916records in DNS, and refusing to connect to IPv6 addresses specified in
917URLs. Conversely, with @samp{--inet6-only} or @samp{-6}, Wget will
918only connect to IPv6 hosts and ignore A records and IPv4 addresses.
919
920Neither options should be needed normally. By default, an IPv6-aware
921Wget will use the address family specified by the host's DNS record.
922If the DNS responds with both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, Wget will them
923in sequence until it finds one it can connect to. (Also see
924@code{--prefer-family} option described below.)
925
926These options can be used to deliberately force the use of IPv4 or
927IPv6 address families on dual family systems, usually to aid debugging
928or to deal with broken network configuration. Only one of
929@samp{--inet6-only} and @samp{--inet4-only} may be specified at the
930same time. Neither option is available in Wget compiled without IPv6
931support.
932
933@item --prefer-family=IPv4/IPv6/none
934When given a choice of several addresses, connect to the addresses
935with specified address family first. IPv4 addresses are preferred by
936default.
937
938This avoids spurious errors and connect attempts when accessing hosts
939that resolve to both IPv6 and IPv4 addresses from IPv4 networks. For
940example, @samp{www.kame.net} resolves to
941@samp{2001:200:0:8002:203:47ff:fea5:3085} and to
942@samp{203.178.141.194}. When the preferred family is @code{IPv4}, the
943IPv4 address is used first; when the preferred family is @code{IPv6},
944the IPv6 address is used first; if the specified value is @code{none},
945the address order returned by DNS is used without change.
946
947Unlike @samp{-4} and @samp{-6}, this option doesn't inhibit access to
948any address family, it only changes the @emph{order} in which the
949addresses are accessed. Also note that the reordering performed by
950this option is @dfn{stable}---it doesn't affect order of addresses of
951the same family. That is, the relative order of all IPv4 addresses
952and of all IPv6 addresses remains intact in all cases.
953
954@item --retry-connrefused
955Consider ``connection refused'' a transient error and try again.
956Normally Wget gives up on a URL when it is unable to connect to the
957site because failure to connect is taken as a sign that the server is
958not running at all and that retries would not help. This option is
959for mirroring unreliable sites whose servers tend to disappear for
960short periods of time.
961
962@cindex user
963@cindex password
964@cindex authentication
965@item --user=@var{user}
966@itemx --password=@var{password}
967Specify the username @var{user} and password @var{password} for both
968@sc{ftp} and @sc{http} file retrieval. These parameters can be overridden
969using the @samp{--ftp-user} and @samp{--ftp-password} options for
970@sc{ftp} connections and the @samp{--http-user} and @samp{--http-password}
971options for @sc{http} connections.
972@end table
973
974@node Directory Options
975@section Directory Options
976
977@table @samp
978@item -nd
979@itemx --no-directories
980Do not create a hierarchy of directories when retrieving recursively.
981With this option turned on, all files will get saved to the current
982directory, without clobbering (if a name shows up more than once, the
983filenames will get extensions @samp{.n}).
984
985@item -x
986@itemx --force-directories
987The opposite of @samp{-nd}---create a hierarchy of directories, even if
988one would not have been created otherwise. E.g. @samp{wget -x
989http://fly.srk.fer.hr/robots.txt} will save the downloaded file to
990@file{fly.srk.fer.hr/robots.txt}.
991
992@item -nH
993@itemx --no-host-directories
994Disable generation of host-prefixed directories. By default, invoking
995Wget with @samp{-r http://fly.srk.fer.hr/} will create a structure of
996directories beginning with @file{fly.srk.fer.hr/}. This option disables
997such behavior.
998
999@item --protocol-directories
1000Use the protocol name as a directory component of local file names. For
1001example, with this option, @samp{wget -r http://@var{host}} will save to
1002@samp{http/@var{host}/...} rather than just to @samp{@var{host}/...}.
1003
1004@cindex cut directories
1005@item --cut-dirs=@var{number}
1006Ignore @var{number} directory components. This is useful for getting a
1007fine-grained control over the directory where recursive retrieval will
1008be saved.
1009
1010Take, for example, the directory at
1011@samp{ftp://ftp.xemacs.org/pub/xemacs/}. If you retrieve it with
1012@samp{-r}, it will be saved locally under
1013@file{ftp.xemacs.org/pub/xemacs/}. While the @samp{-nH} option can
1014remove the @file{ftp.xemacs.org/} part, you are still stuck with
1015@file{pub/xemacs}. This is where @samp{--cut-dirs} comes in handy; it
1016makes Wget not ``see'' @var{number} remote directory components. Here
1017are several examples of how @samp{--cut-dirs} option works.
1018
1019@example
1020@group
1021No options -> ftp.xemacs.org/pub/xemacs/
1022-nH -> pub/xemacs/
1023-nH --cut-dirs=1 -> xemacs/
1024-nH --cut-dirs=2 -> .
1025
1026--cut-dirs=1 -> ftp.xemacs.org/xemacs/
1027...
1028@end group
1029@end example
1030
1031If you just want to get rid of the directory structure, this option is
1032similar to a combination of @samp{-nd} and @samp{-P}. However, unlike
1033@samp{-nd}, @samp{--cut-dirs} does not lose with subdirectories---for
1034instance, with @samp{-nH --cut-dirs=1}, a @file{beta/} subdirectory will
1035be placed to @file{xemacs/beta}, as one would expect.
1036
1037@cindex directory prefix
1038@item -P @var{prefix}
1039@itemx --directory-prefix=@var{prefix}
1040Set directory prefix to @var{prefix}. The @dfn{directory prefix} is the
1041directory where all other files and subdirectories will be saved to,
1042i.e. the top of the retrieval tree. The default is @samp{.} (the
1043current directory).
1044@end table
1045
1046@node HTTP Options
1047@section HTTP Options
1048
1049@table @samp
1050@cindex .html extension
1051@item -E
1052@itemx --html-extension
1053If a file of type @samp{application/xhtml+xml} or @samp{text/html} is
1054downloaded and the URL does not end with the regexp
1055@samp{\.[Hh][Tt][Mm][Ll]?}, this option will cause the suffix @samp{.html}
1056to be appended to the local filename. This is useful, for instance, when
1057you're mirroring a remote site that uses @samp{.asp} pages, but you want
1058the mirrored pages to be viewable on your stock Apache server. Another
1059good use for this is when you're downloading CGI-generated materials. A URL
1060like @samp{http://site.com/article.cgi?25} will be saved as
1061@file{article.cgi?25.html}.
1062
1063Note that filenames changed in this way will be re-downloaded every time
1064you re-mirror a site, because Wget can't tell that the local
1065@file{@var{X}.html} file corresponds to remote URL @samp{@var{X}} (since
1066it doesn't yet know that the URL produces output of type
1067@samp{text/html} or @samp{application/xhtml+xml}. To prevent this
1068re-downloading, you must use @samp{-k} and @samp{-K} so that the original
1069version of the file will be saved as @file{@var{X}.orig} (@pxref{Recursive
1070Retrieval Options}).
1071
1072@cindex http user
1073@cindex http password
1074@cindex authentication
1075@item --http-user=@var{user}
1076@itemx --http-password=@var{password}
1077Specify the username @var{user} and password @var{password} on an
1078@sc{http} server. According to the type of the challenge, Wget will
1079encode them using either the @code{basic} (insecure) or the
1080@code{digest} authentication scheme.
1081
1082Another way to specify username and password is in the @sc{url} itself
1083(@pxref{URL Format}). Either method reveals your password to anyone who
1084bothers to run @code{ps}. To prevent the passwords from being seen,
1085store them in @file{.wgetrc} or @file{.netrc}, and make sure to protect
1086those files from other users with @code{chmod}. If the passwords are
1087really important, do not leave them lying in those files either---edit
1088the files and delete them after Wget has started the download.
1089
1090@iftex
1091For more information about security issues with Wget, @xref{Security
1092Considerations}.
1093@end iftex
1094
1095@cindex proxy
1096@cindex cache
1097@item --no-cache
1098Disable server-side cache. In this case, Wget will send the remote
1099server an appropriate directive (@samp{Pragma: no-cache}) to get the
1100file from the remote service, rather than returning the cached version.
1101This is especially useful for retrieving and flushing out-of-date
1102documents on proxy servers.
1103
1104Caching is allowed by default.
1105
1106@cindex cookies
1107@item --no-cookies
1108Disable the use of cookies. Cookies are a mechanism for maintaining
1109server-side state. The server sends the client a cookie using the
1110@code{Set-Cookie} header, and the client responds with the same cookie
1111upon further requests. Since cookies allow the server owners to keep
1112track of visitors and for sites to exchange this information, some
1113consider them a breach of privacy. The default is to use cookies;
1114however, @emph{storing} cookies is not on by default.
1115
1116@cindex loading cookies
1117@cindex cookies, loading
1118@item --load-cookies @var{file}
1119Load cookies from @var{file} before the first HTTP retrieval.
1120@var{file} is a textual file in the format originally used by Netscape's
1121@file{cookies.txt} file.
1122
1123You will typically use this option when mirroring sites that require
1124that you be logged in to access some or all of their content. The login
1125process typically works by the web server issuing an @sc{http} cookie
1126upon receiving and verifying your credentials. The cookie is then
1127resent by the browser when accessing that part of the site, and so
1128proves your identity.
1129
1130Mirroring such a site requires Wget to send the same cookies your
1131browser sends when communicating with the site. This is achieved by
1132@samp{--load-cookies}---simply point Wget to the location of the
1133@file{cookies.txt} file, and it will send the same cookies your browser
1134would send in the same situation. Different browsers keep textual
1135cookie files in different locations:
1136
1137@table @asis
1138@item Netscape 4.x.
1139The cookies are in @file{~/.netscape/cookies.txt}.
1140
1141@item Mozilla and Netscape 6.x.
1142Mozilla's cookie file is also named @file{cookies.txt}, located
1143somewhere under @file{~/.mozilla}, in the directory of your profile.
1144The full path usually ends up looking somewhat like
1145@file{~/.mozilla/default/@var{some-weird-string}/cookies.txt}.
1146
1147@item Internet Explorer.
1148You can produce a cookie file Wget can use by using the File menu,
1149Import and Export, Export Cookies. This has been tested with Internet
1150Explorer 5; it is not guaranteed to work with earlier versions.
1151
1152@item Other browsers.
1153If you are using a different browser to create your cookies,
1154@samp{--load-cookies} will only work if you can locate or produce a
1155cookie file in the Netscape format that Wget expects.
1156@end table
1157
1158If you cannot use @samp{--load-cookies}, there might still be an
1159alternative. If your browser supports a ``cookie manager'', you can use
1160it to view the cookies used when accessing the site you're mirroring.
1161Write down the name and value of the cookie, and manually instruct Wget
1162to send those cookies, bypassing the ``official'' cookie support:
1163
1164@example
1165wget --no-cookies --header "Cookie: @var{name}=@var{value}"
1166@end example
1167
1168@cindex saving cookies
1169@cindex cookies, saving
1170@item --save-cookies @var{file}
1171Save cookies to @var{file} before exiting. This will not save cookies
1172that have expired or that have no expiry time (so-called ``session
1173cookies''), but also see @samp{--keep-session-cookies}.
1174
1175@cindex cookies, session
1176@cindex session cookies
1177@item --keep-session-cookies
1178When specified, causes @samp{--save-cookies} to also save session
1179cookies. Session cookies are normally not saved because they are
1180meant to be kept in memory and forgotten when you exit the browser.
1181Saving them is useful on sites that require you to log in or to visit
1182the home page before you can access some pages. With this option,
1183multiple Wget runs are considered a single browser session as far as
1184the site is concerned.
1185
1186Since the cookie file format does not normally carry session cookies,
1187Wget marks them with an expiry timestamp of 0. Wget's
1188@samp{--load-cookies} recognizes those as session cookies, but it might
1189confuse other browsers. Also note that cookies so loaded will be
1190treated as other session cookies, which means that if you want
1191@samp{--save-cookies} to preserve them again, you must use
1192@samp{--keep-session-cookies} again.
1193
1194@cindex Content-Length, ignore
1195@cindex ignore length
1196@item --ignore-length
1197Unfortunately, some @sc{http} servers (@sc{cgi} programs, to be more
1198precise) send out bogus @code{Content-Length} headers, which makes Wget
1199go wild, as it thinks not all the document was retrieved. You can spot
1200this syndrome if Wget retries getting the same document again and again,
1201each time claiming that the (otherwise normal) connection has closed on
1202the very same byte.
1203
1204With this option, Wget will ignore the @code{Content-Length} header---as
1205if it never existed.
1206
1207@cindex header, add
1208@item --header=@var{header-line}
1209Send @var{header-line} along with the rest of the headers in each
1210@sc{http} request. The supplied header is sent as-is, which means it
1211must contain name and value separated by colon, and must not contain
1212newlines.
1213
1214You may define more than one additional header by specifying
1215@samp{--header} more than once.
1216
1217@example
1218@group
1219wget --header='Accept-Charset: iso-8859-2' \
1220 --header='Accept-Language: hr' \
1221 http://fly.srk.fer.hr/
1222@end group
1223@end example
1224
1225Specification of an empty string as the header value will clear all
1226previous user-defined headers.
1227
1228As of Wget 1.10, this option can be used to override headers otherwise
1229generated automatically. This example instructs Wget to connect to
1230localhost, but to specify @samp{foo.bar} in the @code{Host} header:
1231
1232@example
1233wget --header="Host: foo.bar" http://localhost/
1234@end example
1235
1236In versions of Wget prior to 1.10 such use of @samp{--header} caused
1237sending of duplicate headers.
1238
1239@cindex proxy user
1240@cindex proxy password
1241@cindex proxy authentication
1242@item --proxy-user=@var{user}
1243@itemx --proxy-password=@var{password}
1244Specify the username @var{user} and password @var{password} for
1245authentication on a proxy server. Wget will encode them using the
1246@code{basic} authentication scheme.
1247
1248Security considerations similar to those with @samp{--http-password}
1249pertain here as well.
1250
1251@cindex http referer
1252@cindex referer, http
1253@item --referer=@var{url}
1254Include `Referer: @var{url}' header in HTTP request. Useful for
1255retrieving documents with server-side processing that assume they are
1256always being retrieved by interactive web browsers and only come out
1257properly when Referer is set to one of the pages that point to them.
