wget, was [Re: idea.. check and grab new versions..?]

[Jan Vroonhof <vroonhof@math.ethz.ch>]

Jan Vroonhof <vroonhof@math.ethz.ch> writes:

> wget ftp://ftp.ifi.uio.no/pub/emacs/gnus/rgnus-$1.tar.gz

Since I got mail from several people asking about wget:

                            Wget README

Wget [formerly known as Geturl] is a freely available network utility
to retrieve files from the World Wide Web using HTTP and FTP, the two
most widely used Internet protocols.  It works non-interactively, thus
enabling work in the background, after having logged off.

The recursive retrieval of HTML pages, as well as FTP sites is
supported -- you can use Wget to make mirrors of archives and home
pages, or traverse the web like a WWW robot (Wget understands
/robots.txt).

Wget works exceedingly well on slow or unstable connections, keeping
getting the document until it is fully retrieved. Re-getting files
from where it left off works on servers (both HTTP and FTP) that
support it. Matching of wildcards and recursive mirroring of
directories are available when retrieving via FTP. Both HTTP and FTP
retrievals can be time-stamped, thus Wget can see if the remote file
has changed since last retrieval and automatically retrieve the new
version if it has.

Wget supports proxy servers, to lighten the network load and to speed
up retrieval. If you are behind a firewall and have the socks library
installed, you can compile wget with support for socks.

Most of the features are configurable, either through command-line
options, or via initialization file .wgetrc.  Wget allows you to
install a global startup file (/usr/local/lib/wgetrc by default) for
site settings.

Wget works under almost all modern Unix variants and, unlike many
other similar utilities, is written entirely in C, thus requiring no
additional software (like perl). As Wget uses the GNU Autoconf, it is
easily built on and ported to other Unix's. Installation procedure is
described in the INSTALL file.

You can get the latest version of wget on:
<URL:ftp://gnjilux.cc.fer.hr/pub/unix/util/wget/wget.tar.gz>.

That directory is mirrored daily at SunSITE Denmark:
<URL:ftp://sunsite.auc.dk/pub/infosystems/wget/>       (ftp), and
<URL:http://sunsite.auc.dk/ftp/pub/infosystems/wget/>  (http)

Wget has its own mailing list at <wget@sunsite.auc.dk>.  To subscribe,
Mail to <wget-request@sunsite.auc.dk> with the word `subscribe' in the
subject.


AUTHOR: Hrvoje Niksic <URL:mailto:hniksic@srce.hr>

The program is being regularly tested on Solaris 2.5, Linux, Ultrix,
OSF, SunOS 4.x (by me), but also on AIX, HPUX, IRIX, FreeBSD, QNX and
others from time to time by other people.


Special thanks to beta testers and other contributors:

- Mark Boyns <boyns@sdsu.edu>
- Darko Budor <dbudor@zems.fer.hr>
- Zlatko Calusic <maverick@fly.cc.fer.hr>
- Kristijan Conkas <chonky@fly.cc.fer.hr>
- Andrew Davison <andrewd@dvp.com.au>
- Aleksandar Erkalovic <aerkalov@student.math.hr>
- Richard Huveneers <richard.huveneers@hacom.nl>
- Marijo Juric <majuric@public.srce.hr>
- Drazen Kacar <dave@fly.cc.fer.hr>
- Goran Kezunovic <kenzo@diana.zems.fer.hr>
- Shawn McHorse <riffraff@txdirect.net>
- Tage Stabell-Kulo <tage@acm.org>
- Hrvoje Lacko <hlacko@fly.cc.fer.hr>
- Mario Mikocevic <mozgy@zems.fer.hr>
- Tomislav Petrovic <tpetrov@fly.cc.fer.hr>
- Andrew Pollock <apollock@bit.net.au>
- Antonio Rosella <Antonio.Rosella@rupia.agip.it>
- Karsten Thygesen <karthy@kom.auc.dk>
- Russell Vincent <vincent@ucthpx.uct.ac.za>
- Bojan Zdrnja <ld@fly.cc.fer.hr>
- Kristijan Zimmer <kzimmer@open.hr>

...and all the others I've forgotten to place on the list!


Copyright (C) 1995,96  Hrvoje Niksic

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.