wmget - Background download manager in a dockapp

wmget is a ``dockapp'' which makes it more convenient to retrieve files in the background. Dockapps are applications which run in small windows intended to be ``docked'' in window manager-provided locations. wmget was developed primarily under GNU Window Maker, the author's preferred WM, but is known to work under AfterStep as well, and should work with other dockapp-aware window managers and docks.

It uses the excellent libcurl library, part of the Curl automated-download program, to perform file retrieval from Web servers, FTP servers, and other sources.

wmget allows you to perform multiple downloads without keeping a terminal open (for FTP or curl or something) or another window on your desktop (e.g. for Mozilla download progress); download progress is visible any time the Dock is visible.

You start downloads either by ``pasting'' URLs from Web browsers or other applications, or by invoking wmget from the command line (or another script or program) with a source URL. The dockapp has a handful of configurable download options, such as target directory, HTTP proxy server, etc.

To start the dockapp, just run wmget dock &. If you are running Window Maker, you can then just drag the new appicon onto your Dock, right-click on an area outside the four progress bars, select Settings, and select Start when Window Maker is started.

If you are running AfterStep, you can add it to your Wharf by adding the following line to your ~/GNUstep/Library/AfterStep/wharf file:

*Wharf wmget - Swallow "wmget" wmget dock &

Other window managers support dockapps in different ways. Even in window managers without any special dockapp support, you can run wmget as noted above; it will simply show up as a small window or "icon".

wmget's user interface is simple: four stacked progress bars, initially empty, representing four possible simultaneous downloads. The top bar will say ``wmget'' when there isn't a download running there, but any download will cover that up.

Each running download normally shows up to nine characters of its filename, overlaid with a progress bar. You can click on any progress bar to reveal a percentage display and a stop button; clicking on the percentage display switches back, while clicking on the stop button stops the download. There is currently no confirmation; it just stops.

You can ``request'' downloads at any time. If all four places show running downloads, additional requests will queue up, waiting for one to complete; wmget will never be downloading more than four files at a time.

By default, wmget figures out a reasonable filename for any requested downloads, writes them to your home directory, and won't overwrite an existing file by the same name. All of these, along with a few other options, are configurable. See below.

Requesting Downloads with the Mouse

Requesting Downloads from the Command Line

Download Failures

Viewing and Canceling Downloads

wmget supports a handful of configuration options. You can specify defaults for all downloads by putting them in a configuration file or adding command-line options to the wmget dock command at startup, or you can specify options for one specific download by adding options to the wmget URL command when you request them. There isn't any way to specify options on URLs you paste with the mouse. Dockapp command-line arguments override config-file settings, and per-URL settings override dockapp settings.

The configuration file is an optional file named .wmgetrc in your home directory. If it's there, it's parsed by the dockapp at startup. The syntax is simple: one option per line, all options consisting of a name and possibly a value. Blank lines are okay, and lines starting with # are ignored (so you can disable options easily). Option names are just the same as the command-line option names given below, except you don't put the dashes (``--'') and you can't use the one-letter abbreviations.

--version, -v

Regardless of any other options, this prints out version and copyright information and exits.

--help, -h

Regardless of any other options, this prints out a help message and exits.

--silent, -s

Suppress any output text other than error messages.

--verbose, -V

Write extra debugging information; not very useful unless you're debugging or extending the software.

--output pathname, -o pathname

Specifies where to write downloaded files. In the config file or on the dockapp command line, this can only be used to specify your default download directory; it must be an existing directory, and if it's not absolute then it is assumed to be relative to your home directory. On a specific download request, this can provide an alternate save directory or even an alternate filename; in that case, a non-absolute path is relative to the default download directory.

--display name, -d name

Display the first nine characters of name in the progress display for this file. (Only valid on specific download requests, not on the dockapp or in the config file.)

--overwrite, -O

Allow wmget to overwrite an existing file when downloading. Normally, it will refuse to do so.

--continue, -C

When fetching a file that already exists locally, assume the local copy was an aborted download and try to download just the remainder.

--auth username:password, -a username:password

Provides login information for the server from which you're downloading.

--proxy server:port, -p server:port, --proxy_auth user:password, -P user:password

Specifies a proxy server and optionally a proxy-server username/password pair for getting past firewalls.

--follow N, -f N

Specifies how many HTTP redirects to follow when resolving a page; by default, wmget is configured to follow up to 5. Set this to 0 to disable redirection. (In any real-world situation, if you're getting redirected more than 5 times, there's a problem...)

--user-agent string, -U string

Specifies which User-Agent string to provide to servers when performing HTTP downloads. The default User-Agent names both the wmget and libcurl versions in use.

--ascii, -B

Force FTP downloads to use ASCII mode; normally, they use binary mode. If you're downloading text documents, ASCII mode will take care of any necessary conversions between the text formats of the server and your computer.

--referer string, -e string

Provides a ``referer'' string to the Web server.

--interface interface, --n interface

Names a specific network interface to use (e.g., eth0 for the first Ethernet interface on a Linux system). Rarely needed.

--headers, -h

When performing an HTTP retrieval, include the HTTP message header in the saved file. This is only really useful for testing.

~/.wmgetrc

The (optional) configuration file for the wmget dockapp. Settings in this file are used to specify defaults for the dockapp when it starts; see the section on configuration and command-line options for more details.

~/.wmget.iq

A Unix-domain socket created by the wmget dockapp to accept requests from wmget commands. Created at startup automatically.

Aaron Trickey.