1258
1259@cindex server response, save
1260@item --save-headers
1261Save the headers sent by the @sc{http} server to the file, preceding the
1262actual contents, with an empty line as the separator.
1263
1264@cindex user-agent
1265@item -U @var{agent-string}
1266@itemx --user-agent=@var{agent-string}
1267Identify as @var{agent-string} to the @sc{http} server.
1268
1269The @sc{http} protocol allows the clients to identify themselves using a
1270@code{User-Agent} header field. This enables distinguishing the
1271@sc{www} software, usually for statistical purposes or for tracing of
1272protocol violations. Wget normally identifies as
1273@samp{Wget/@var{version}}, @var{version} being the current version
1274number of Wget.
1275
1276However, some sites have been known to impose the policy of tailoring
1277the output according to the @code{User-Agent}-supplied information.
1278While this is not such a bad idea in theory, it has been abused by
1279servers denying information to clients other than (historically)
1280Netscape or, more frequently, Microsoft Internet Explorer. This
1281option allows you to change the @code{User-Agent} line issued by Wget.
1282Use of this option is discouraged, unless you really know what you are
1283doing.
1284
1285Specifying empty user agent with @samp{--user-agent=""} instructs Wget
1286not to send the @code{User-Agent} header in @sc{http} requests.
1287
1288@cindex POST
1289@item --post-data=@var{string}
1290@itemx --post-file=@var{file}
1291Use POST as the method for all HTTP requests and send the specified data
1292in the request body. @code{--post-data} sends @var{string} as data,
1293whereas @code{--post-file} sends the contents of @var{file}. Other than
1294that, they work in exactly the same way.
1295
1296Please be aware that Wget needs to know the size of the POST data in
1297advance. Therefore the argument to @code{--post-file} must be a regular
1298file; specifying a FIFO or something like @file{/dev/stdin} won't work.
1299It's not quite clear how to work around this limitation inherent in
1300HTTP/1.0. Although HTTP/1.1 introduces @dfn{chunked} transfer that
1301doesn't require knowing the request length in advance, a client can't
1302use chunked unless it knows it's talking to an HTTP/1.1 server. And it
1303can't know that until it receives a response, which in turn requires the
1304request to have been completed -- a chicken-and-egg problem.
1305
1306Note: if Wget is redirected after the POST request is completed, it
1307will not send the POST data to the redirected URL. This is because
1308URLs that process POST often respond with a redirection to a regular
1309page, which does not desire or accept POST. It is not completely
1310clear that this behavior is optimal; if it doesn't work out, it might
1311be changed in the future.
1312
1313This example shows how to log to a server using POST and then proceed to
1314download the desired pages, presumably only accessible to authorized
1315users:
1316
1317@example
1318@group
1319# @r{Log in to the server. This can be done only once.}
1320wget --save-cookies cookies.txt \
1321 --post-data 'user=foo&password=bar' \
1322 http://server.com/auth.php
1323
1324# @r{Now grab the page or pages we care about.}
1325wget --load-cookies cookies.txt \
1326 -p http://server.com/interesting/article.php
1327@end group
1328@end example
1329
1330If the server is using session cookies to track user authentication,
1331the above will not work because @samp{--save-cookies} will not save
1332them (and neither will browsers) and the @file{cookies.txt} file will
1333be empty. In that case use @samp{--keep-session-cookies} along with
1334@samp{--save-cookies} to force saving of session cookies.
1335@end table
1336
1337@node HTTPS (SSL/TLS) Options
1338@section HTTPS (SSL/TLS) Options
1339
1340@cindex SSL
1341To support encrypted HTTP (HTTPS) downloads, Wget must be compiled
1342with an external SSL library, currently OpenSSL. If Wget is compiled
1343without SSL support, none of these options are available.
1344
1345@table @samp
1346@cindex SSL protocol, choose
1347@item --secure-protocol=@var{protocol}
1348Choose the secure protocol to be used. Legal values are @samp{auto},
1349@samp{SSLv2}, @samp{SSLv3}, and @samp{TLSv1}. If @samp{auto} is used,
1350the SSL library is given the liberty of choosing the appropriate
1351protocol automatically, which is achieved by sending an SSLv2 greeting
1352and announcing support for SSLv3 and TLSv1. This is the default.
1353
1354Specifying @samp{SSLv2}, @samp{SSLv3}, or @samp{TLSv1} forces the use
1355of the corresponding protocol. This is useful when talking to old and
1356buggy SSL server implementations that make it hard for OpenSSL to
1357choose the correct protocol version. Fortunately, such servers are
1358quite rare.
1359
1360@cindex SSL certificate, check
1361@item --no-check-certificate
1362Don't check the server certificate against the available certificate
1363authorities. Also don't require the URL host name to match the common
1364name presented by the certificate.
1365
1366As of Wget 1.10, the default is to verify the server's certificate
1367against the recognized certificate authorities, breaking the SSL
1368handshake and aborting the download if the verification fails.
1369Although this provides more secure downloads, it does break
1370interoperability with some sites that worked with previous Wget
1371versions, particularly those using self-signed, expired, or otherwise
1372invalid certificates. This option forces an ``insecure'' mode of
1373operation that turns the certificate verification errors into warnings
1374and allows you to proceed.
1375
1376If you encounter ``certificate verification'' errors or ones saying
1377that ``common name doesn't match requested host name'', you can use
1378this option to bypass the verification and proceed with the download.
1379@emph{Only use this option if you are otherwise convinced of the
1380site's authenticity, or if you really don't care about the validity of
1381its certificate.} It is almost always a bad idea not to check the
1382certificates when transmitting confidential or important data.
1383
1384@cindex SSL certificate
1385@item --certificate=@var{file}
1386Use the client certificate stored in @var{file}. This is needed for
1387servers that are configured to require certificates from the clients
1388that connect to them. Normally a certificate is not required and this
1389switch is optional.
1390
1391@cindex SSL certificate type, specify
1392@item --certificate-type=@var{type}
1393Specify the type of the client certificate. Legal values are
1394@samp{PEM} (assumed by default) and @samp{DER}, also known as
1395@samp{ASN1}.
1396
1397@item --private-key=@var{file}
1398Read the private key from @var{file}. This allows you to provide the
1399private key in a file separate from the certificate.
1400
1401@item --private-key-type=@var{type}
1402Specify the type of the private key. Accepted values are @samp{PEM}
1403(the default) and @samp{DER}.
1404
1405@item --ca-certificate=@var{file}
1406Use @var{file} as the file with the bundle of certificate authorities
1407(``CA'') to verify the peers. The certificates must be in PEM format.
1408
1409Without this option Wget looks for CA certificates at the
1410system-specified locations, chosen at OpenSSL installation time.
1411
1412@cindex SSL certificate authority
1413@item --ca-directory=@var{directory}
1414Specifies directory containing CA certificates in PEM format. Each
1415file contains one CA certificate, and the file name is based on a hash
1416value derived from the certificate. This is achieved by processing a
1417certificate directory with the @code{c_rehash} utility supplied with
1418OpenSSL. Using @samp{--ca-directory} is more efficient than
1419@samp{--ca-certificate} when many certificates are installed because
1420it allows Wget to fetch certificates on demand.
1421
1422Without this option Wget looks for CA certificates at the
1423system-specified locations, chosen at OpenSSL installation time.
1424
1425@cindex entropy, specifying source of
1426@cindex randomness, specifying source of
1427@item --random-file=@var{file}
1428Use @var{file} as the source of random data for seeding the
1429pseudo-random number generator on systems without @file{/dev/random}.
1430
1431On such systems the SSL library needs an external source of randomness
1432to initialize. Randomness may be provided by EGD (see
1433@samp{--egd-file} below) or read from an external source specified by
1434the user. If this option is not specified, Wget looks for random data
1435in @code{$RANDFILE} or, if that is unset, in @file{$HOME/.rnd}. If
1436none of those are available, it is likely that SSL encryption will not
1437be usable.
1438
1439If you're getting the ``Could not seed OpenSSL PRNG; disabling SSL.''
1440error, you should provide random data using some of the methods
1441described above.
1442
1443@cindex EGD
1444@item --egd-file=@var{file}
1445Use @var{file} as the EGD socket. EGD stands for @dfn{Entropy
1446Gathering Daemon}, a user-space program that collects data from
1447various unpredictable system sources and makes it available to other
1448programs that might need it. Encryption software, such as the SSL
1449library, needs sources of non-repeating randomness to seed the random
1450number generator used to produce cryptographically strong keys.
1451
1452OpenSSL allows the user to specify his own source of entropy using the
1453@code{RAND_FILE} environment variable. If this variable is unset, or
1454if the specified file does not produce enough randomness, OpenSSL will
1455read random data from EGD socket specified using this option.
1456
1457If this option is not specified (and the equivalent startup command is
1458not used), EGD is never contacted. EGD is not needed on modern Unix
1459systems that support @file{/dev/random}.
1460@end table
1461
1462@node FTP Options
1463@section FTP Options
1464
1465@table @samp
1466@cindex ftp user
1467@cindex ftp password
1468@cindex ftp authentication
1469@item --ftp-user=@var{user}
1470@itemx --ftp-password=@var{password}
1471Specify the username @var{user} and password @var{password} on an
1472@sc{ftp} server. Without this, or the corresponding startup option,
1473the password defaults to @samp{-wget@@}, normally used for anonymous
1474FTP.
1475
1476Another way to specify username and password is in the @sc{url} itself
1477(@pxref{URL Format}). Either method reveals your password to anyone who
1478bothers to run @code{ps}. To prevent the passwords from being seen,
1479store them in @file{.wgetrc} or @file{.netrc}, and make sure to protect
1480those files from other users with @code{chmod}. If the passwords are
1481really important, do not leave them lying in those files either---edit
1482the files and delete them after Wget has started the download.
1483
1484@iftex
1485For more information about security issues with Wget, @xref{Security
1486Considerations}.
1487@end iftex
1488
1489@cindex .listing files, removing
1490@item --no-remove-listing
1491Don't remove the temporary @file{.listing} files generated by @sc{ftp}
1492retrievals. Normally, these files contain the raw directory listings
1493received from @sc{ftp} servers. Not removing them can be useful for
1494debugging purposes, or when you want to be able to easily check on the
1495contents of remote server directories (e.g. to verify that a mirror
1496you're running is complete).
1497
1498Note that even though Wget writes to a known filename for this file,
1499this is not a security hole in the scenario of a user making
1500@file{.listing} a symbolic link to @file{/etc/passwd} or something and
1501asking @code{root} to run Wget in his or her directory. Depending on
1502the options used, either Wget will refuse to write to @file{.listing},
1503making the globbing/recursion/time-stamping operation fail, or the
1504symbolic link will be deleted and replaced with the actual
1505@file{.listing} file, or the listing will be written to a
1506@file{.listing.@var{number}} file.
1507
1508Even though this situation isn't a problem, though, @code{root} should
1509never run Wget in a non-trusted user's directory. A user could do
1510something as simple as linking @file{index.html} to @file{/etc/passwd}
1511and asking @code{root} to run Wget with @samp{-N} or @samp{-r} so the file
1512will be overwritten.
1513
1514@cindex globbing, toggle
1515@item --no-glob
1516Turn off @sc{ftp} globbing. Globbing refers to the use of shell-like
1517special characters (@dfn{wildcards}), like @samp{*}, @samp{?}, @samp{[}
1518and @samp{]} to retrieve more than one file from the same directory at
1519once, like:
1520
1521@example
1522wget ftp://gnjilux.srk.fer.hr/*.msg
1523@end example
1524
1525By default, globbing will be turned on if the @sc{url} contains a
1526globbing character. This option may be used to turn globbing on or off
1527permanently.
1528
1529You may have to quote the @sc{url} to protect it from being expanded by
1530your shell. Globbing makes Wget look for a directory listing, which is
1531system-specific. This is why it currently works only with Unix @sc{ftp}
1532servers (and the ones emulating Unix @code{ls} output).
1533
1534@cindex passive ftp
1535@item --no-passive-ftp
1536Disable the use of the @dfn{passive} FTP transfer mode. Passive FTP
1537mandates that the client connect to the server to establish the data
1538connection rather than the other way around.
1539
1540If the machine is connected to the Internet directly, both passive and
1541active FTP should work equally well. Behind most firewall and NAT
1542configurations passive FTP has a better chance of working. However,
1543in some rare firewall configurations, active FTP actually works when
1544passive FTP doesn't. If you suspect this to be the case, use this
1545option, or set @code{passive_ftp=off} in your init file.
1546
1547@cindex symbolic links, retrieving
1548@item --retr-symlinks
1549Usually, when retrieving @sc{ftp} directories recursively and a symbolic
1550link is encountered, the linked-to file is not downloaded. Instead, a
1551matching symbolic link is created on the local filesystem. The
1552pointed-to file will not be downloaded unless this recursive retrieval
1553would have encountered it separately and downloaded it anyway.
1554
1555When @samp{--retr-symlinks} is specified, however, symbolic links are
1556traversed and the pointed-to files are retrieved. At this time, this
1557option does not cause Wget to traverse symlinks to directories and
1558recurse through them, but in the future it should be enhanced to do
1559this.
1560
1561Note that when retrieving a file (not a directory) because it was
1562specified on the command-line, rather than because it was recursed to,
1563this option has no effect. Symbolic links are always traversed in this
1564case.
1565
1566@cindex Keep-Alive, turning off
1567@cindex Persistent Connections, disabling
1568@item --no-http-keep-alive
1569Turn off the ``keep-alive'' feature for HTTP downloads. Normally, Wget
1570asks the server to keep the connection open so that, when you download
1571more than one document from the same server, they get transferred over
1572the same TCP connection. This saves time and at the same time reduces
1573the load on the server.
1574
1575This option is useful when, for some reason, persistent (keep-alive)
1576connections don't work for you, for example due to a server bug or due
1577to the inability of server-side scripts to cope with the connections.
1578@end table
1579
1580@node Recursive Retrieval Options
1581@section Recursive Retrieval Options
1582
1583@table @samp
1584@item -r
1585@itemx --recursive
1586Turn on recursive retrieving. @xref{Recursive Download}, for more
1587details.
