download_xplanet_cloudmap 2006-09-01 review

download_xplanet_cloudmap project tries to connect to one of a few satellite cloudmap servers (choosing which one randomly) and downl

License: GPL (GNU General Public License) File size: 11K Developer: Matthew Gates

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download_xplanet_cloudmap project tries to connect to one of a few satellite cloudmap servers (choosing which one randomly) and downloads... well, err, a cloudmap.

The resulting file is called clouds.jpg, and is put in the $HOME/.xplanet directory.
If the output file already exists and is less than two hours old, a new file is not retrieved (this is to prevent swamping servers with inappropriate requests).

Because the various servers are somewhat unreliable, the program chooses from the list of known servers randoly, and will re-try failed fetched up to 6 times (choosing a random server from the list each time).

OPTIONS:

--debug=level

Print diagnostic messages while executing. The value of level must be an integer. The higher the number, the more verbose the diagnostic output will be.

--filename f

Change the output filename from clouds.jpg to f

--force

Don't check to see how old existing fils are - download regardless (see NOTES section about server abuse).

--help

Print the command line syntax an option details.

--hours h

Change the number of hours to wait before getting an image from the default (2) to h.

--list-mirrors

Show a list of mirrors which are known. By the way, to edit the list, you have to edit the program file.

--output-directory d

Change the default output directory from $HOME/.xplanet to d.

--retries n

Change the number of retries from the default (6) to n.

--version

Print the program description and version.

What's New in This Release:
Added the following features: command line option processing; additional download error checks; pod documentation.