Every now and then we come across a piece of free, open source software that is so cool or handy that it must be shared. Today I noticed that aria2c, a command line utility for downloading files (like wget) has hit version 1.0.0 after a long, careful development process.

For those that are familiar with wget and/or downloading from the command line, aria2c basically does the exact same thing, but offers a few other bells and whistles - including BitTorrent support and (most importantly for me), multi-threaded downloading - meaning you can download much, much faster.

If you're interested in checking it out, you can nab it from the it's official SourceForge site or get it locally from AusGamers in Linux, Windows, or Mac OS X flavours.

command ... line ?

aria2c never seems to work for me, I think its too complicated for its own good.

uTorrent + FlashGet?

Oh, interesting. Thanks for the heads up.

aria2c never seems to work for me, I think its too complicated for its own good.

RLY?! I rarely have problems with it - I've almost replaced wget with it entirely for my downloading needs. The only thing I don't really like is the default setting to pre-allocate the file; still not sure what the logic is behind that. You can turn it off with a command line option though.

I just go 'aria2c -s 4 [url]' and bam, it works.

File pre-allocation prevents disk fragmentation.

I don't think fragmentation really matters with downloads, since you don't really need the performance - so fragment away! You either unzip/install what you got straight away after downloading (in which case much of it is still cached in RAM), or just unpack it once later. I can't say I've been in a rush to unzip a file before, but I can remember being pissed off with a program sitting there frozen while zeroing out a big file.

Bother. When I saw the filename, I thought it might have been some tool that leeches the current ARIA charts :P

I think a tool that prevents you from accidentally downloading songs on the ARIA charts would be better

C:\Documents and Settings\sexgod\My Documents\Downloads\aria2-1.0.1-win32-mingw>aria2c.exe -s 4 http
://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/fedora/linux/releases/10/Fedora/i386/iso/Fedora-10-i386-disc1.iso
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 25.7MiB/687.1MiB(3%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 42.7MiB/687.1MiB(6%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 67.2MiB/687.1MiB(9%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 93.5MiB/687.1MiB(13%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 124.7MiB/687.1MiB(18%)]

[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 156.5MiB/687.1MiB(22%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 176.0MiB/687.1MiB(25%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 200.5MiB/687.1MiB(29%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 219.7MiB/687.1MiB(31%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 251.5MiB/687.1MiB(36%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 283.7MiB/687.1MiB(41%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 314.0MiB/687.1MiB(45%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 339.5MiB/687.1MiB(49%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 347.0MiB/687.1MiB(50%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 366.0MiB/687.1MiB(53%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 405.7MiB/687.1MiB(59%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 433.7MiB/687.1MiB(63%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 463.0MiB/687.1MiB(67%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 491.0MiB/687.1MiB(71%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 524.0MiB/687.1MiB(76%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 558.0MiB/687.1MiB(81%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 585.7MiB/687.1MiB(85%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 609.7MiB/687.1MiB(88%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 630.2MiB/687.1MiB(91%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 662.0MiB/687.1MiB(96%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 682.0MiB/687.1MiB(99%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:0.00KiB/s]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:0.00KiB/s]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:0.00KiB/s]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:33.04KiB/s ETA:5h54m53s]
[#1 SIZE:16.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:31.54KiB/s ETA:6h11m51s]
[#1 SIZE:48.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:30.77KiB/s ETA:6h21m03s]
[#1 SIZE:96.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:35.84KiB/s ETA:5h27m07s]
[#1 SIZE:160.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:35.89KiB/s ETA:5h26m40s]
[#1 SIZE:160.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:31.82KiB/s ETA:6h08m28s]
[#1 SIZE:160.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:27.85KiB/s ETA:7h54s]
[#1 SIZE:240.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:33.50KiB/s ETA:5h49m55s]
[#1 SIZE:288.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:34.87KiB/s ETA:5h36m12s]
[#1 SIZE:304.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:34.30KiB/s ETA:5h41m43s]
[#1 SIZE:352.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:34.11KiB/s ETA:5h43m35s]
[#1 SIZE:416.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:35.61KiB/s ETA:5h29m07s]
[#1 SIZE:448.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:35.73KiB/s ETA:5h28m01s]
[#1 SIZE:480.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:35.79KiB/s ETA:5h27m25s]
[#1 SIZE:512.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:35.84KiB/s ETA:5h26m55s]
[#1 SIZE:544.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:35.93KiB/s ETA:5h26m09s]
[#1 SIZE:592.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:36.00KiB/s ETA:5h25m28s]
[#1 SIZE:624.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:35.53KiB/s ETA:5h29m48s]
[#1 SIZE:640.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:35.13KiB/s ETA:5h33m29s]
[#1 SIZE:704.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:36.02KiB/s ETA:5h25m17s]
[#1 SIZE:736.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:36.04KiB/s ETA:5h25m00s]
[#1 SIZE:784.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:36.10KiB/s ETA:5h24m31s]
[#1 SIZE:816.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:36.12KiB/s ETA:5h24m18s]
[#1 SIZE:848.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:36.16KiB/s ETA:5h23m53s]
[#1 SIZE:864.0KiB/687.1MiB(0%) CN:4 SPD:36.20KiB/s ETA:5h23m31s]