1588
1589@item -l @var{depth}
1590@itemx --level=@var{depth}
1591Specify recursion maximum depth level @var{depth} (@pxref{Recursive
1592Download}). The default maximum depth is 5.
1593
1594@cindex proxy filling
1595@cindex delete after retrieval
1596@cindex filling proxy cache
1597@item --delete-after
1598This option tells Wget to delete every single file it downloads,
1599@emph{after} having done so. It is useful for pre-fetching popular
1600pages through a proxy, e.g.:
1601
1602@example
1603wget -r -nd --delete-after http://whatever.com/~popular/page/
1604@end example
1605
1606The @samp{-r} option is to retrieve recursively, and @samp{-nd} to not
1607create directories.
1608
1609Note that @samp{--delete-after} deletes files on the local machine. It
1610does not issue the @samp{DELE} command to remote FTP sites, for
1611instance. Also note that when @samp{--delete-after} is specified,
1612@samp{--convert-links} is ignored, so @samp{.orig} files are simply not
1613created in the first place.
1614
1615@cindex conversion of links
1616@cindex link conversion
1617@item -k
1618@itemx --convert-links
1619After the download is complete, convert the links in the document to
1620make them suitable for local viewing. This affects not only the visible
1621hyperlinks, but any part of the document that links to external content,
1622such as embedded images, links to style sheets, hyperlinks to non-@sc{html}
1623content, etc.
1624
1625Each link will be changed in one of the two ways:
1626
1627@itemize @bullet
1628@item
1629The links to files that have been downloaded by Wget will be changed to
1630refer to the file they point to as a relative link.
1631
1632Example: if the downloaded file @file{/foo/doc.html} links to
1633@file{/bar/img.gif}, also downloaded, then the link in @file{doc.html}
1634will be modified to point to @samp{../bar/img.gif}. This kind of
1635transformation works reliably for arbitrary combinations of directories.
1636
1637@item
1638The links to files that have not been downloaded by Wget will be changed
1639to include host name and absolute path of the location they point to.
1640
1641Example: if the downloaded file @file{/foo/doc.html} links to
1642@file{/bar/img.gif} (or to @file{../bar/img.gif}), then the link in
1643@file{doc.html} will be modified to point to
1644@file{http://@var{hostname}/bar/img.gif}.
1645@end itemize
1646
1647Because of this, local browsing works reliably: if a linked file was
1648downloaded, the link will refer to its local name; if it was not
1649downloaded, the link will refer to its full Internet address rather than
1650presenting a broken link. The fact that the former links are converted
1651to relative links ensures that you can move the downloaded hierarchy to
1652another directory.
1653
1654Note that only at the end of the download can Wget know which links have
1655been downloaded. Because of that, the work done by @samp{-k} will be
1656performed at the end of all the downloads.
1657
1658@cindex backing up converted files
1659@item -K
1660@itemx --backup-converted
1661When converting a file, back up the original version with a @samp{.orig}
1662suffix. Affects the behavior of @samp{-N} (@pxref{HTTP Time-Stamping
1663Internals}).
1664
1665@item -m
1666@itemx --mirror
1667Turn on options suitable for mirroring. This option turns on recursion
1668and time-stamping, sets infinite recursion depth and keeps @sc{ftp}
1669directory listings. It is currently equivalent to
1670@samp{-r -N -l inf --no-remove-listing}.
1671
1672@cindex page requisites
1673@cindex required images, downloading
1674@item -p
1675@itemx --page-requisites
1676This option causes Wget to download all the files that are necessary to
1677properly display a given @sc{html} page. This includes such things as
1678inlined images, sounds, and referenced stylesheets.
1679
1680Ordinarily, when downloading a single @sc{html} page, any requisite documents
1681that may be needed to display it properly are not downloaded. Using
1682@samp{-r} together with @samp{-l} can help, but since Wget does not
1683ordinarily distinguish between external and inlined documents, one is
1684generally left with ``leaf documents'' that are missing their
1685requisites.
1686
1687For instance, say document @file{1.html} contains an @code{<IMG>} tag
1688referencing @file{1.gif} and an @code{<A>} tag pointing to external
1689document @file{2.html}. Say that @file{2.html} is similar but that its
1690image is @file{2.gif} and it links to @file{3.html}. Say this
1691continues up to some arbitrarily high number.
1692
1693If one executes the command:
1694
1695@example
1696wget -r -l 2 http://@var{site}/1.html
1697@end example
1698
1699then @file{1.html}, @file{1.gif}, @file{2.html}, @file{2.gif}, and
1700@file{3.html} will be downloaded. As you can see, @file{3.html} is
1701without its requisite @file{3.gif} because Wget is simply counting the
1702number of hops (up to 2) away from @file{1.html} in order to determine
1703where to stop the recursion. However, with this command:
1704
1705@example
1706wget -r -l 2 -p http://@var{site}/1.html
1707@end example
1708
1709all the above files @emph{and} @file{3.html}'s requisite @file{3.gif}
1710will be downloaded. Similarly,
1711
1712@example
1713wget -r -l 1 -p http://@var{site}/1.html
1714@end example
1715
1716will cause @file{1.html}, @file{1.gif}, @file{2.html}, and @file{2.gif}
1717to be downloaded. One might think that:
1718
1719@example
1720wget -r -l 0 -p http://@var{site}/1.html
1721@end example
1722
1723would download just @file{1.html} and @file{1.gif}, but unfortunately
1724this is not the case, because @samp{-l 0} is equivalent to
1725@samp{-l inf}---that is, infinite recursion. To download a single @sc{html}
1726page (or a handful of them, all specified on the command-line or in a
1727@samp{-i} @sc{url} input file) and its (or their) requisites, simply leave off
1728@samp{-r} and @samp{-l}:
1729
1730@example
1731wget -p http://@var{site}/1.html
1732@end example
1733
1734Note that Wget will behave as if @samp{-r} had been specified, but only
1735that single page and its requisites will be downloaded. Links from that
1736page to external documents will not be followed. Actually, to download
1737a single page and all its requisites (even if they exist on separate
1738websites), and make sure the lot displays properly locally, this author
1739likes to use a few options in addition to @samp{-p}:
1740
1741@example
1742wget -E -H -k -K -p http://@var{site}/@var{document}
1743@end example
1744
1745To finish off this topic, it's worth knowing that Wget's idea of an
1746external document link is any URL specified in an @code{<A>} tag, an
1747@code{<AREA>} tag, or a @code{<LINK>} tag other than @code{<LINK
1748REL="stylesheet">}.
1749
1750@cindex @sc{html} comments
1751@cindex comments, @sc{html}
1752@item --strict-comments
1753Turn on strict parsing of @sc{html} comments. The default is to terminate
1754comments at the first occurrence of @samp{-->}.
1755
1756According to specifications, @sc{html} comments are expressed as @sc{sgml}
1757@dfn{declarations}. Declaration is special markup that begins with
1758@samp{<!} and ends with @samp{>}, such as @samp{<!DOCTYPE ...>}, that
1759may contain comments between a pair of @samp{--} delimiters. @sc{html}
1760comments are ``empty declarations'', @sc{sgml} declarations without any
1761non-comment text. Therefore, @samp{<!--foo-->} is a valid comment, and
1762so is @samp{<!--one-- --two-->}, but @samp{<!--1--2-->} is not.
1763
1764On the other hand, most @sc{html} writers don't perceive comments as anything
1765other than text delimited with @samp{<!--} and @samp{-->}, which is not
1766quite the same. For example, something like @samp{<!------------>}
1767works as a valid comment as long as the number of dashes is a multiple
1768of four (!). If not, the comment technically lasts until the next
1769@samp{--}, which may be at the other end of the document. Because of
1770this, many popular browsers completely ignore the specification and
1771implement what users have come to expect: comments delimited with
1772@samp{<!--} and @samp{-->}.
1773
1774Until version 1.9, Wget interpreted comments strictly, which resulted in
1775missing links in many web pages that displayed fine in browsers, but had
1776the misfortune of containing non-compliant comments. Beginning with
1777version 1.9, Wget has joined the ranks of clients that implements
1778``naive'' comments, terminating each comment at the first occurrence of
1779@samp{-->}.
1780
1781If, for whatever reason, you want strict comment parsing, use this
1782option to turn it on.
1783@end table
1784
1785@node Recursive Accept/Reject Options
1786@section Recursive Accept/Reject Options
1787
1788@table @samp
1789@item -A @var{acclist} --accept @var{acclist}
1790@itemx -R @var{rejlist} --reject @var{rejlist}
1791Specify comma-separated lists of file name suffixes or patterns to
1792accept or reject (@pxref{Types of Files} for more details).
1793
1794@item -D @var{domain-list}
1795@itemx --domains=@var{domain-list}
1796Set domains to be followed. @var{domain-list} is a comma-separated list
1797of domains. Note that it does @emph{not} turn on @samp{-H}.
1798
1799@item --exclude-domains @var{domain-list}
1800Specify the domains that are @emph{not} to be followed.
1801(@pxref{Spanning Hosts}).
1802
1803@cindex follow FTP links
1804@item --follow-ftp
1805Follow @sc{ftp} links from @sc{html} documents. Without this option,
1806Wget will ignore all the @sc{ftp} links.
1807
1808@cindex tag-based recursive pruning
1809@item --follow-tags=@var{list}
1810Wget has an internal table of @sc{html} tag / attribute pairs that it
1811considers when looking for linked documents during a recursive
1812retrieval. If a user wants only a subset of those tags to be
1813considered, however, he or she should be specify such tags in a
1814comma-separated @var{list} with this option.
1815
1816@item --ignore-tags=@var{list}
1817This is the opposite of the @samp{--follow-tags} option. To skip
1818certain @sc{html} tags when recursively looking for documents to download,
1819specify them in a comma-separated @var{list}.
1820
1821In the past, this option was the best bet for downloading a single page
1822and its requisites, using a command-line like:
1823
1824@example
1825wget --ignore-tags=a,area -H -k -K -r http://@var{site}/@var{document}
1826@end example
1827
1828However, the author of this option came across a page with tags like
1829@code{<LINK REL="home" HREF="/">} and came to the realization that
1830specifying tags to ignore was not enough. One can't just tell Wget to
1831ignore @code{<LINK>}, because then stylesheets will not be downloaded.
1832Now the best bet for downloading a single page and its requisites is the
1833dedicated @samp{--page-requisites} option.
1834
1835@item -H
1836@itemx --span-hosts
1837Enable spanning across hosts when doing recursive retrieving
1838(@pxref{Spanning Hosts}).
1839
1840@item -L
1841@itemx --relative
1842Follow relative links only. Useful for retrieving a specific home page
1843without any distractions, not even those from the same hosts
1844(@pxref{Relative Links}).
1845
1846@item -I @var{list}
1847@itemx --include-directories=@var{list}
1848Specify a comma-separated list of directories you wish to follow when
1849downloading (@pxref{Directory-Based Limits} for more details.) Elements
1850of @var{list} may contain wildcards.
1851
1852@item -X @var{list}
1853@itemx --exclude-directories=@var{list}
1854Specify a comma-separated list of directories you wish to exclude from
1855download (@pxref{Directory-Based Limits} for more details.) Elements of
1856@var{list} may contain wildcards.
1857
1858@item -np
1859@item --no-parent
1860Do not ever ascend to the parent directory when retrieving recursively.
1861This is a useful option, since it guarantees that only the files
1862@emph{below} a certain hierarchy will be downloaded.
1863@xref{Directory-Based Limits}, for more details.
1864@end table
1865
1866@c man end
1867
1868@node Recursive Download
1869@chapter Recursive Download
1870@cindex recursion
1871@cindex retrieving
1872@cindex recursive download
1873
1874GNU Wget is capable of traversing parts of the Web (or a single
1875@sc{http} or @sc{ftp} server), following links and directory structure.
1876We refer to this as to @dfn{recursive retrieval}, or @dfn{recursion}.
1877
1878With @sc{http} @sc{url}s, Wget retrieves and parses the @sc{html} from
1879the given @sc{url}, documents, retrieving the files the @sc{html}
1880document was referring to, through markup like @code{href}, or
1881@code{src}. If the freshly downloaded file is also of type
1882@code{text/html} or @code{application/xhtml+xml}, it will be parsed and
1883followed further.
1884
1885Recursive retrieval of @sc{http} and @sc{html} content is
1886@dfn{breadth-first}. This means that Wget first downloads the requested
1887@sc{html} document, then the documents linked from that document, then the
1888documents linked by them, and so on. In other words, Wget first
1889downloads the documents at depth 1, then those at depth 2, and so on
1890until the specified maximum depth.
1891
1892The maximum @dfn{depth} to which the retrieval may descend is specified
1893with the @samp{-l} option. The default maximum depth is five layers.
1894
1895When retrieving an @sc{ftp} @sc{url} recursively, Wget will retrieve all
1896the data from the given directory tree (including the subdirectories up
1897to the specified depth) on the remote server, creating its mirror image
1898locally. @sc{ftp} retrieval is also limited by the @code{depth}
1899parameter. Unlike @sc{http} recursion, @sc{ftp} recursion is performed
1900depth-first.
1901
1902By default, Wget will create a local directory tree, corresponding to
1903the one found on the remote server.
1904
1905Recursive retrieving can find a number of applications, the most
1906important of which is mirroring. It is also useful for @sc{www}
1907presentations, and any other opportunities where slow network
1908connections should be bypassed by storing the files locally.
1909
1910You should be warned that recursive downloads can overload the remote
1911servers. Because of that, many administrators frown upon them and may
1912ban access from your site if they detect very fast downloads of big
1913amounts of content. When downloading from Internet servers, consider
1914using the @samp{-w} option to introduce a delay between accesses to the
1915server. The download will take a while longer, but the server
1916administrator will not be alarmed by your rudeness.
1917
1918Of course, recursive download may cause problems on your machine. If
1919left to run unchecked, it can easily fill up the disk. If downloading
1920from local network, it can also take bandwidth on the system, as well as
1921consume memory and CPU.
1922
1923Try to specify the criteria that match the kind of download you are
1924trying to achieve. If you want to download only one page, use
1925@samp{--page-requisites} without any additional recursion. If you want
1926to download things under one directory, use @samp{-np} to avoid
1927downloading things from other directories. If you want to download all
1928the files from one directory, use @samp{-l 1} to make sure the recursion
1929depth never exceeds one. @xref{Following Links}, for more information
1930about this.
