1AXEL(1)                     General Commands Manual                    AXEL(1)
2
3
4

NAME

6       Axel - A light download accelerator for Linux.
7
8

SYNOPSIS

10       axel [OPTIONS] url1 [url2] [url...]
11
12

DESCRIPTION

14       Axel  is  a  program  that  downloads  a file from a FTP or HTTP server
15       through multiple connection, each connection downloads its own part  of
16       the file.
17
18       Unlike most other programs, Axel downloads all the data directly to the
19       destination file, using one single thread. It just saves some  time  at
20       the  end  because the program doesn't have to concatenate all the down‐
21       loaded parts.
22
23

OPTIONS

25       One argument is required, the URL to the file  you  want  to  download.
26       When  downloading  from FTP, the filename may contain wildcards and the
27       program will try to resolve the full filename. Multiple  URL's  can  be
28       specified  as  well  and  the  program will use all those URL's for the
29       download. Please note that the program does not check whether the files
30       are equal.
31
32
33       Other options:
34
35
36       --max-speed=x, -s x
37              You  can  specify  a speed (bytes per second) here and Axel will
38              try to keep the average speed around this speed. Useful  if  you
39              don't want the program to suck up all of your bandwidth.
40
41
42       --num-connections=x, -n x
43              You can specify an alternative number of connections here.
44
45
46       --output=x, -o x
47              Downloaded  data will be put in a local file with the same name,
48              unless you specify a different name using this option.  You  can
49              specify  a  directory as well, the program will append the file‐
50              name.
51
52
53       --search[=x], -S[x]
54              Axel can do a search for  mirrors  using  the  filesearching.com
55              search  engine. This search will be done if you use this option.
56              You can specify how many different mirrors should  be  used  for
57              the download as well.
58
59              The search for mirrors can be time-consuming because the program
60              tests every server's speed, and it  checks  whether  the  file's
61              still available.
62
63
64       --no-proxy, -N
65              Don't  use  any  proxy server to download the file. Not possible
66              when a transparent proxy is active somewhere, of course.
67
68
69       --verbose
70              If you want to see  more  status  messages,  you  can  use  this
71              option. Use it more than once if you want to see more.
72
73
74       --quiet, -q
75              No output to stdout.
76
77
78       --alternate, -a
79              This  will  show an alternate progress indicator. A bar displays
80              the progress and status of the  different  threads,  along  with
81              current speed and an estimate for the remaining download time.
82
83
84       --header=x, -H x
85              Add an additional HTTP header. This option should be in the form
86              "Header: Value". See RFC 2616 section 4.2 and 14 for details  on
87              the format and standardized headers.
88
89
90       --user-agent=x, -U x
91              Set  the  HTTP  user agent to use. Some websites serve different
92              content based  upon  this  parameter.  The  default  value  will
93              include "Axel", its version and the platform.
94
95
96       --help, -h
97              A brief summary of all the options.
98
99
100       --version, -V
101              Get version information.
102
103

NOTE

105       Long  (double  dash)  options are supported only if your platform knows
106       about the getopt_long call. If it does not (like *BSD), only the  short
107       options can be used.
108
109

RETURN VALUE

111       The  program  returns 0 when the download was succesful, 1 if something
112       really went wrong and 2 if the download was interrupted.  If  something
113       else comes back, it must be a bug..
114
115

EXAMPLES

117       axel ftp://ftp.{be,nl,uk,de}.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/linux-2.4.17.tar.bz2
118
119       This will use the Belgian, Dutch, English and German kernel.org mirrors
120       to download a Linux 2.4.17 kernel image.
121
122       axel -S4 ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/linux-2.4.17.tar.bz2
123
124       This will do a search for the linux-2.4.17.tar.bz2 file on  filesearch‐
125       ing.com  and  it'll  use the four (if possible) fastest mirrors for the
126       download.  (Possibly including ftp.kernel.org)
127
128       (Of course, the commands are a single line, but they're too long to fit
129       on one line in this page.)
130
131

FILES

133       /etc/axelrc  System-wide configuration file. Note that development ver‐
134       sions place this file in /usr/local/etc.
135
136       ~/.axelrc Personal configuration file
137
138       These files are not documented in a  man-page,  but  the  example  file
139       which  comes  with the program contains enough information, I hope. The
140       position of the system-wide configuration file might be different.
141
142

144       Axel is Copyright 2001-2002 Wilmer van der Gaast.
145
146

BUGS

148       Please                 report                  bugs                  at
149       https://alioth.debian.org/tracker/?group_id=100070&atid=413085.
150
151

AUTHORS

153       Wilmer van der Gaast. <wilmer@gaast.net>
154
155
156
157                                                                       AXEL(1)
Impressum