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.\"
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.\"man-page for Axel
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.\"
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.\"Derived from the man-page example in the wonderful book called Beginning
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.\"Linux Programming, written by Richard Stone and Neil Matthew.
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.\"
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.TH AXEL 1
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.SH NAME
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\fBAxel\fP \- A light download accelerator for Linux.
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.SH SYNOPSIS
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.B axel
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[\fIOPTIONS\fP] \fIurl1\fP [\fIurl2\fP] [\fIurl...\fP]
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.SH DESCRIPTION
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Axel is a program that downloads a file from a FTP or HTTP server through
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multiple connection, each connection downloads its own part of the file.
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Unlike most other programs, Axel downloads all the data directly to the
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destination file, using one single thread. It just saves some time at the
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end because the program doesn't have to concatenate all the downloaded
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parts.
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.SH OPTIONS
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.PP
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One argument is required, the URL to the file you want to download. When
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downloading from FTP, the filename may contain wildcards and the program
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will try to resolve the full filename. Multiple URL's can be specified
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as well and the program will use all those URL's for the download. Please
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note that the program does not check whether the files are equal.
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.PP
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Other options:
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.TP
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\fB\-\-max\-speed=x\fP, \fB\-s\ x\fP
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You can specify a speed (bytes per second) here and Axel will try
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to keep the average speed around this speed. Useful if you don't want
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the program to suck up all of your bandwidth.
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.TP
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\fB\-\-num\-connections=x\fP, \fB\-n\ x\fP
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You can specify an alternative number of connections here.
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.TP
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\fB\-\-output=x\fP, \fB\-o\ x\fP
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Downloaded data will be put in a local file with the same name,
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unless you specify a different name using this option. You can
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specify a directory as well, the program will append the filename.
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.TP
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\fB\-\-search[=x]\fP, \fB-S[x]\fP
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Axel can do a search for mirrors using the filesearching.com search
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engine. This search will be done if you use this option. You can specify how
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many different mirrors should be used for the download as well.
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The search for mirrors can be time\-consuming because the program tests
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every server's speed, and it checks whether the file's still available.
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.TP
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\fB\-\-no\-proxy\fP, \fB\-N\fP
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Don't use any proxy server to download the file. Not possible when a
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transparent proxy is active somewhere, of course.
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.TP
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\fB\-\-verbose\fP
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If you want to see more status messages, you can use this option. Use it
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more than once if you want to see more.
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.TP
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\fB\-\-quiet\fP, \fB-q\fP
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No output to stdout.
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.TP
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\fB\-\-alternate\fP, \fB-a\fP
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This will show an alternate progress indicator. A bar displays the progress
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and status of the different threads, along with current speed and an
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estimate for the remaining download time.
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.TP
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\fB\-\-help\fP, \fB\-h\fP
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A brief summary of all the options.
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.TP
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\fB\-\-version\fP, \fB\-V\fP
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Get version information.
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.SH NOTE
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Long (double dash) options are supported only if your platform knows about
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the getopt_long call. If it does not (like *BSD), only the short options can
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be used.
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.SH RETURN VALUE
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The program returns 0 when the download was succesful, 1 if something really
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went wrong and 2 if the download was interrupted. If something else comes back,
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it must be a bug..
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.SH EXAMPLES
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.nf
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axel ftp://ftp.{be,nl,uk,de}.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/
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v2.4/linux-2.4.17.tar.bz2
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.fi
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This will use the Belgian, Dutch, English and German kernel.org mirrors to
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download a Linux 2.4.17 kernel image.
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.nf
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axel -S4 ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/
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linux-2.4.17.tar.bz2
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.fi
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This will do a search for the linux-2.4.17.tar.bz2 file on filesearching.com
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and it'll use the four (if possible) fastest mirrors for the download.
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(Possibly including ftp.kernel.org)
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(Of course, the commands are a single line, but they're too long to fit on
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one line in this page.)
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.SH FILES
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.PP
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\fI/etc/axelrc\fP System-wide configuration file
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.PP
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\fI~/.axelrc\fP Personal configuration file
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.PP
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These files are not documented in a man-page, but the example file which
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comes with the program contains enough information, I hope. The position
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of the system-wide configuration file might be different.
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.SH COPYRIGHT
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Axel is Copyright 2001-2002 Wilmer van der Gaast.
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.SH BUGS
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.PP
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I'm sure there are some bugs left somewhere, please tell me about them and
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I will try to fix them.
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A known bug is that the program does weird things when downloading using
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hundreds of connections. Well, just don't do that.
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.SH AUTHORS
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Wilmer van der Gaast. (lintux@lintux.cx)
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