1931
1932Recursive retrieval should be used with care. Don't say you were not
1933warned.
1934
1935@node Following Links
1936@chapter Following Links
1937@cindex links
1938@cindex following links
1939
1940When retrieving recursively, one does not wish to retrieve loads of
1941unnecessary data. Most of the time the users bear in mind exactly what
1942they want to download, and want Wget to follow only specific links.
1943
1944For example, if you wish to download the music archive from
1945@samp{fly.srk.fer.hr}, you will not want to download all the home pages
1946that happen to be referenced by an obscure part of the archive.
1947
1948Wget possesses several mechanisms that allows you to fine-tune which
1949links it will follow.
1950
1951@menu
1952* Spanning Hosts:: (Un)limiting retrieval based on host name.
1953* Types of Files:: Getting only certain files.
1954* Directory-Based Limits:: Getting only certain directories.
1955* Relative Links:: Follow relative links only.
1956* FTP Links:: Following FTP links.
1957@end menu
1958
1959@node Spanning Hosts
1960@section Spanning Hosts
1961@cindex spanning hosts
1962@cindex hosts, spanning
1963
1964Wget's recursive retrieval normally refuses to visit hosts different
1965than the one you specified on the command line. This is a reasonable
1966default; without it, every retrieval would have the potential to turn
1967your Wget into a small version of google.
1968
1969However, visiting different hosts, or @dfn{host spanning,} is sometimes
1970a useful option. Maybe the images are served from a different server.
1971Maybe you're mirroring a site that consists of pages interlinked between
1972three servers. Maybe the server has two equivalent names, and the @sc{html}
1973pages refer to both interchangeably.
1974
1975@table @asis
1976@item Span to any host---@samp{-H}
1977
1978The @samp{-H} option turns on host spanning, thus allowing Wget's
1979recursive run to visit any host referenced by a link. Unless sufficient
1980recursion-limiting criteria are applied depth, these foreign hosts will
1981typically link to yet more hosts, and so on until Wget ends up sucking
1982up much more data than you have intended.
1983
1984@item Limit spanning to certain domains---@samp{-D}
1985
1986The @samp{-D} option allows you to specify the domains that will be
1987followed, thus limiting the recursion only to the hosts that belong to
1988these domains. Obviously, this makes sense only in conjunction with
1989@samp{-H}. A typical example would be downloading the contents of
1990@samp{www.server.com}, but allowing downloads from
1991@samp{images.server.com}, etc.:
1992
1993@example
1994wget -rH -Dserver.com http://www.server.com/
1995@end example
1996
1997You can specify more than one address by separating them with a comma,
1998e.g. @samp{-Ddomain1.com,domain2.com}.
1999
2000@item Keep download off certain domains---@samp{--exclude-domains}
2001
2002If there are domains you want to exclude specifically, you can do it
2003with @samp{--exclude-domains}, which accepts the same type of arguments
2004of @samp{-D}, but will @emph{exclude} all the listed domains. For
2005example, if you want to download all the hosts from @samp{foo.edu}
2006domain, with the exception of @samp{sunsite.foo.edu}, you can do it like
2007this:
2008
2009@example
2010wget -rH -Dfoo.edu --exclude-domains sunsite.foo.edu \
2011 http://www.foo.edu/
2012@end example
2013
2014@end table
2015
2016@node Types of Files
2017@section Types of Files
2018@cindex types of files
2019
2020When downloading material from the web, you will often want to restrict
2021the retrieval to only certain file types. For example, if you are
2022interested in downloading @sc{gif}s, you will not be overjoyed to get
2023loads of PostScript documents, and vice versa.
2024
2025Wget offers two options to deal with this problem. Each option
2026description lists a short name, a long name, and the equivalent command
2027in @file{.wgetrc}.
2028
2029@cindex accept wildcards
2030@cindex accept suffixes
2031@cindex wildcards, accept
2032@cindex suffixes, accept
2033@table @samp
2034@item -A @var{acclist}
2035@itemx --accept @var{acclist}
2036@itemx accept = @var{acclist}
2037The argument to @samp{--accept} option is a list of file suffixes or
2038patterns that Wget will download during recursive retrieval. A suffix
2039is the ending part of a file, and consists of ``normal'' letters,
2040e.g. @samp{gif} or @samp{.jpg}. A matching pattern contains shell-like
2041wildcards, e.g. @samp{books*} or @samp{zelazny*196[0-9]*}.
2042
2043So, specifying @samp{wget -A gif,jpg} will make Wget download only the
2044files ending with @samp{gif} or @samp{jpg}, i.e. @sc{gif}s and
2045@sc{jpeg}s. On the other hand, @samp{wget -A "zelazny*196[0-9]*"} will
2046download only files beginning with @samp{zelazny} and containing numbers
2047from 1960 to 1969 anywhere within. Look up the manual of your shell for
2048a description of how pattern matching works.
2049
2050Of course, any number of suffixes and patterns can be combined into a
2051comma-separated list, and given as an argument to @samp{-A}.
2052
2053@cindex reject wildcards
2054@cindex reject suffixes
2055@cindex wildcards, reject
2056@cindex suffixes, reject
2057@item -R @var{rejlist}
2058@itemx --reject @var{rejlist}
2059@itemx reject = @var{rejlist}
2060The @samp{--reject} option works the same way as @samp{--accept}, only
2061its logic is the reverse; Wget will download all files @emph{except} the
2062ones matching the suffixes (or patterns) in the list.
2063
2064So, if you want to download a whole page except for the cumbersome
2065@sc{mpeg}s and @sc{.au} files, you can use @samp{wget -R mpg,mpeg,au}.
2066Analogously, to download all files except the ones beginning with
2067@samp{bjork}, use @samp{wget -R "bjork*"}. The quotes are to prevent
2068expansion by the shell.
2069@end table
2070
2071The @samp{-A} and @samp{-R} options may be combined to achieve even
2072better fine-tuning of which files to retrieve. E.g. @samp{wget -A
2073"*zelazny*" -R .ps} will download all the files having @samp{zelazny} as
2074a part of their name, but @emph{not} the PostScript files.
2075
2076Note that these two options do not affect the downloading of @sc{html}
2077files; Wget must load all the @sc{html}s to know where to go at
2078all---recursive retrieval would make no sense otherwise.
2079
2080@node Directory-Based Limits
2081@section Directory-Based Limits
2082@cindex directories
2083@cindex directory limits
2084
2085Regardless of other link-following facilities, it is often useful to
2086place the restriction of what files to retrieve based on the directories
2087those files are placed in. There can be many reasons for this---the
2088home pages may be organized in a reasonable directory structure; or some
2089directories may contain useless information, e.g. @file{/cgi-bin} or
2090@file{/dev} directories.
2091
2092Wget offers three different options to deal with this requirement. Each
2093option description lists a short name, a long name, and the equivalent
2094command in @file{.wgetrc}.
2095
2096@cindex directories, include
2097@cindex include directories
2098@cindex accept directories
2099@table @samp
2100@item -I @var{list}
2101@itemx --include @var{list}
2102@itemx include_directories = @var{list}
2103@samp{-I} option accepts a comma-separated list of directories included
2104in the retrieval. Any other directories will simply be ignored. The
2105directories are absolute paths.
2106
2107So, if you wish to download from @samp{http://host/people/bozo/}
2108following only links to bozo's colleagues in the @file{/people}
2109directory and the bogus scripts in @file{/cgi-bin}, you can specify:
2110
2111@example
2112wget -I /people,/cgi-bin http://host/people/bozo/
2113@end example
2114
2115@cindex directories, exclude
2116@cindex exclude directories
2117@cindex reject directories
2118@item -X @var{list}
2119@itemx --exclude @var{list}
2120@itemx exclude_directories = @var{list}
2121@samp{-X} option is exactly the reverse of @samp{-I}---this is a list of
2122directories @emph{excluded} from the download. E.g. if you do not want
2123Wget to download things from @file{/cgi-bin} directory, specify @samp{-X
2124/cgi-bin} on the command line.
2125
2126The same as with @samp{-A}/@samp{-R}, these two options can be combined
2127to get a better fine-tuning of downloading subdirectories. E.g. if you
2128want to load all the files from @file{/pub} hierarchy except for
2129@file{/pub/worthless}, specify @samp{-I/pub -X/pub/worthless}.
2130
2131@cindex no parent
2132@item -np
2133@itemx --no-parent
2134@itemx no_parent = on
2135The simplest, and often very useful way of limiting directories is
2136disallowing retrieval of the links that refer to the hierarchy
2137@dfn{above} than the beginning directory, i.e. disallowing ascent to the
2138parent directory/directories.
2139
2140The @samp{--no-parent} option (short @samp{-np}) is useful in this case.
2141Using it guarantees that you will never leave the existing hierarchy.
2142Supposing you issue Wget with:
2143
2144@example
2145wget -r --no-parent http://somehost/~luzer/my-archive/
2146@end example
2147
2148You may rest assured that none of the references to
2149@file{/~his-girls-homepage/} or @file{/~luzer/all-my-mpegs/} will be
2150followed. Only the archive you are interested in will be downloaded.
2151Essentially, @samp{--no-parent} is similar to
2152@samp{-I/~luzer/my-archive}, only it handles redirections in a more
2153intelligent fashion.
2154@end table
2155
2156@node Relative Links
2157@section Relative Links
2158@cindex relative links
2159
2160When @samp{-L} is turned on, only the relative links are ever followed.
2161Relative links are here defined those that do not refer to the web
2162server root. For example, these links are relative:
2163
2164@example
2165<a href="foo.gif">
2166<a href="foo/bar.gif">
2167<a href="../foo/bar.gif">
2168@end example
2169
2170These links are not relative:
2171
2172@example
2173<a href="/foo.gif">
2174<a href="/foo/bar.gif">
2175<a href="http://www.server.com/foo/bar.gif">
2176@end example
2177
2178Using this option guarantees that recursive retrieval will not span
2179hosts, even without @samp{-H}. In simple cases it also allows downloads
2180to ``just work'' without having to convert links.
2181
2182This option is probably not very useful and might be removed in a future
2183release.
2184
2185@node FTP Links
2186@section Following FTP Links
2187@cindex following ftp links
2188
2189The rules for @sc{ftp} are somewhat specific, as it is necessary for
2190them to be. @sc{ftp} links in @sc{html} documents are often included
2191for purposes of reference, and it is often inconvenient to download them
2192by default.
2193
2194To have @sc{ftp} links followed from @sc{html} documents, you need to
2195specify the @samp{--follow-ftp} option. Having done that, @sc{ftp}
2196links will span hosts regardless of @samp{-H} setting. This is logical,
2197as @sc{ftp} links rarely point to the same host where the @sc{http}
2198server resides. For similar reasons, the @samp{-L} options has no
2199effect on such downloads. On the other hand, domain acceptance
2200(@samp{-D}) and suffix rules (@samp{-A} and @samp{-R}) apply normally.
2201
2202Also note that followed links to @sc{ftp} directories will not be
2203retrieved recursively further.
2204
2205@node Time-Stamping
2206@chapter Time-Stamping
2207@cindex time-stamping
2208@cindex timestamping
2209@cindex updating the archives
2210@cindex incremental updating
2211
2212One of the most important aspects of mirroring information from the
2213Internet is updating your archives.
2214
2215Downloading the whole archive again and again, just to replace a few
2216changed files is expensive, both in terms of wasted bandwidth and money,
2217and the time to do the update. This is why all the mirroring tools
2218offer the option of incremental updating.
2219
2220Such an updating mechanism means that the remote server is scanned in
2221search of @dfn{new} files. Only those new files will be downloaded in
2222the place of the old ones.
2223
2224A file is considered new if one of these two conditions are met:
2225
2226@enumerate
2227@item
2228A file of that name does not already exist locally.
2229
2230@item
2231A file of that name does exist, but the remote file was modified more
2232recently than the local file.
2233@end enumerate
2234
2235To implement this, the program needs to be aware of the time of last
2236modification of both local and remote files. We call this information the
2237@dfn{time-stamp} of a file.
2238
2239The time-stamping in GNU Wget is turned on using @samp{--timestamping}
2240(@samp{-N}) option, or through @code{timestamping = on} directive in
2241@file{.wgetrc}. With this option, for each file it intends to download,
2242Wget will check whether a local file of the same name exists. If it
2243does, and the remote file is older, Wget will not download it.
2244
2245If the local file does not exist, or the sizes of the files do not
2246match, Wget will download the remote file no matter what the time-stamps
2247say.
2248
2249@menu
2250* Time-Stamping Usage::
2251* HTTP Time-Stamping Internals::
2252* FTP Time-Stamping Internals::
2253@end menu
2254
2255@node Time-Stamping Usage
2256@section Time-Stamping Usage
2257@cindex time-stamping usage
2258@cindex usage, time-stamping
2259
2260The usage of time-stamping is simple. Say you would like to download a
2261file so that it keeps its date of modification.
2262
2263@example
2264wget -S http://www.gnu.ai.mit.edu/
2265@end example
2266
2267A simple @code{ls -l} shows that the time stamp on the local file equals
2268the state of the @code{Last-Modified} header, as returned by the server.
2269As you can see, the time-stamping info is preserved locally, even
2270without @samp{-N} (at least for @sc{http}).
2271
2272Several days later, you would like Wget to check if the remote file has
2273changed, and download it if it has.
2274
2275@example
2276wget -N http://www.gnu.ai.mit.edu/
2277@end example
2278
2279Wget will ask the server for the last-modified date. If the local file
2280has the same timestamp as the server, or a newer one, the remote file
2281will not be re-fetched. However, if the remote file is more recent,
2282Wget will proceed to fetch it.
2283
2284The same goes for @sc{ftp}. For example:
2285
2286@example
2287wget "ftp://ftp.ifi.uio.no/pub/emacs/gnus/*"
2288@end example
2289
2290(The quotes around that URL are to prevent the shell from trying to
2291interpret the @samp{*}.)
2292
2293After download, a local directory listing will show that the timestamps
2294match those on the remote server. Reissuing the command with @samp{-N}
2295will make Wget re-fetch @emph{only} the files that have been modified
2296since the last download.
