plowdown (1)

plowdown [OPTIONS]... [MODULE_OPTIONS]... URL|FILE...

plowdown is a command-line tool designed for automatic download on file-sharing websites. It acts like a web browser, retrieving pages and filling HTML forms (including captchas).

Currently supported hosting sites list is available in README file.

Common options

-i, --interface=IFACE

If your machine has several network interfaces, force using IFACE interface.

-m, --mark-downloaded

Mark downloaded links in (regular) file arguments.

-o, --output-directory=DIRECTORY

Directory where files will be saved. Default is current directory.

-r, --max-retries=N

Set maximum retries for download failures. Apply on module exit status: 3 (network error), 7 (captcha error). Default option value is 2 (i.e. 3 tries) and applies for one single URL download.

-t, --timeout=SECS

Cancel download after SECS seconds of waits. Apply on module exit status: 10 (temporary unavailable error). This error can be returned in various cases: unallowed parallel download, daily downloads limit reached, remote hoster overloaded. Default option value is disabled (no timeout, infinite) and applies for one single URL download.

-x, --no-overwrite

Do not overwrite existing files. Existing file will be preserved and filename will be suffixed with .1, .2, and so on.

--cache=METHOD

Cache policy regarding module storage space. Each module is able to save data (credentials, authentication session, or tokens) in order to be reused later. Available values:

none : module storage file is deleted before each URL processing. Temporary directory is used.

session (default) : module storage file is deleted at the end of plowdown execution. Temporary directory is used.

shared : module storage file is global and located (in ~/.config/plowshare/storage/). It can be accessed by any other instance of plow* scripts. Warning: There is no atomicity (or file locking) on concurrent access.

Example: Multiple links download using a premium account. If supported by module, login stage could be performed once.

Captcha options

--9kweu=KEY

Use 9kw.eu service to solve captchas.

--antigate=KEY

Use Antigate.com service to solve captchas.

--captchabhood=USER:PASSWORD

Use Captcha Brotherhood service to solve captchas.

--captchacoin=KEY

Use CaptchaCoin service to solve captchas.

--deathbycaptcha=USER:PASSWORD

Use Death by Captcha service to solve captchas.

--captchamethod=METHOD

Force specific captcha solving method. Available values:

imgur : upload image to Imgur.com service, print image url in console and prompt for manual entering. Useful for NAS and embedded devices.

none : abort if captcha solving is requested (even if automatic solving service is available).

online : use captcha solving website only (9kweu, Antigate, CaptchaBrotherhood, CaptchaCoin or DeathByCaptcha account required).

fb : display image in framebuffer console and prompt for manual entering. Looks for framebuffer viewers: fbi, fim. FRAMEBUFFER environment variable can contain device file. Default is /dev/fb0.

nox : display image in console (text) and prompt for manual entering. Looks for ascii viewers: img2txt, aview, tiv.

x11 : display image in an X11 window and prompt for manual entering. Looks for viewers: display, feh, sxiv, qiv.

--captchaprogram=PROGRAM

Call external program or script for solving captchas. Provided executable can be located in PATH environment variable.

Three arguments are given:

$1 module name (lowercase). For example: mediafire.

$2 image filename (with full path).

$3 hint or captcha type (string). For example: recaptcha, solvemedia or digits-4.

Return value (on stdout) and exit status:

0 : solving success. Captcha Word(s) must be echo'ed.

2 : external solver is not able to solve requested captcha. Let plowdown continue solving it normally (will consider --captchamethod if specified).

7 : external solver failed. Note: this exit code is eligible with retry policy (-r/--max-retries).

Note: plowdown legacy exit errors can also be returned, for example: 1 (fatal) or 3 (network).

Tuning settings

--min-space=LIMIT

Define threshold amount of available disk space before quitting plowdown. You must specify a suffix. Suffixes are:

M for megabytes (MB i.e. 1000^2),

G for gigabytes (GB i.e. 1000^3),

Mi or m for mebibytes (MiB i.e. 1024^2),

Gi for gibibytes (GiB i.e. 1024^3).

--max-rate=SPEED

Limit download speed in bytes per second. Suffixes are:

k for kilobytes (kB i.e. 1000),

M for megabytes (MB i.e. 1000^2),

K or Ki for kibibytes (KB or KiB i.e. 1024),

m or Mi for mebibytes (mB or MiB i.e. 1024^2).

--temp-directory=DIRECTORY

Directory for temporary files: final link download, cookies, images, ...

--temp-rename

Append .part suffix to filename while file is being downloaded. Download resume will not work with this option.

--skip-final

Don't process final link (returned by module download function), just skip it. This is applied for each input URL. If you are using this option, you should need --run-after or --printf too.

--run-before=PROGRAM

Call external program or script before new link processing. Provided executable can be located in PATH environment variable. Messages can be sent to stderr, stdout is trashed.

Three arguments are given:

$1 module name (lowercase). For example: mediafire.

$2 download URL.

$3 cookie (empty) file given to download module function.

Exit status:

0 : script success. Plowdown continue normally.

2 : script explicitily requests skipping current link.

Note: Any other script exit status like 1 (fatal) or 3 (network) will be ignored (an error message will be reported).

