B4dM4n / nzbget

efficient usenet downloader

Note: this repo is a fork of the original github project nzbget/nzbget originally written by @hugbug. He deserves all the credit for this software.

Since he has now archived the project, I've combined my changes (surgical fixes to accomodate the intentially-malformed 'wtf' NZB headers, which result in the infamous 'abc.xyz' file names) and merged several pull requests from the original repo.

• Paul, 2022.11.28

NZBGet

NZBGet is a binary downloader, which downloads files from Usenet based on information provided by nzb-files.

NZBGet is written in C++ and is known for its performance and efficiency.

NZBGet can run on almost any device - classic PC, NAS, media player, SAT-receiver, WLAN-router, etc.

The download area provides precompiled binaries for Windows, macOS, Linux (compatible with many CPUs and platform variants), FreeBSD and Android. For other platforms the program can be compiled from sources.

This is a summary. For full documentation, please visit the NZBGet-NG home page at: http://nzbget-ng.github.io

Contents

1. About NZBGet
2. Supported Platforms
3. Prerequisites for Posix
4. Installation on POSIX
5. Compiling for Windows
6. Configuring nzbget
7. Usage
8. Authors
9. Copyright
10. Contact

About NZBGet

NZBGet is a binary newsgrabber, which downloads files from usenet based on information provided by nzb files. NZBGet can be used in standalone and in server/client modes. In standalone mode you pass a nzb-file as parameter in command-line, NZBGet downloads listed files and then exits.

In server/client mode NZBGet runs as server in background. Then you use client to send requests to server. The sample requests are: download nzb-file, list files in queue, etc.

There is also a built-in web-interface. The server has RPC-support and can be controlled from third party applications too.

Standalone-tool, server and client are all contained in only one executable file "nzbget". The mode in which the program works depends on command-line parameters passed to the program.

Supported Platforms

NZBGet is written in C++ and works on Windows, OS X, Linux and most POSIX-conform Operating systems.

Clients and servers running on different operating systems may communicate with each other. For example, you can use NZBGet as client on Windows to control your NZBGet server running on Linux.

The download section of NZBGet web-site provides binary files for Windows, OS X and Linux. For other POSIX-compliant systems you will need to compile the program yourself.

If you have downloaded binaries you can just jump to section "Configuration".

Prerequisites for POSIX

NZBGet is developed on a linux-system, but it runs on other POSIX platforms.

NZBGet requires the following libraries:

• libstdc++ (usually provided by the compiler)
• libxml2 (http://www.xmlsoft.org)

The following libraries are optional:

• for curses-output-mode (enabled by default):

  • libcurses (usually part of commercial systems) or (preferred)
  • libncurses (http://invisible-island.net/ncurses)

• for encrypted connections (TLS/SSL):

  • OpenSSL (http://www.openssl.org) or
  • GnuTLS (http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls)

• for gzip support in web-server and web-client (enabled by default):

  • zlib (http://www.zlib.net)

All these libraries are included in modern POSIX distributions and should be available as installable packages. Please note that you also need the developer packages for these libraries too, they package names have often suffix "dev" or "devel". On other systems you may need to download the libraries at the given URLs and compile them (see hints below).

Installation on POSIX

Installation from the source distribution archive (nzbget-<version>.tar.gz):

• untar the nzbget-source via

tar -zxf nzbget-<version>.tar.gz

• change into nzbget-directory via

cd nzbget-<version>

• configure it via

./configure

You might have to tell configure where to find some libraries. ./configure --help is your friend! See also "Configure Options" below.

• in case you don't have root access, or want to install the program in your home directory, use the configure parameter --prefix, e. g.:

  ./configure --prefix ~/usr

• compile it via make

• install it via sudo make install

• install configuration files into /etc via: make install-conf

  (you can skip this step if you intend to store configuration files in a non-standard location)

Options for configure

You may run configure with additional arguments:

--disable-curses - to make without curses-support. Use this option if you can not use curses/ncurses.

--disable-parcheck - to make without parcheck-support. Use this option if you have troubles when compiling par2-module.

--with-tlslib= (OpenSSL|GnuTLS) - to select which TLS/SSL library should be used for encrypted server connections.

--disable-tls - to make without TLS/SSL support. Use this option if you can not neither OpenSSL nor GnuTLS.

--disable-gzip - to make without gzip support. Use this option if you can not use zlib.

--enable-debug - to build in debug-mode, if you want to see and log debug-messages.

Optional package: par-check

NZBGet can check and repair downloaded files for you. For this purpose it uses library par2.

For your convenience the source code of libpar2 is integrated into NZBGet’s source tree and is compiled automatically when you make NZBGet.