2297
2298If you wished to mirror the GNU archive every week, you would use a
2299command like the following, weekly:
2300
2301@example
2302wget --timestamping -r ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/
2303@end example
2304
2305Note that time-stamping will only work for files for which the server
2306gives a timestamp. For @sc{http}, this depends on getting a
2307@code{Last-Modified} header. For @sc{ftp}, this depends on getting a
2308directory listing with dates in a format that Wget can parse
2309(@pxref{FTP Time-Stamping Internals}).
2310
2311@node HTTP Time-Stamping Internals
2312@section HTTP Time-Stamping Internals
2313@cindex http time-stamping
2314
2315Time-stamping in @sc{http} is implemented by checking of the
2316@code{Last-Modified} header. If you wish to retrieve the file
2317@file{foo.html} through @sc{http}, Wget will check whether
2318@file{foo.html} exists locally. If it doesn't, @file{foo.html} will be
2319retrieved unconditionally.
2320
2321If the file does exist locally, Wget will first check its local
2322time-stamp (similar to the way @code{ls -l} checks it), and then send a
2323@code{HEAD} request to the remote server, demanding the information on
2324the remote file.
2325
2326The @code{Last-Modified} header is examined to find which file was
2327modified more recently (which makes it ``newer''). If the remote file
2328is newer, it will be downloaded; if it is older, Wget will give
2329up.@footnote{As an additional check, Wget will look at the
2330@code{Content-Length} header, and compare the sizes; if they are not the
2331same, the remote file will be downloaded no matter what the time-stamp
2332says.}
2333
2334When @samp{--backup-converted} (@samp{-K}) is specified in conjunction
2335with @samp{-N}, server file @samp{@var{X}} is compared to local file
2336@samp{@var{X}.orig}, if extant, rather than being compared to local file
2337@samp{@var{X}}, which will always differ if it's been converted by
2338@samp{--convert-links} (@samp{-k}).
2339
2340Arguably, @sc{http} time-stamping should be implemented using the
2341@code{If-Modified-Since} request.
2342
2343@node FTP Time-Stamping Internals
2344@section FTP Time-Stamping Internals
2345@cindex ftp time-stamping
2346
2347In theory, @sc{ftp} time-stamping works much the same as @sc{http}, only
2348@sc{ftp} has no headers---time-stamps must be ferreted out of directory
2349listings.
2350
2351If an @sc{ftp} download is recursive or uses globbing, Wget will use the
2352@sc{ftp} @code{LIST} command to get a file listing for the directory
2353containing the desired file(s). It will try to analyze the listing,
2354treating it like Unix @code{ls -l} output, extracting the time-stamps.
2355The rest is exactly the same as for @sc{http}. Note that when
2356retrieving individual files from an @sc{ftp} server without using
2357globbing or recursion, listing files will not be downloaded (and thus
2358files will not be time-stamped) unless @samp{-N} is specified.
2359
2360Assumption that every directory listing is a Unix-style listing may
2361sound extremely constraining, but in practice it is not, as many
2362non-Unix @sc{ftp} servers use the Unixoid listing format because most
2363(all?) of the clients understand it. Bear in mind that @sc{rfc959}
2364defines no standard way to get a file list, let alone the time-stamps.
2365We can only hope that a future standard will define this.
2366
2367Another non-standard solution includes the use of @code{MDTM} command
2368that is supported by some @sc{ftp} servers (including the popular
2369@code{wu-ftpd}), which returns the exact time of the specified file.
2370Wget may support this command in the future.
2371
2372@node Startup File
2373@chapter Startup File
2374@cindex startup file
2375@cindex wgetrc
2376@cindex .wgetrc
2377@cindex startup
2378@cindex .netrc
2379
2380Once you know how to change default settings of Wget through command
2381line arguments, you may wish to make some of those settings permanent.
2382You can do that in a convenient way by creating the Wget startup
2383file---@file{.wgetrc}.
2384
2385Besides @file{.wgetrc} is the ``main'' initialization file, it is
2386convenient to have a special facility for storing passwords. Thus Wget
2387reads and interprets the contents of @file{$HOME/.netrc}, if it finds
2388it. You can find @file{.netrc} format in your system manuals.
2389
2390Wget reads @file{.wgetrc} upon startup, recognizing a limited set of
2391commands.
2392
2393@menu
2394* Wgetrc Location:: Location of various wgetrc files.
2395* Wgetrc Syntax:: Syntax of wgetrc.
2396* Wgetrc Commands:: List of available commands.
2397* Sample Wgetrc:: A wgetrc example.
2398@end menu
2399
2400@node Wgetrc Location
2401@section Wgetrc Location
2402@cindex wgetrc location
2403@cindex location of wgetrc
2404
2405When initializing, Wget will look for a @dfn{global} startup file,
2406@file{/usr/local/etc/wgetrc} by default (or some prefix other than
2407@file{/usr/local}, if Wget was not installed there) and read commands
2408from there, if it exists.
2409
2410Then it will look for the user's file. If the environmental variable
2411@code{WGETRC} is set, Wget will try to load that file. Failing that, no
2412further attempts will be made.
2413
2414If @code{WGETRC} is not set, Wget will try to load @file{$HOME/.wgetrc}.
2415
2416The fact that user's settings are loaded after the system-wide ones
2417means that in case of collision user's wgetrc @emph{overrides} the
2418system-wide wgetrc (in @file{/usr/local/etc/wgetrc} by default).
2419Fascist admins, away!
2420
2421@node Wgetrc Syntax
2422@section Wgetrc Syntax
2423@cindex wgetrc syntax
2424@cindex syntax of wgetrc
2425
2426The syntax of a wgetrc command is simple:
2427
2428@example
2429variable = value
2430@end example
2431
2432The @dfn{variable} will also be called @dfn{command}. Valid
2433@dfn{values} are different for different commands.
2434
2435The commands are case-insensitive and underscore-insensitive. Thus
2436@samp{DIr__PrefiX} is the same as @samp{dirprefix}. Empty lines, lines
2437beginning with @samp{#} and lines containing white-space only are
2438discarded.
2439
2440Commands that expect a comma-separated list will clear the list on an
2441empty command. So, if you wish to reset the rejection list specified in
2442global @file{wgetrc}, you can do it with:
2443
2444@example
2445reject =
2446@end example
2447
2448@node Wgetrc Commands
2449@section Wgetrc Commands
2450@cindex wgetrc commands
2451
2452The complete set of commands is listed below. Legal values are listed
2453after the @samp{=}. Simple Boolean values can be set or unset using
2454@samp{on} and @samp{off} or @samp{1} and @samp{0}. A fancier kind of
2455Boolean allowed in some cases is the @dfn{lockable Boolean}, which may
2456be set to @samp{on}, @samp{off}, @samp{always}, or @samp{never}. If an
2457option is set to @samp{always} or @samp{never}, that value will be
2458locked in for the duration of the Wget invocation---command-line options
2459will not override.
2460
2461Some commands take pseudo-arbitrary values. @var{address} values can be
2462hostnames or dotted-quad IP addresses. @var{n} can be any positive
2463integer, or @samp{inf} for infinity, where appropriate. @var{string}
2464values can be any non-empty string.
2465
2466Most of these commands have direct command-line equivalents. Also, any
2467wgetrc command can be specified on the command line using the
2468@samp{--execute} switch (@pxref{Basic Startup Options}.)
2469
2470@table @asis
2471@item accept/reject = @var{string}
2472Same as @samp{-A}/@samp{-R} (@pxref{Types of Files}).
2473
2474@item add_hostdir = on/off
2475Enable/disable host-prefixed file names. @samp{-nH} disables it.
2476
2477@item continue = on/off
2478If set to on, force continuation of preexistent partially retrieved
2479files. See @samp{-c} before setting it.
2480
2481@item background = on/off
2482Enable/disable going to background---the same as @samp{-b} (which
2483enables it).
2484
2485@item backup_converted = on/off
2486Enable/disable saving pre-converted files with the suffix
2487@samp{.orig}---the same as @samp{-K} (which enables it).
2488
2489@c @item backups = @var{number}
2490@c #### Document me!
2491@c
2492@item base = @var{string}
2493Consider relative @sc{url}s in @sc{url} input files forced to be
2494interpreted as @sc{html} as being relative to @var{string}---the same as
2495@samp{--base=@var{string}}.
2496
2497@item bind_address = @var{address}
2498Bind to @var{address}, like the @samp{--bind-address=@var{address}}.
2499
2500@item ca_certificate = @var{file}
2501Set the certificate authority bundle file to @var{file}. The same
2502as @samp{--ca-certificate=@var{file}}.
2503
2504@item ca_directory = @var{directory}
2505Set the directory used for certificate authorities. The same as
2506@samp{--ca-directory=@var{directory}}.
2507
2508@item cache = on/off
2509When set to off, disallow server-caching. See the @samp{--no-cache}
2510option.
2511
2512@item certificate = @var{file}
2513Set the client certificate file name to @var{file}. The same as
2514@samp{--certificate=@var{file}}.
2515
2516@item certificate_type = @var{string}
2517Specify the type of the client certificate, legal values being
2518@samp{PEM} (the default) and @samp{DER} (aka ASN1). The same as
2519@samp{--certificate-type=@var{string}}.
2520
2521@item check_certificate = on/off
2522If this is set to off, the server certificate is not checked against
2523the specified client authorities. The default is ``on''. The same as
2524@samp{--check-certificate}.
2525
2526@item convert_links = on/off
2527Convert non-relative links locally. The same as @samp{-k}.
2528
2529@item cookies = on/off
2530When set to off, disallow cookies. See the @samp{--cookies} option.
2531
2532@item connect_timeout = @var{n}
2533Set the connect timeout---the same as @samp{--connect-timeout}.
2534
2535@item cut_dirs = @var{n}
2536Ignore @var{n} remote directory components. Equivalent to
2537@samp{--cut-dirs=@var{n}}.
2538
2539@item debug = on/off
2540Debug mode, same as @samp{-d}.
2541
2542@item delete_after = on/off
2543Delete after download---the same as @samp{--delete-after}.
2544
2545@item dir_prefix = @var{string}
2546Top of directory tree---the same as @samp{-P @var{string}}.
2547
2548@item dirstruct = on/off
2549Turning dirstruct on or off---the same as @samp{-x} or @samp{-nd},
2550respectively.
2551
2552@item dns_cache = on/off
2553Turn DNS caching on/off. Since DNS caching is on by default, this
2554option is normally used to turn it off and is equivalent to
2555@samp{--no-dns-cache}.
2556
2557@item dns_timeout = @var{n}
2558Set the DNS timeout---the same as @samp{--dns-timeout}.
2559
2560@item domains = @var{string}
2561Same as @samp{-D} (@pxref{Spanning Hosts}).
2562
2563@item dot_bytes = @var{n}
2564Specify the number of bytes ``contained'' in a dot, as seen throughout
2565the retrieval (1024 by default). You can postfix the value with
2566@samp{k} or @samp{m}, representing kilobytes and megabytes,
2567respectively. With dot settings you can tailor the dot retrieval to
2568suit your needs, or you can use the predefined @dfn{styles}
2569(@pxref{Download Options}).
2570
2571@item dots_in_line = @var{n}
2572Specify the number of dots that will be printed in each line throughout
2573the retrieval (50 by default).
2574
2575@item dot_spacing = @var{n}
2576Specify the number of dots in a single cluster (10 by default).
2577
2578@item egd_file = @var{file}
2579Use @var{string} as the EGD socket file name. The same as
2580@samp{--egd-file=@var{file}}.
2581
2582@item exclude_directories = @var{string}
2583Specify a comma-separated list of directories you wish to exclude from
2584download---the same as @samp{-X @var{string}} (@pxref{Directory-Based
2585Limits}).
2586
2587@item exclude_domains = @var{string}
2588Same as @samp{--exclude-domains=@var{string}} (@pxref{Spanning
2589Hosts}).
2590
2591@item follow_ftp = on/off
2592Follow @sc{ftp} links from @sc{html} documents---the same as
2593@samp{--follow-ftp}.
2594
2595@item follow_tags = @var{string}
2596Only follow certain @sc{html} tags when doing a recursive retrieval,
2597just like @samp{--follow-tags=@var{string}}.
2598
2599@item force_html = on/off
2600If set to on, force the input filename to be regarded as an @sc{html}
2601document---the same as @samp{-F}.
2602
2603@item ftp_password = @var{string}
2604Set your @sc{ftp} password to @var{string}. Without this setting, the
2605password defaults to @samp{-wget@@}, which is a useful default for
2606anonymous @sc{ftp} access.
2607
2608This command used to be named @code{passwd} prior to Wget 1.10.
2609
2610@item ftp_proxy = @var{string}
2611Use @var{string} as @sc{ftp} proxy, instead of the one specified in
2612environment.
2613
2614@item ftp_user = @var{string}
2615Set @sc{ftp} user to @var{string}.
2616
2617This command used to be named @code{login} prior to Wget 1.10.
2618
2619@item glob = on/off
2620Turn globbing on/off---the same as @samp{--glob} and @samp{--no-glob}.
2621
2622@item header = @var{string}
2623Define a header for HTTP doewnloads, like using
2624@samp{--header=@var{string}}.
2625
2626@item html_extension = on/off
2627Add a @samp{.html} extension to @samp{text/html} or
2628@samp{application/xhtml+xml} files without it, like @samp{-E}.
2629
2630@item http_keep_alive = on/off
2631Turn the keep-alive feature on or off (defaults to on). Turning it
2632off is equivalent to @samp{--no-http-keep-alive}.
2633
2634@item http_password = @var{string}
2635Set @sc{http} password, equivalent to
2636@samp{--http-password=@var{string}}.
2637
2638@item http_proxy = @var{string}
2639Use @var{string} as @sc{http} proxy, instead of the one specified in
2640environment.
2641
2642@item http_user = @var{string}
2643Set @sc{http} user to @var{string}, equivalent to
2644@samp{--http-user=@var{string}}.
2645
2646@item ignore_length = on/off
2647When set to on, ignore @code{Content-Length} header; the same as
2648@samp{--ignore-length}.
2649
2650@item ignore_tags = @var{string}
2651Ignore certain @sc{html} tags when doing a recursive retrieval, like
2652@samp{--ignore-tags=@var{string}}.