--run-after=PROGRAM

Call external program or script after final link successful download. Provided executable can be located in PATH environment variable. Messages can be sent to stderr, stdout is trashed.

Five arguments are given:

$1 module name (lowercase). For example: mediafire.

$2 download URL.

$3 cookie file fulfilled by download module function.

$4 final URL.

$5 final filename.

Exit status:

0 : script success. Plowdown continue normally.

Note: Any other (non zero) exit status will be ignored (an error message will be reported).

--printf=FORMAT

Print results (on stdout) in a given format (for each successful download). Default string is: "%F%n". Interpreted sequences are:

%%

raw % character

%c

final cookie filename (with output directory if specified). Name template is plowdown-cookies-NNNN.txt.

%C

%c or empty string if module does not require it

%d

download (final) url

%f

destination (local) filename

%F

destination (local) filename (with output directory if specified)

%m

module name

%n

newline

%s

destination (local) file size (in bytes). Important: empty string is returned when --skip-final switch is specified.

%t

tabulation character

%u

download (source) url

Logging options

-v, --verbose=LEVEL

Set output verbosity level:

0 none,

1 errors,

2 notice (default behavior),

3 debug,

4 report (very noisy, log HTML pages).

-q, --quiet

Alias for -v0. Do not print any debug messages.

Miscellaneous options

--fallback

If no module is found for link, simply download it (HTTP GET).

--no-curlrc

Do not use curl config file (~/.curlrc).

--no-plowsharerc

Do not consider any configuration file.

--plowsharerc=FILE

Force using an alternate configuration file (instead of per-user or systemwide plowshare.conf). This option has no effect when --no-plowsharerc is defined.

--modules

Display all supported module names (one per line) and exit. Useful for wrappers.

Generic program information

-h, --help

Display main help and exit.

-H, --longhelp

Display complete help (with module options) and exit.

--version

Output version information and exit.

Common options

-a, --auth=USER:PASSWORD

Use premium account.

-b, --auth-free=USER:PASSWORD

Use free account.

-p, --link-password=PASSWORD

Used for password-protected files.

All switches are not implemented nor required for all modules. See long help message for detailed modules option list.

Command line authentication string format Complete login must have USER:PASSWORD format. The first semi-colon character is the separator. So, PASSWORD can contain a semi-colon character without any trouble.

Don't forget to single-quote string if your password contain shell expandable characters (like space, $ or &).

1) Download one or several files

$ plowdown http://www.rapidshare.com/files/12345678/foo.rar

# Downloads are successive (not parallel)
$ plowdown http://depositfiles.com/files/fv2u9xqya \
    http://rapidgator.net/file/49b1b874

# Download a password-protected file from mediafire
$ plowdown -p somepassword http://www.mediafire.com/?mt0egmhietj60iy

# Download using an account (free or premium, not supported by all modules)
$ plowdown -a 'myuser:mypassword' http://rapidgator.net/file/49b1b874

2) Download a list of links (one link per line) commenting out (with #) those successfully downloaded

$ plowdown -m file_with_links.txt

3) Download with restrictions

$ plowdown --max-rate 900K -i eth1 http://depositfiles.com/files/fv2u9xqya

4) Download with a proxy (3128 is the default port)

$ export http_proxy=http://192.168.0.20:80
$ plowdown http://www.rapidshare.com/files/12345678/foo.rar

5) Don't download file but only display final download URL (alternative HTTP retriever can be used).

# Depending hosters, cookie file might be required.
$ plowdown -v1 --skip-final --printf '# %f%n%d%n' \
    http://uploading.com/files/39267me4/foo.zip/

6) Safe download. Each URL will be limited in the number of tries and wait delays.

$ alias plowdown='plowdown --no-overwrite --max-retries=10 --timeout=3600'
$ plowdown -m file_with_links.txt

/etc/plowshare.conf

Systemwide configuration file.

~/.config/plowshare/plowshare.conf

This is the per-user configuration file.

~/.config/plowshare/exec/

Additional directory considered when searching for executable. See --captchaprogram, --run-before and --run-after switches.

~/.config/plowshare/storage/

Directory used for storing data (one file per module) among sessions. See --cache=shared switch.

The file format is described in plowshare.conf(5).

Possible exit codes are:

0

Success.

1

Fatal error. Upstream site updated or unexpected result.

2

No available module (provided URL is not supported).

3

Network error. Mostly curl related.

4

Authentication failed (bad login/password).

5

Timeout reached (refer to -t/--timeout command-line option).

6

Maximum tries reached (refer to -r/--max-retries command-line option).

7

Captcha generic error.

8

System generic error.

10

Link alive but temporarily unavailable.

11

Link alive but requires a password.

12

Link alive but requires some authentication (private or premium link).

13

Link is dead.

14

Can't download link because file is too big (need permissions).

15

Unknown command line parameter or incompatible options.

If plowdown is invoked with multiple links or link-list files and one or several errors occur, the first error code is returned added with 100.

Plowshare was initially written by Arnau Sanchez. See the AUTHORS file for a list of some of the many other contributors.

Plowshare is (C) 2010-2014 The Plowshare Team

plowup(1), plowdel(1), plowlist(1), plowprobe(1), plowshare.conf(5).