NAME

       Axel - A light download accelerator for Linux.

SYNOPSIS

       axel [OPTIONS] url1 [url2] [url...]

DESCRIPTION

       Axel  is  a  program  that  downloads  a  file  from a FTP or HTTP server through multiple
       connection, each connection downloads its own part of the file.

       Unlike most other programs, Axel downloads all the data directly to the destination  file,
       using  one  single  thread. It just saves some time at the end because the program doesn't
       have to concatenate all the downloaded parts.

OPTIONS

       One argument is required, the URL to the file you want to download. When downloading  from
       FTP,  the  filename  may  contain  wildcards  and the program will try to resolve the full
       filename. Multiple URL's can be specified as well and the program will use all those URL's
       for the download. Please note that the program does not check whether the files are equal.

       Other options:

       --max-speed=x, -s x
              You  can  specify  a  speed  (bytes  per second) here and Axel will try to keep the
              average speed around this speed. Useful if you don't want the program  to  suck  up
              all of your bandwidth.

       --num-connections=x, -n x
              You can specify an alternative number of connections here.

       --output=x, -o x
              Downloaded  data will be put in a local file with the same name, unless you specify
              a different name using this option. You  can  specify  a  directory  as  well,  the
              program will append the filename.

       --search[=x], -S[x]
              Axel  can  do  a search for mirrors using the filesearching.com search engine. This
              search will be done if you use this option. You  can  specify  how  many  different
              mirrors should be used for the download as well.

              The  search  for  mirrors  can  be  time-consuming  because the program tests every
              server's speed, and it checks whether the file's still available.

       --no-proxy, -N
              Don't use any proxy server to download the file. Not possible  when  a  transparent
              proxy is active somewhere, of course.

       --verbose
              If  you want to see more status messages, you can use this option. Use it more than
              once if you want to see more.

       --quiet, -q
              No output to stdout.

       --alternate, -a
              This will show an alternate progress indicator. A bar  displays  the  progress  and
              status  of  the different threads, along with current speed and an estimate for the
              remaining download time.

       --header=x, -H x
              Add an additional HTTP header. This option should be in the form  "Header:  Value".
              See RFC 2616 section 4.2 and 14 for details on the format and standardized headers.

       --user-agent=x, -U x
              Set  the  HTTP  user agent to use. Some websites serve different content based upon
              this parameter. The  default  value  will  include  "Axel",  its  version  and  the
              platform.

       --help, -h
              A brief summary of all the options.

       --version, -V
              Get version information.

NOTE

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

RETURN VALUE

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

EXAMPLES

       axel ftp://ftp.{be,nl,uk,de}.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/linux-2.4.17.tar.bz2

       This  will  use  the  Belgian,  Dutch, English and German kernel.org mirrors to download a
       Linux 2.4.17 kernel image.

       axel -S4 ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/linux-2.4.17.tar.bz2

       This will do a search for the linux-2.4.17.tar.bz2 file on filesearching.com and it'll use
       the   four   (if   possible)  fastest  mirrors  for  the  download.   (Possibly  including
       ftp.kernel.org)

       (Of course, the commands are a single line, but they're too long to fit  on  one  line  in
       this page.)

FILES

       /etc/axelrc System-wide configuration file. Note that development versions place this file
       in /usr/local/etc.

       ~/.axelrc Personal configuration file

       These files are not documented in a man-page, but the example file which  comes  with  the
       program contains enough information, I hope. The position of the system-wide configuration
       file might be different.

COPYRIGHT

       Axel is Copyright 2001-2002 Wilmer van der Gaast.

BUGS

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

AUTHORS

       Wilmer van der Gaast. <wilmer@gaast.net>

                                                                                          AXEL(1)