2653
2654@item include_directories = @var{string}
2655Specify a comma-separated list of directories you wish to follow when
2656downloading---the same as @samp{-I @var{string}}.
2657
2658@item inet4_only = on/off
2659Force connecting to IPv4 addresses, off by default. You can put this
2660in the global init file to disable Wget's attempts to resolve and
2661connect to IPv6 hosts. Available only if Wget was compiled with IPv6
2662support. The same as @samp{--inet4-only} or @samp{-4}.
2663
2664@item inet6_only = on/off
2665Force connecting to IPv6 addresses, off by default. Available only if
2666Wget was compiled with IPv6 support. The same as @samp{--inet6-only}
2667or @samp{-6}.
2668
2669@item input = @var{file}
2670Read the @sc{url}s from @var{string}, like @samp{-i @var{file}}.
2671
2672@item limit_rate = @var{rate}
2673Limit the download speed to no more than @var{rate} bytes per second.
2674The same as @samp{--limit-rate=@var{rate}}.
2675
2676@item load_cookies = @var{file}
2677Load cookies from @var{file}. See @samp{--load-cookies @var{file}}.
2678
2679@item logfile = @var{file}
2680Set logfile to @var{file}, the same as @samp{-o @var{file}}.
2681
2682@item mirror = on/off
2683Turn mirroring on/off. The same as @samp{-m}.
2684
2685@item netrc = on/off
2686Turn reading netrc on or off.
2687
2688@item noclobber = on/off
2689Same as @samp{-nc}.
2690
2691@item no_parent = on/off
2692Disallow retrieving outside the directory hierarchy, like
2693@samp{--no-parent} (@pxref{Directory-Based Limits}).
2694
2695@item no_proxy = @var{string}
2696Use @var{string} as the comma-separated list of domains to avoid in
2697proxy loading, instead of the one specified in environment.
2698
2699@item output_document = @var{file}
2700Set the output filename---the same as @samp{-O @var{file}}.
2701
2702@item page_requisites = on/off
2703Download all ancillary documents necessary for a single @sc{html} page to
2704display properly---the same as @samp{-p}.
2705
2706@item passive_ftp = on/off/always/never
2707Change setting of passive @sc{ftp}, equivalent to the
2708@samp{--passive-ftp} option. Some scripts and @samp{.pm} (Perl
2709module) files download files using @samp{wget --passive-ftp}. If your
2710firewall does not allow this, you can set @samp{passive_ftp = never}
2711to override the command-line.
2712
2713@itemx password = @var{string}
2714Specify password @var{string} for both @sc{ftp} and @sc{http} file retrieval.
2715This command can be overridden using the @samp{ftp_password} and
2716@samp{http_password} command for @sc{ftp} and @sc{http} respectively.
2717
2718@item post_data = @var{string}
2719Use POST as the method for all HTTP requests and send @var{string} in
2720the request body. The same as @samp{--post-data=@var{string}}.
2721
2722@item post_file = @var{file}
2723Use POST as the method for all HTTP requests and send the contents of
2724@var{file} in the request body. The same as
2725@samp{--post-file=@var{file}}.
2726
2727@item prefer_family = IPv4/IPv6/none
2728When given a choice of several addresses, connect to the addresses
2729with specified address family first. IPv4 addresses are preferred by
2730default. The same as @samp{--prefer-family}, which see for a detailed
2731discussion of why this is useful.
2732
2733@item private_key = @var{file}
2734Set the private key file to @var{file}. The same as
2735@samp{--private-key=@var{file}}.
2736
2737@item private_key_type = @var{string}
2738Specify the type of the private key, legal values being @samp{PEM}
2739(the default) and @samp{DER} (aka ASN1). The same as
2740@samp{--private-type=@var{string}}.
2741
2742@item progress = @var{string}
2743Set the type of the progress indicator. Legal types are @samp{dot}
2744and @samp{bar}. Equivalent to @samp{--progress=@var{string}}.
2745
2746@item protocol_directories = on/off
2747When set, use the protocol name as a directory component of local file
2748names. The same as @samp{--protocol-directories}.
2749
2750@item proxy_user = @var{string}
2751Set proxy authentication user name to @var{string}, like
2752@samp{--proxy-user=@var{string}}.
2753
2754@item proxy_password = @var{string}
2755Set proxy authentication password to @var{string}, like
2756@samp{--proxy-password=@var{string}}.
2757
2758@item quiet = on/off
2759Quiet mode---the same as @samp{-q}.
2760
2761@item quota = @var{quota}
2762Specify the download quota, which is useful to put in the global
2763@file{wgetrc}. When download quota is specified, Wget will stop
2764retrieving after the download sum has become greater than quota. The
2765quota can be specified in bytes (default), kbytes @samp{k} appended) or
2766mbytes (@samp{m} appended). Thus @samp{quota = 5m} will set the quota
2767to 5 megabytes. Note that the user's startup file overrides system
2768settings.
2769
2770@item random_file = @var{file}
2771Use @var{file} as a source of randomness on systems lacking
2772@file{/dev/random}.
2773
2774@item read_timeout = @var{n}
2775Set the read (and write) timeout---the same as
2776@samp{--read-timeout=@var{n}}.
2777
2778@item reclevel = @var{n}
2779Recursion level (depth)---the same as @samp{-l @var{n}}.
2780
2781@item recursive = on/off
2782Recursive on/off---the same as @samp{-r}.
2783
2784@item referer = @var{string}
2785Set HTTP @samp{Referer:} header just like
2786@samp{--referer=@var{string}}. (Note it was the folks who wrote the
2787@sc{http} spec who got the spelling of ``referrer'' wrong.)
2788
2789@item relative_only = on/off
2790Follow only relative links---the same as @samp{-L} (@pxref{Relative
2791Links}).
2792
2793@item remove_listing = on/off
2794If set to on, remove @sc{ftp} listings downloaded by Wget. Setting it
2795to off is the same as @samp{--no-remove-listing}.
2796
2797@item restrict_file_names = unix/windows
2798Restrict the file names generated by Wget from URLs. See
2799@samp{--restrict-file-names} for a more detailed description.
2800
2801@item retr_symlinks = on/off
2802When set to on, retrieve symbolic links as if they were plain files; the
2803same as @samp{--retr-symlinks}.
2804
2805@item retry_connrefused = on/off
2806When set to on, consider ``connection refused'' a transient
2807error---the same as @samp{--retry-connrefused}.
2808
2809@item robots = on/off
2810Specify whether the norobots convention is respected by Wget, ``on'' by
2811default. This switch controls both the @file{/robots.txt} and the
2812@samp{nofollow} aspect of the spec. @xref{Robot Exclusion}, for more
2813details about this. Be sure you know what you are doing before turning
2814this off.
2815
2816@item save_cookies = @var{file}
2817Save cookies to @var{file}. The same as @samp{--save-cookies
2818@var{file}}.
2819
2820@item secure_protocol = @var{string}
2821Choose the secure protocol to be used. Legal values are @samp{auto}
2822(the default), @samp{SSLv2}, @samp{SSLv3}, and @samp{TLSv1}. The same
2823as @samp{--secure-protocol=@var{string}}.
2824
2825@item server_response = on/off
2826Choose whether or not to print the @sc{http} and @sc{ftp} server
2827responses---the same as @samp{-S}.
2828
2829@item span_hosts = on/off
2830Same as @samp{-H}.
2831
2832@item strict_comments = on/off
2833Same as @samp{--strict-comments}.
2834
2835@item timeout = @var{n}
2836Set all applicable timeout values to @var{n}, the same as @samp{-T
2837@var{n}}.
2838
2839@item timestamping = on/off
2840Turn timestamping on/off. The same as @samp{-N} (@pxref{Time-Stamping}).
2841
2842@item tries = @var{n}
2843Set number of retries per @sc{url}---the same as @samp{-t @var{n}}.
2844
2845@item use_proxy = on/off
2846When set to off, don't use proxy even when proxy-related environment
2847variables are set. In that case it is the same as using
2848@samp{--no-proxy}.
2849
2850@item user = @var{string}
2851Specify username @var{string} for both @sc{ftp} and @sc{http} file retrieval.
2852This command can be overridden using the @samp{ftp_user} and
2853@samp{http_user} command for @sc{ftp} and @sc{http} respectively.
2854
2855@item verbose = on/off
2856Turn verbose on/off---the same as @samp{-v}/@samp{-nv}.
2857
2858@item wait = @var{n}
2859Wait @var{n} seconds between retrievals---the same as @samp{-w
2860@var{n}}.
2861
2862@item waitretry = @var{n}
2863Wait up to @var{n} seconds between retries of failed retrievals
2864only---the same as @samp{--waitretry=@var{n}}. Note that this is
2865turned on by default in the global @file{wgetrc}.
2866
2867@item randomwait = on/off
2868Turn random between-request wait times on or off. The same as
2869@samp{--random-wait}.
2870@end table
2871
2872@node Sample Wgetrc
2873@section Sample Wgetrc
2874@cindex sample wgetrc
2875
2876This is the sample initialization file, as given in the distribution.
2877It is divided in two section---one for global usage (suitable for global
2878startup file), and one for local usage (suitable for
2879@file{$HOME/.wgetrc}). Be careful about the things you change.
2880
2881Note that almost all the lines are commented out. For a command to have
2882any effect, you must remove the @samp{#} character at the beginning of
2883its line.
2884
2885@example
2886@include sample.wgetrc.munged_for_texi_inclusion
2887@end example
2888
2889@node Examples
2890@chapter Examples
2891@cindex examples
2892
2893@c man begin EXAMPLES
2894The examples are divided into three sections loosely based on their
2895complexity.
2896
2897@menu
2898* Simple Usage:: Simple, basic usage of the program.
2899* Advanced Usage:: Advanced tips.
2900* Very Advanced Usage:: The hairy stuff.
2901@end menu
2902
2903@node Simple Usage
2904@section Simple Usage
2905
2906@itemize @bullet
2907@item
2908Say you want to download a @sc{url}. Just type:
2909
2910@example
2911wget http://fly.srk.fer.hr/
2912@end example
2913
2914@item
2915But what will happen if the connection is slow, and the file is lengthy?
2916The connection will probably fail before the whole file is retrieved,
2917more than once. In this case, Wget will try getting the file until it
2918either gets the whole of it, or exceeds the default number of retries
2919(this being 20). It is easy to change the number of tries to 45, to
2920insure that the whole file will arrive safely:
2921
2922@example
2923wget --tries=45 http://fly.srk.fer.hr/jpg/flyweb.jpg
2924@end example
2925
2926@item
2927Now let's leave Wget to work in the background, and write its progress
2928to log file @file{log}. It is tiring to type @samp{--tries}, so we
2929shall use @samp{-t}.
2930
2931@example
2932wget -t 45 -o log http://fly.srk.fer.hr/jpg/flyweb.jpg &
2933@end example
2934
2935The ampersand at the end of the line makes sure that Wget works in the
2936background. To unlimit the number of retries, use @samp{-t inf}.
2937
2938@item
2939The usage of @sc{ftp} is as simple. Wget will take care of login and
2940password.
2941
2942@example
2943wget ftp://gnjilux.srk.fer.hr/welcome.msg
2944@end example
2945
2946@item
2947If you specify a directory, Wget will retrieve the directory listing,
2948parse it and convert it to @sc{html}. Try:
2949
2950@example
2951wget ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/
2952links index.html
2953@end example
2954@end itemize
2955
2956@node Advanced Usage
2957@section Advanced Usage
2958
2959@itemize @bullet
2960@item
2961You have a file that contains the URLs you want to download? Use the
2962@samp{-i} switch:
2963
2964@example
2965wget -i @var{file}
2966@end example
2967
2968If you specify @samp{-} as file name, the @sc{url}s will be read from
2969standard input.
2970
2971@item
2972Create a five levels deep mirror image of the GNU web site, with the
2973same directory structure the original has, with only one try per
2974document, saving the log of the activities to @file{gnulog}:
2975
2976@example
2977wget -r http://www.gnu.org/ -o gnulog
2978@end example
2979
2980@item
2981The same as the above, but convert the links in the @sc{html} files to
2982point to local files, so you can view the documents off-line:
2983
2984@example
2985wget --convert-links -r http://www.gnu.org/ -o gnulog
2986@end example
2987
2988@item
2989Retrieve only one @sc{html} page, but make sure that all the elements needed
2990for the page to be displayed, such as inline images and external style
2991sheets, are also downloaded. Also make sure the downloaded page
2992references the downloaded links.
2993
2994@example
2995wget -p --convert-links http://www.server.com/dir/page.html
2996@end example
2997
2998The @sc{html} page will be saved to @file{www.server.com/dir/page.html}, and
2999the images, stylesheets, etc., somewhere under @file{www.server.com/},
3000depending on where they were on the remote server.
3001
3002@item
3003The same as the above, but without the @file{www.server.com/} directory.
3004In fact, I don't want to have all those random server directories
3005anyway---just save @emph{all} those files under a @file{download/}
3006subdirectory of the current directory.
3007
3008@example
3009wget -p --convert-links -nH -nd -Pdownload \
3010 http://www.server.com/dir/page.html
3011@end example
3012
3013@item
3014Retrieve the index.html of @samp{www.lycos.com}, showing the original
3015server headers:
3016
3017@example
3018wget -S http://www.lycos.com/
3019@end example
3020
3021@item
3022Save the server headers with the file, perhaps for post-processing.
3023
3024@example
3025wget --save-headers http://www.lycos.com/
3026more index.html
3027@end example
3028
3029@item
3030Retrieve the first two levels of @samp{wuarchive.wustl.edu}, saving them
3031to @file{/tmp}.
3032
3033@example
3034wget -r -l2 -P/tmp ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/
3035@end example
3036
3037@item
3038You want to download all the @sc{gif}s from a directory on an @sc{http}
3039server. You tried @samp{wget http://www.server.com/dir/*.gif}, but that
3040didn't work because @sc{http} retrieval does not support globbing. In
3041that case, use:
3042
3043@example
3044wget -r -l1 --no-parent -A.gif http://www.server.com/dir/
3045@end example
3046
3047More verbose, but the effect is the same. @samp{-r -l1} means to
3048retrieve recursively (@pxref{Recursive Download}), with maximum depth
3049of 1. @samp{--no-parent} means that references to the parent directory
3050are ignored (@pxref{Directory-Based Limits}), and @samp{-A.gif} means to
3051download only the @sc{gif} files. @samp{-A "*.gif"} would have worked
3052too.