2008-12-01 10:41:41.468750 NOTICE - Shutdown sequence commencing... Press Ctrl-C again for emergency
shutdown.

Download Results:
gid|stat|avg speed |path/URI
===+====+===========+==========================================================
1|INPR| 32.2KiB/s|http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/fedora/linux/releases/10/Fedora/i386/iso/Fedora
-10-i386-disc1.iso (3more)

Status Legend:
(INPR):download in-progress.

aria2 will resume download if the transfer is restarted.
If there are any errors, then see the log file. See '-l' option in help/man page for details.



...


it's quite spammy and doesnt format console output very well :(

*waits for trolls/funneh people to find the juicy morcel of funneh i left in*

last edited by Scorp at 11:46:15 01/Dec/08

it's quite spammy and doesnt format console output very well :(

yeh it's better under Linux, it doesn't do that spammy stuff when allocating file space. And yeh, the output is really lame, I'm hoping that'll get corrected at some point. But I find I consistently get download speeds of 2-4 times faster from international download sites so I'm prepared to accept the slaw.

C:\Documents and Settings\sexgod\My Documents\Downloads\aria2-1.0.1-win32-mingw>aria2c.exe -s 4 http
://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/fedora/linux/releases/10/Fedora/i386/iso/Fedora-10-i386-disc1.iso
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 25.7MiB/687.1MiB(3%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 42.7MiB/687.1MiB(6%)]
[#1 SIZE:0B/687.1MiB(0%) CN:0 SPD:0.00KiB/s] [FileAlloc:#1 67.2MiB/687.1MiB(9%)]

haha stinky ams the funneh.

yeah it's not a bad multi-threaded downloader. reminds me of 'flashget' and 'getright' when you could put in a download and have it look up 20+ mirrors and it would troll through at least 4 to get past the webserver per download caps... i couldnt get it to work with ausgamers for some reason...


"This webpage is not available.

The webpage at http://syd5.ausgamers.com:88/downloads/1228093339/aria2-1.0.0-win32-mingw.zip might be temporarily down or it may have moved permanently to a new web address."

Just keeps spamming ...

C:\aria2-1.0.1-win32-mingw>aria2c.exe -s 4 http
://syd5.ausgamers.com:88/downloads/1228093339/aria2-1.0.0-win32-mingw.zip
[#1 SIZE:0B/0B CN:1 SPD:0.00KiB/s]
[#1 SIZE:0B/0B CN:1 SPD:0.00KiB/s]
[#1 SIZE:0B/0B CN:1 SPD:0.00KiB/s]
[#1 SIZE:0B/0B CN:1 SPD:0.00KiB/s]
[#1 SIZE:0B/0B CN:1 SPD:0.00KiB/s]
...

etc

Maybe your firewall blocks HTTP connections to port 88 .. which is a tad annoying.

or, maybe, amazingly, the server is down for some reason, wtf!

ticman/trog, both pretty accurate (/obvious) answers! doh!

i'll go back to my corner now...

the file server had a rrrrrrrreally rare crash or something so we're trying to restore it now, heh