In a case errors occur during this process the inclusion of par2-module can be disabled using configure option --disable-parcheck:

./configure --disable-parcheck

Optional package: curses

For curses-outputmode you need ncurses or curses on your system. If you do not have one of them you can download and compile ncurses yourself. The following configure-parameters may be useful:

--with-libcurses-includes=/path/to/curses/includes
--with-libcurses-libraries=/path/to/curses/libraries

If you are not able to use curses or ncurses or do not want them you can make the program without support for curses using option "--disable-curses":

./configure --disable-curses

Optional package: TLS

To enable encrypted server connections (TLS/SSL) you need to build the program with TLS/SSL support. NZBGet can use eitherr of two libraries: OpenSSL or GnuTLS.

Configure-script checks which library is installed and uses it. If both are available it gives the precedence to OpenSSL. You may override that with the option --with-tlslib=(OpenSSL|GnuTLS).

For example to build with GnuTLS:

./configure --with-tlslib=GnuTLS

Following configure-parameters may be useful:

--with-libtls-includess=/path/to/gnutls/includes
--with-libtls-libraries=/path/to/gnutls/libraries

--with-openssl-includess=/path/to/openssl/includes
--with-openssl-libraries=/path/to/openssl/libraries

If none of these libraries is available you can make the program without TLS/SSL support using option --disable-tls:

./configure --disable-tls

Compiling on Windows

NZBGet is developed on Windows using MS Visual Studio 2015 (Community Edition). The project file is provided.

To compile the program with TLS/SSL support you need either OpenSSL or GnuTLS:

• OpenSSL (http://www.openssl.org)
  or
• GnuTLS (http://www.gnu.org/software/gnutls)

Also required are:

• Regex (http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/regex.htm)
• Zlib (http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/zlib.htm)

Configuring nzbget

NZBGet requires a configuration file.

An example configuration file is provided in nzbget.conf, which is installed into <prefix>/share/nzbget (where <prefix> depends on system conventions and options given to configure. It is typically /usr, /usr/local or /opt).

The installer adjusts the file according to your system paths. If you have performed the installation step make install-conf this file is already copied to <prefix>/etc and NZBGet finds it automatically. If you install the program manually from a binary archive you have to copy the file from <prefix>/share/nzbget to one of the locations listed below.

Open the file in a text editor and modify it according to your needs.

You must set at least the option MAINDIR and one news server in the configuration file. The file provided contains comments on how to use each option.

The program looks for configuration file in following standard locations (in this order):

On POSIX systems:

1. <path to executable>/nzbget.conf
2. ${HOME}/.nzbget
3. /etc/nzbget.conf
4. /usr/etc/nzbget.conf
5. /usr/local/etc/nzbget.conf
6. /opt/etc/nzbget.conf

On Windows:

1. <EXE-DIR>\nzbget.conf

If you put the configuration file in other place, you can use command- line switch -c <path to config file> to point the program to the correct location.

In special cases, you can run program without a config file using switch -n, which disables the automatic search for a config file. You need to use the switch -o to pass required configuration options via command-line.

Note: this is not recommended, since the credentials required to access your news server account will be exposed in plain text on the command line.

Usage

NZBGet can be used in either standalone mode, which downloads a single file, or as a server which is able to queue up numerous download requests.

TIP: for Windows users: NZBGet can be controlled via various command line parameters. For easier use, there is a simple shell script included in "nzbget-shell.bat". Start this script from Windows Explorer and you will be running a command shell with PATH adjusted to find NZBGet executable. Then you can type all commands without full path to nzbget.exe.

Standalone mode:

nzbget

Server mode:

First start the nzbget-server:

• in console mode:

nzbget -s

• or in daemon mode (POSIX only):

nzbget -D

• or as a service (Windowx only, firstly install the service with the command nzbget -install):

net start NZBGet

To stop server use:

nzbget -Q

TIP for POSIX users: with included script "nzbgetd" you can use standard commands to control daemon:

• nzbgetd start
• nzbgetd stop
• etc.

When NZBGet is started in console server mode it displays a message that it is ready to receive download requests. In daemon mode it doesn't print any messages to console since it runs in background.

When the server is running it is possible to queue up downloads. This can be done either in terminal with nzbget -A <nzb-file> or by uploading a nzb-file into server's monitor-directory (<MAINDIR>/nzb by default).