3053
3054@item
3055Suppose you were in the middle of downloading, when Wget was
3056interrupted. Now you do not want to clobber the files already present.
3057It would be:
3058
3059@example
3060wget -nc -r http://www.gnu.org/
3061@end example
3062
3063@item
3064If you want to encode your own username and password to @sc{http} or
3065@sc{ftp}, use the appropriate @sc{url} syntax (@pxref{URL Format}).
3066
3067@example
3068wget ftp://hniksic:mypassword@@unix.server.com/.emacs
3069@end example
3070
3071Note, however, that this usage is not advisable on multi-user systems
3072because it reveals your password to anyone who looks at the output of
3073@code{ps}.
3074
3075@cindex redirecting output
3076@item
3077You would like the output documents to go to standard output instead of
3078to files?
3079
3080@example
3081wget -O - http://jagor.srce.hr/ http://www.srce.hr/
3082@end example
3083
3084You can also combine the two options and make pipelines to retrieve the
3085documents from remote hotlists:
3086
3087@example
3088wget -O - http://cool.list.com/ | wget --force-html -i -
3089@end example
3090@end itemize
3091
3092@node Very Advanced Usage
3093@section Very Advanced Usage
3094
3095@cindex mirroring
3096@itemize @bullet
3097@item
3098If you wish Wget to keep a mirror of a page (or @sc{ftp}
3099subdirectories), use @samp{--mirror} (@samp{-m}), which is the shorthand
3100for @samp{-r -l inf -N}. You can put Wget in the crontab file asking it
3101to recheck a site each Sunday:
3102
3103@example
3104crontab
31050 0 * * 0 wget --mirror http://www.gnu.org/ -o /home/me/weeklog
3106@end example
3107
3108@item
3109In addition to the above, you want the links to be converted for local
3110viewing. But, after having read this manual, you know that link
3111conversion doesn't play well with timestamping, so you also want Wget to
3112back up the original @sc{html} files before the conversion. Wget invocation
3113would look like this:
3114
3115@example
3116wget --mirror --convert-links --backup-converted \
3117 http://www.gnu.org/ -o /home/me/weeklog
3118@end example
3119
3120@item
3121But you've also noticed that local viewing doesn't work all that well
3122when @sc{html} files are saved under extensions other than @samp{.html},
3123perhaps because they were served as @file{index.cgi}. So you'd like
3124Wget to rename all the files served with content-type @samp{text/html}
3125or @samp{application/xhtml+xml} to @file{@var{name}.html}.
3126
3127@example
3128wget --mirror --convert-links --backup-converted \
3129 --html-extension -o /home/me/weeklog \
3130 http://www.gnu.org/
3131@end example
3132
3133Or, with less typing:
3134
3135@example
3136wget -m -k -K -E http://www.gnu.org/ -o /home/me/weeklog
3137@end example
3138@end itemize
3139@c man end
3140
3141@node Various
3142@chapter Various
3143@cindex various
3144
3145This chapter contains all the stuff that could not fit anywhere else.
3146
3147@menu
3148* Proxies:: Support for proxy servers
3149* Distribution:: Getting the latest version.
3150* Mailing List:: Wget mailing list for announcements and discussion.
3151* Reporting Bugs:: How and where to report bugs.
3152* Portability:: The systems Wget works on.
3153* Signals:: Signal-handling performed by Wget.
3154@end menu
3155
3156@node Proxies
3157@section Proxies
3158@cindex proxies
3159
3160@dfn{Proxies} are special-purpose @sc{http} servers designed to transfer
3161data from remote servers to local clients. One typical use of proxies
3162is lightening network load for users behind a slow connection. This is
3163achieved by channeling all @sc{http} and @sc{ftp} requests through the
3164proxy which caches the transferred data. When a cached resource is
3165requested again, proxy will return the data from cache. Another use for
3166proxies is for companies that separate (for security reasons) their
3167internal networks from the rest of Internet. In order to obtain
3168information from the Web, their users connect and retrieve remote data
3169using an authorized proxy.
3170
3171Wget supports proxies for both @sc{http} and @sc{ftp} retrievals. The
3172standard way to specify proxy location, which Wget recognizes, is using
3173the following environment variables:
3174
3175@table @code
3176@item http_proxy
3177This variable should contain the @sc{url} of the proxy for @sc{http}
3178connections.
3179
3180@item ftp_proxy
3181This variable should contain the @sc{url} of the proxy for @sc{ftp}
3182connections. It is quite common that @sc{http_proxy} and @sc{ftp_proxy}
3183are set to the same @sc{url}.
3184
3185@item no_proxy
3186This variable should contain a comma-separated list of domain extensions
3187proxy should @emph{not} be used for. For instance, if the value of
3188@code{no_proxy} is @samp{.mit.edu}, proxy will not be used to retrieve
3189documents from MIT.
3190@end table
3191
3192In addition to the environment variables, proxy location and settings
3193may be specified from within Wget itself.
3194
3195@table @samp
3196@itemx --no-proxy
3197@itemx proxy = on/off
3198This option and the corresponding command may be used to suppress the
3199use of proxy, even if the appropriate environment variables are set.
3200
3201@item http_proxy = @var{URL}
3202@itemx ftp_proxy = @var{URL}
3203@itemx no_proxy = @var{string}
3204These startup file variables allow you to override the proxy settings
3205specified by the environment.
3206@end table
3207
3208Some proxy servers require authorization to enable you to use them. The
3209authorization consists of @dfn{username} and @dfn{password}, which must
3210be sent by Wget. As with @sc{http} authorization, several
3211authentication schemes exist. For proxy authorization only the
3212@code{Basic} authentication scheme is currently implemented.
3213
3214You may specify your username and password either through the proxy
3215@sc{url} or through the command-line options. Assuming that the
3216company's proxy is located at @samp{proxy.company.com} at port 8001, a
3217proxy @sc{url} location containing authorization data might look like
3218this:
3219
3220@example
3221http://hniksic:mypassword@@proxy.company.com:8001/
3222@end example
3223
3224Alternatively, you may use the @samp{proxy-user} and
3225@samp{proxy-password} options, and the equivalent @file{.wgetrc}
3226settings @code{proxy_user} and @code{proxy_password} to set the proxy
3227username and password.
3228
3229@node Distribution
3230@section Distribution
3231@cindex latest version
3232
3233Like all GNU utilities, the latest version of Wget can be found at the
3234master GNU archive site ftp.gnu.org, and its mirrors. For example,
3235Wget @value{VERSION} can be found at
3236@url{ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/wget/wget-@value{VERSION}.tar.gz}
3237
3238@node Mailing List
3239@section Mailing List
3240@cindex mailing list
3241@cindex list
3242
3243There are several Wget-related mailing lists, all hosted by
3244SunSITE.dk. The general discussion list is at
3245@email{wget@@sunsite.dk}. It is the preferred place for bug reports
3246and suggestions, as well as for discussion of development. You are
3247invited to subscribe.
3248
3249To subscribe, simply send mail to @email{wget-subscribe@@sunsite.dk}
3250and follow the instructions. Unsubscribe by mailing to
3251@email{wget-unsubscribe@@sunsite.dk}. The mailing list is archived at
3252@url{http://www.mail-archive.com/wget%40sunsite.dk/} and at
3253@url{http://news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.web.wget.general}.
3254
3255The second mailing list is at @email{wget-patches@@sunsite.dk}, and is
3256used to submit patches for review by Wget developers. A ``patch'' is
3257a textual representation of change to source code, readable by both
3258humans and programs. The file @file{PATCHES} that comes with Wget
3259covers the creation and submitting of patches in detail. Please don't
3260send general suggestions or bug reports to @samp{wget-patches}; use it
3261only for patch submissions.
3262
3263To subscribe, simply send mail to @email{wget-subscribe@@sunsite.dk}
3264and follow the instructions. Unsubscribe by mailing to
3265@email{wget-unsubscribe@@sunsite.dk}. The mailing list is archived at
3266@url{http://news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.web.wget.patches}.
3267
3268@node Reporting Bugs
3269@section Reporting Bugs
3270@cindex bugs
3271@cindex reporting bugs
3272@cindex bug reports
3273
3274@c man begin BUGS
3275You are welcome to send bug reports about GNU Wget to
3276@email{bug-wget@@gnu.org}.
3277
3278Before actually submitting a bug report, please try to follow a few
3279simple guidelines.
3280
3281@enumerate
3282@item
3283Please try to ascertain that the behavior you see really is a bug. If
3284Wget crashes, it's a bug. If Wget does not behave as documented,
3285it's a bug. If things work strange, but you are not sure about the way
3286they are supposed to work, it might well be a bug.
3287
3288@item
3289Try to repeat the bug in as simple circumstances as possible. E.g. if
3290Wget crashes while downloading @samp{wget -rl0 -kKE -t5 -Y0
3291http://yoyodyne.com -o /tmp/log}, you should try to see if the crash is
3292repeatable, and if will occur with a simpler set of options. You might
3293even try to start the download at the page where the crash occurred to
3294see if that page somehow triggered the crash.
3295
3296Also, while I will probably be interested to know the contents of your
3297@file{.wgetrc} file, just dumping it into the debug message is probably
3298a bad idea. Instead, you should first try to see if the bug repeats
3299with @file{.wgetrc} moved out of the way. Only if it turns out that
3300@file{.wgetrc} settings affect the bug, mail me the relevant parts of
3301the file.
3302
3303@item
3304Please start Wget with @samp{-d} option and send us the resulting
3305output (or relevant parts thereof). If Wget was compiled without
3306debug support, recompile it---it is @emph{much} easier to trace bugs
3307with debug support on.
3308
3309Note: please make sure to remove any potentially sensitive information
3310from the debug log before sending it to the bug address. The
3311@code{-d} won't go out of its way to collect sensitive information,
3312but the log @emph{will} contain a fairly complete transcript of Wget's
3313communication with the server, which may include passwords and pieces
3314of downloaded data. Since the bug address is publically archived, you
3315may assume that all bug reports are visible to the public.
3316
3317@item
3318If Wget has crashed, try to run it in a debugger, e.g. @code{gdb `which
3319wget` core} and type @code{where} to get the backtrace. This may not
3320work if the system administrator has disabled core files, but it is
3321safe to try.
3322@end enumerate
3323@c man end
3324
3325@node Portability
3326@section Portability
3327@cindex portability
3328@cindex operating systems
3329
3330Like all GNU software, Wget works on the GNU system. However, since it
3331uses GNU Autoconf for building and configuring, and mostly avoids using
3332``special'' features of any particular Unix, it should compile (and
3333work) on all common Unix flavors.
3334
3335Various Wget versions have been compiled and tested under many kinds
3336of Unix systems, including GNU/Linux, Solaris, SunOS 4.x, OSF (aka
3337Digital Unix or Tru64), Ultrix, *BSD, IRIX, AIX, and others. Some of
3338those systems are no longer in widespread use and may not be able to
3339support recent versions of Wget. If Wget fails to compile on your
3340system, we would like to know about it.
3341
3342Thanks to kind contributors, this version of Wget compiles and works
3343on 32-bit Microsoft Windows platforms. It has been compiled
3344successfully using MS Visual C++ 6.0, Watcom, Borland C, and GCC
3345compilers. Naturally, it is crippled of some features available on
3346Unix, but it should work as a substitute for people stuck with
3347Windows. Note that Windows-specific portions of Wget are not
3348guaranteed to be supported in the future, although this has been the
3349case in practice for many years now. All questions and problems in
3350Windows usage should be reported to Wget mailing list at
3351@email{wget@@sunsite.dk} where the volunteers who maintain the
3352Windows-related features might look at them.
3353
3354@node Signals
3355@section Signals
3356@cindex signal handling
3357@cindex hangup
3358
3359Since the purpose of Wget is background work, it catches the hangup
3360signal (@code{SIGHUP}) and ignores it. If the output was on standard
3361output, it will be redirected to a file named @file{wget-log}.
3362Otherwise, @code{SIGHUP} is ignored. This is convenient when you wish
3363to redirect the output of Wget after having started it.
3364
3365@example
3366$ wget http://www.gnus.org/dist/gnus.tar.gz &
3367...
3368$ kill -HUP %%
3369SIGHUP received, redirecting output to `wget-log'.
3370@end example
3371
3372Other than that, Wget will not try to interfere with signals in any way.
3373@kbd{C-c}, @code{kill -TERM} and @code{kill -KILL} should kill it alike.
3374
3375@node Appendices
3376@chapter Appendices
3377
3378This chapter contains some references I consider useful.
3379
3380@menu
3381* Robot Exclusion:: Wget's support for RES.
3382* Security Considerations:: Security with Wget.
3383* Contributors:: People who helped.
3384@end menu
3385
3386@node Robot Exclusion
3387@section Robot Exclusion
3388@cindex robot exclusion
3389@cindex robots.txt
3390@cindex server maintenance
3391
3392It is extremely easy to make Wget wander aimlessly around a web site,
3393sucking all the available data in progress. @samp{wget -r @var{site}},
3394and you're set. Great? Not for the server admin.
3395
3396As long as Wget is only retrieving static pages, and doing it at a
3397reasonable rate (see the @samp{--wait} option), there's not much of a
3398problem. The trouble is that Wget can't tell the difference between the
3399smallest static page and the most demanding CGI. A site I know has a
3400section handled by a CGI Perl script that converts Info files to @sc{html} on
3401the fly. The script is slow, but works well enough for human users
3402viewing an occasional Info file. However, when someone's recursive Wget
3403download stumbles upon the index page that links to all the Info files
3404through the script, the system is brought to its knees without providing
3405anything useful to the user (This task of converting Info files could be
3406done locally and access to Info documentation for all installed GNU
3407software on a system is available from the @code{info} command).
3408
3409To avoid this kind of accident, as well as to preserve privacy for
3410documents that need to be protected from well-behaved robots, the
3411concept of @dfn{robot exclusion} was invented. The idea is that
3412the server administrators and document authors can specify which
3413portions of the site they wish to protect from robots and those
3414they will permit access.
