- Download a URL to a file:axel [url]- Download and specify filename:axel [url] -o [filename]- Download with multiple connections:axel -n [connections_num] [url]- Search for mirrors:axel -S [mirrors_num] [url]- Limit download speed (bytes per second):axel -s [speed] [url]
axel [OPTIONS] url1 [url2] [url...]
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.
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:
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.
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.
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..
axel ftp://ftp.{be,nl,uk,de}.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/linux-2.4.17.tar.bz2
axel -S4 ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/linux-2.4.17.tar.bz2
(Of course, the commands are a single line, but they're too long to fit on one line in this page.)
/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.
Axel is Copyright 2001-2002 Wilmer van der Gaast.
Please report bugs at https://alioth.debian.org/tracker/?group_id=100070&atid=413085.
Wilmer van der Gaast. <wilmer@gaast.net>