To check the status of server start client and connect it to server:

zbget -C

The client have three different (display) outputmodes, which you can select in configuration file (on client computer) or in command line. Try them:

nzbget -o outputmode=log -C

nzbget -o outputmode=color -C

nzbget -o outputmode=curses -C

To list files in server's queue:

nzbget -L

It should print something like:

[1] nzbname\filename1.rar (50.00 MB)
[2] nzbname\filename1.r01 (50.00 MB)
[3] another-nzb\filename3.r01 (100.00 MB)
[4] another-nzb\filename3.r02 (100.00 MB)

This is the list of individual files listed within nzb-file. To print the list of nzb-files (without content) add G-modifier to the list command:

[1] nzbname (4.56 GB)
[2] another-nzb (4.20 GB)

The numbers in square braces are ID's of files or groups in queue. They can be used in edit-command. For example to move file with ID 2 to the top of queue:

nzbget -E T 2

or to pause files with IDs from 10 to 20:

nzbget -E P 10-20

or to delete files from queue:

nzbget -E D 3 10-15 20-21 16

The edit-command has also a group-mode which affects all files from the same nzb-file. You need to pass an ID of the group. For example to delete the whole group 1:

nzbget -E G D 1

The switch -o is useful to override options in configuration files. For example:

nzbget -o reloadqueue=no -o dupecheck=no -o parcheck=yes -s

or:

nzbget -o createlog=no -C

Running client & server on separate machines:

Since nzbget communicates via TCP/IP it's possible to have a server running on one computer and adding downloads via a client on another computer.

Do this by setting the "ControlIP" option in the nzbget.conf file to point to the IP of the server (default is localhost which means client and server runs on same computer)

Security warning

NZBGet communicates via unsecured socket connections. This makes it vulnerable. Although server checks the password passed by client, this password is still transmitted in unsecured way. For this reason it is highly recommended to configure your Firewall to not expose the port used by NZBGet to WAN.

If you need to control server from WAN it is better to connect to server's terminal via SSH (POSIX) or remote desktop (Windows) and then run nzbget-client-commands in this terminal.

Post processing scripts

After the download of nzb-file is completed nzbget can call post-processing scripts, defined in configuration file.

Example post-processing scripts are provided in directory "scripts".

To use the scripts copy them into your local directory and set options <ScriptDir>, <PostScript> and <ScriptOrder>.

For information on writing your own post-processing scripts please visit NZBGet web site.

Web Interface

NZBGet has a built-in web-server providing the access to the program functions via web-interface.

To activate web-interface set the option "WebDir" to the path with web-interface files. If you install using "make install-conf" as described above the option is set automatically. If you install using binary files you should check if the option is set correctly.

To access web-interface from your web-browser use the server address and port defined in NZBGet configuration file in options ControlIP and ControlPort. For example:

http://localhost:6789/

For login credentials type username and the password defined by options ControlUsername (default nzbget) and ControlPassword (default tegbzn6789).

Caution: Like any default password, this should be changed immediately after installation!

In a case your browser does not remember credentials, to prevent typing them each time, there is a workaround - use a URL of the form:

http://localhost:6789/username:password/

Caution In this case the password is saved in a bookmark or in browser history in plain text, and may easily be discovered by anyone who has access to your computer.

Authors

The project was originally created by Sven Henkel [e-mail] in 2004 and later developed by Bo Cordes Petersen [e-mail] until 2005.

In 2007, Andrey Prygunkov [e-mail] took over the project which was abandoned in 2005. Since then, he has completely rewritten it. Andrey maintained it through July 2021.

Andrey's repo was archived in November 2022, containing a number of outstanding pull requests and issues. A github organization named nzbget-ng was created and Andrey's nzbget/nzbget repo was forked into it. The pending pull requests were then merged into it.

Other Components Used by nzbget

The NZBGet distribution archive includes additional components written by other authors:

Component	Author	Reference
Par2	Peter Brian Clements	[e-mail]
Par2 library API	Francois Lesueur	[e-mail]
Catch	Two Blue Cubes Ltd	https://github.com/philsquared/Catch
jQuery	John Resig Dojo Foundation	http://jquery.com http://sizzlejs.com
Bootstrap	Twitter, Inc	http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap
Raphaël	Dmitry Baranovskiy Sencha Labs	http://raphaeljs.com http://sencha.com
Elycharts	Void Labs s.n.c.	http://void.it
iconSweets	Yummygum	http://yummygum.com

Copyright

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

The complete content of license is provided in file COPYING.

Additional exemption: compiling, linking, and/or using OpenSSL is allowed.

Contact

The best place to start is /r/nzbget on reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/nzbget/

Other users should be able to help if you're having struggling. The nzbget developers have been known to hang out there, too.

Please check the reddit forum first before filing a new issue on github. Only file an issue if no-one on the subreddit can help you. Developers would rather be developing than answering the same questions repeatedly.