3415
3416The most popular mechanism, and the @i{de facto} standard supported by
3417all the major robots, is the ``Robots Exclusion Standard'' (RES) written
3418by Martijn Koster et al. in 1994. It specifies the format of a text
3419file containing directives that instruct the robots which URL paths to
3420avoid. To be found by the robots, the specifications must be placed in
3421@file{/robots.txt} in the server root, which the robots are expected to
3422download and parse.
3423
3424Although Wget is not a web robot in the strictest sense of the word, it
3425can downloads large parts of the site without the user's intervention to
3426download an individual page. Because of that, Wget honors RES when
3427downloading recursively. For instance, when you issue:
3428
3429@example
3430wget -r http://www.server.com/
3431@end example
3432
3433First the index of @samp{www.server.com} will be downloaded. If Wget
3434finds that it wants to download more documents from that server, it will
3435request @samp{http://www.server.com/robots.txt} and, if found, use it
3436for further downloads. @file{robots.txt} is loaded only once per each
3437server.
3438
3439Until version 1.8, Wget supported the first version of the standard,
3440written by Martijn Koster in 1994 and available at
3441@url{http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/norobots.html}. As of version 1.8,
3442Wget has supported the additional directives specified in the internet
3443draft @samp{<draft-koster-robots-00.txt>} titled ``A Method for Web
3444Robots Control''. The draft, which has as far as I know never made to
3445an @sc{rfc}, is available at
3446@url{http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/norobots-rfc.txt}.
3447
3448This manual no longer includes the text of the Robot Exclusion Standard.
3449
3450The second, less known mechanism, enables the author of an individual
3451document to specify whether they want the links from the file to be
3452followed by a robot. This is achieved using the @code{META} tag, like
3453this:
3454
3455@example
3456<meta name="robots" content="nofollow">
3457@end example
3458
3459This is explained in some detail at
3460@url{http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/meta-user.html}. Wget supports this
3461method of robot exclusion in addition to the usual @file{/robots.txt}
3462exclusion.
3463
3464If you know what you are doing and really really wish to turn off the
3465robot exclusion, set the @code{robots} variable to @samp{off} in your
3466@file{.wgetrc}. You can achieve the same effect from the command line
3467using the @code{-e} switch, e.g. @samp{wget -e robots=off @var{url}...}.
3468
3469@node Security Considerations
3470@section Security Considerations
3471@cindex security
3472
3473When using Wget, you must be aware that it sends unencrypted passwords
3474through the network, which may present a security problem. Here are the
3475main issues, and some solutions.
3476
3477@enumerate
3478@item
3479The passwords on the command line are visible using @code{ps}. The best
3480way around it is to use @code{wget -i -} and feed the @sc{url}s to
3481Wget's standard input, each on a separate line, terminated by @kbd{C-d}.
3482Another workaround is to use @file{.netrc} to store passwords; however,
3483storing unencrypted passwords is also considered a security risk.
3484
3485@item
3486Using the insecure @dfn{basic} authentication scheme, unencrypted
3487passwords are transmitted through the network routers and gateways.
3488
3489@item
3490The @sc{ftp} passwords are also in no way encrypted. There is no good
3491solution for this at the moment.
3492
3493@item
3494Although the ``normal'' output of Wget tries to hide the passwords,
3495debugging logs show them, in all forms. This problem is avoided by
3496being careful when you send debug logs (yes, even when you send them to
3497me).
3498@end enumerate
3499
3500@node Contributors
3501@section Contributors
3502@cindex contributors
3503
3504@iftex
3505GNU Wget was written by Hrvoje Nik@v{s}i@'{c} @email{hniksic@@xemacs.org}.
3506@end iftex
3507@ifnottex
3508GNU Wget was written by Hrvoje Niksic @email{hniksic@@xemacs.org}.
3509@end ifnottex
3510However, its development could never have gone as far as it has, were it
3511not for the help of many people, either with bug reports, feature
3512proposals, patches, or letters saying ``Thanks!''.
3513
3514Special thanks goes to the following people (no particular order):
3515
3516@itemize @bullet
3517@item
3518Karsten Thygesen---donated system resources such as the mailing list,
3519web space, and @sc{ftp} space, along with a lot of time to make these
3520actually work.
3521
3522@item
3523Shawn McHorse---bug reports and patches.
3524
3525@item
3526Kaveh R. Ghazi---on-the-fly @code{ansi2knr}-ization. Lots of
3527portability fixes.
3528
3529@item
3530Gordon Matzigkeit---@file{.netrc} support.
3531
3532@item
3533@iftex
3534Zlatko @v{C}alu@v{s}i@'{c}, Tomislav Vujec and Dra@v{z}en
3535Ka@v{c}ar---feature suggestions and ``philosophical'' discussions.
3536@end iftex
3537@ifnottex
3538Zlatko Calusic, Tomislav Vujec and Drazen Kacar---feature suggestions
3539and ``philosophical'' discussions.
3540@end ifnottex
3541
3542@item
3543Darko Budor---initial port to Windows.
3544
3545@item
3546Antonio Rosella---help and suggestions, plus the Italian translation.
3547
3548@item
3549@iftex
3550Tomislav Petrovi@'{c}, Mario Miko@v{c}evi@'{c}---many bug reports and
3551suggestions.
3552@end iftex
3553@ifnottex
3554Tomislav Petrovic, Mario Mikocevic---many bug reports and suggestions.
3555@end ifnottex
3556
3557@item
3558@iftex
3559Fran@,{c}ois Pinard---many thorough bug reports and discussions.
3560@end iftex
3561@ifnottex
3562Francois Pinard---many thorough bug reports and discussions.
3563@end ifnottex
3564
3565@item
3566Karl Eichwalder---lots of help with internationalization and other
3567things.
3568
3569@item
3570Junio Hamano---donated support for Opie and @sc{http} @code{Digest}
3571authentication.
3572
3573@item
3574The people who provided donations for development, including Brian
3575Gough.
3576@end itemize
3577
3578The following people have provided patches, bug/build reports, useful
3579suggestions, beta testing services, fan mail and all the other things
3580that make maintenance so much fun:
3581
3582Ian Abbott
3583Tim Adam,
3584Adrian Aichner,
3585Martin Baehr,
3586Dieter Baron,
3587Roger Beeman,
3588Dan Berger,
3589T. Bharath,
3590Christian Biere,
3591Paul Bludov,
3592Daniel Bodea,
3593Mark Boyns,
3594John Burden,
3595Wanderlei Cavassin,
3596Gilles Cedoc,
3597Tim Charron,
3598Noel Cragg,
3599@iftex
3600Kristijan @v{C}onka@v{s},
3601@end iftex
3602@ifnottex
3603Kristijan Conkas,
3604@end ifnottex
3605John Daily,
3606Andreas Damm,
3607Ahmon Dancy,
3608Andrew Davison,
3609Bertrand Demiddelaer,
3610Andrew Deryabin,
3611Ulrich Drepper,
3612Marc Duponcheel,
3613@iftex
3614Damir D@v{z}eko,
3615@end iftex
3616@ifnottex
3617Damir Dzeko,
3618@end ifnottex
3619Alan Eldridge,
3620Hans-Andreas Engel,
3621@iftex
3622Aleksandar Erkalovi@'{c},
3623@end iftex
3624@ifnottex
3625Aleksandar Erkalovic,
3626@end ifnottex
3627Andy Eskilsson,
3628Christian Fraenkel,
3629David Fritz,
3630Charles C. Fu,
3631FUJISHIMA Satsuki,
3632Masashi Fujita,
3633Howard Gayle,
3634Marcel Gerrits,
3635Lemble Gregory,
3636Hans Grobler,
3637Mathieu Guillaume,
3638Dan Harkless,
3639Aaron Hawley,
3640Herold Heiko,
3641Jochen Hein,
3642Karl Heuer,
3643HIROSE Masaaki,
3644Ulf Harnhammar,
3645Gregor Hoffleit,
3646Erik Magnus Hulthen,
3647Richard Huveneers,
3648Jonas Jensen,
3649Larry Jones,
3650Simon Josefsson,
3651@iftex
3652Mario Juri@'{c},
3653@end iftex
3654@ifnottex
3655Mario Juric,
3656@end ifnottex
3657@iftex
3658Hack Kampbj@o rn,
3659@end iftex
3660@ifnottex
3661Hack Kampbjorn,
3662@end ifnottex
3663Const Kaplinsky,
3664@iftex
3665Goran Kezunovi@'{c},
3666@end iftex
3667@ifnottex
3668Goran Kezunovic,
3669@end ifnottex
3670Igor Khristophorov,
3671Robert Kleine,
3672KOJIMA Haime,
3673Fila Kolodny,
3674Alexander Kourakos,
3675Martin Kraemer,
3676Sami Krank,
3677@tex
3678$\Sigma\acute{\iota}\mu o\varsigma\;
3679\Xi\varepsilon\nu\iota\tau\acute{\epsilon}\lambda\lambda\eta\varsigma$
3680(Simos KSenitellis),
3681@end tex
3682@ifnottex
3683Simos KSenitellis,
3684@end ifnottex
3685Christian Lackas,
3686Hrvoje Lacko,
3687Daniel S. Lewart,
3688@iftex
3689Nicol@'{a}s Lichtmeier,
3690@end iftex
3691@ifnottex
3692Nicolas Lichtmeier,
3693@end ifnottex
3694Dave Love,
3695Alexander V. Lukyanov,
3696@iftex
3697Thomas Lu@ss{}nig,
3698@end iftex
3699@ifnottex
3700Thomas Lussnig,
3701@end ifnottex
3702Andre Majorel,
3703Aurelien Marchand,
3704Matthew J. Mellon,
3705Jordan Mendelson,
3706Lin Zhe Min,
3707Jan Minar,
3708Tim Mooney,
3709Keith Moore,
3710Adam D. Moss,
3711Simon Munton,
3712Charlie Negyesi,
3713R. K. Owen,
3714Leonid Petrov,
3715Simone Piunno,
3716Andrew Pollock,
3717Steve Pothier,
3718@iftex
3719Jan P@v{r}ikryl,
3720@end iftex
3721@ifnottex
3722Jan Prikryl,
3723@end ifnottex
3724Marin Purgar,
3725@iftex
3726Csaba R@'{a}duly,
3727@end iftex
3728@ifnottex
3729Csaba Raduly,
3730@end ifnottex
3731Keith Refson,
3732Bill Richardson,
3733Tyler Riddle,
3734Tobias Ringstrom,
3735@c Texinfo doesn't grok @'{@i}, so we have to use TeX itself.
3736@tex
3737Juan Jos\'{e} Rodr\'{\i}guez,
3738@end tex
3739@ifnottex
3740Juan Jose Rodriguez,
3741@end ifnottex
3742Maciej W. Rozycki,
3743Edward J. Sabol,
3744Heinz Salzmann,
3745Robert Schmidt,
3746Nicolas Schodet,
3747Andreas Schwab,
3748Chris Seawood,
3749Dennis Smit,
3750Toomas Soome,
3751Tage Stabell-Kulo,
3752Philip Stadermann,
3753Daniel Stenberg,
3754Sven Sternberger,
3755Markus Strasser,
3756John Summerfield,
3757Szakacsits Szabolcs,
3758Mike Thomas,
3759Philipp Thomas,
3760Mauro Tortonesi,
3761Dave Turner,
3762Gisle Vanem,
3763Russell Vincent,
3764@iftex
3765@v{Z}eljko Vrba,
3766@end iftex
3767@ifnottex
3768Zeljko Vrba,
3769@end ifnottex
3770Charles G Waldman,
3771Douglas E. Wegscheid,
3772YAMAZAKI Makoto,
3773Jasmin Zainul,
3774@iftex
3775Bojan @v{Z}drnja,
3776@end iftex
3777@ifnottex
3778Bojan Zdrnja,
3779@end ifnottex
3780Kristijan Zimmer.
3781
3782Apologies to all who I accidentally left out, and many thanks to all the
3783subscribers of the Wget mailing list.
3784
3785@node Copying
3786@chapter Copying
3787@cindex copying
3788@cindex GPL
3789@cindex GFDL
3790@cindex free software
3791
3792GNU Wget is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL),
3793which makes it @dfn{free software}. Please note that ``free'' in ``free
3794software'' refers to liberty, not price. As some people like to point
3795out, it's the ``free'' of ``free speech'', not the ``free'' of ``free
3796beer''.
3797
3798The exact and legally binding distribution terms are spelled out below.
3799The GPL guarantees that you have the right (freedom) to run and change
3800GNU Wget and distribute it to others, and even---if you want---charge
3801money for doing any of those things. With these rights comes the
3802obligation to distribute the source code along with the software and to
3803grant your recipients the same rights and impose the same restrictions.
3804
3805This licensing model is also known as @dfn{open source} because it,
3806among other things, makes sure that all recipients will receive the
3807source code along with the program, and be able to improve it. The GNU
3808project prefers the term ``free software'' for reasons outlined at
3809@url{http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-for-freedom.html}.
3810
3811The exact license terms are defined by this paragraph and the GNU
3812General Public License it refers to:
3813
3814@quotation
3815GNU Wget is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
3816under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
3817Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your
3818option) any later version.
3819
3820GNU Wget is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
3821ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
3822FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License
3823for more details.
3824
3825A copy of the GNU General Public License is included as part of this
3826manual; if you did not receive it, write to the Free Software
3827Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
3828@end quotation
3829
3830In addition to this, this manual is free in the same sense:
3831
3832@quotation
3833Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
3834under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
3835any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with the
3836Invariant Sections being ``GNU General Public License'' and ``GNU Free
3837Documentation License'', with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no
3838Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section
3839entitled ``GNU Free Documentation License''.
3840@end quotation
3841
3842@c #### Maybe we should wrap these licenses in ifinfo? Stallman says
3843@c that the GFDL needs to be present in the manual, and to me it would
3844@c suck to include the license for the manual and not the license for
3845@c the program.
3846
3847The full texts of the GNU General Public License and of the GNU Free
3848Documentation License are available below.
3849
3850@menu
3851* GNU General Public License::
3852* GNU Free Documentation License::
3853@end menu
3854
3855@include gpl.texi
3856
3857@include fdl.texi
3858
3859@node Concept Index
3860@unnumbered Concept Index
3861@printindex cp
3862
3863@contents
3864
3865@bye
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