FreeBSD Install wget Utility To Download Files From Internet

How to install wget on FreeBSD

1. Open a terminal window.
2. Log in to remote FreeBSD server using ssh:
   ssh user@freebsd-ec2-host-ip
3. To add the package on FreeBSD, run:
   pkg install wget
4. To add the FreeBSD ports, run:
   cd /usr/ports/ftp/wget/ && make install clean

Let us see all commands and configs example in details.

Related: How to install curl on FreeBSD using pkg command

Installing GNU wget using pkg_add (Binary method) Command

First, update your FreeBSD box by applying security updates using pkg/freebsd-update:
$ sudo pkg update
$ sudo pkg upgrade
Next run the following pkg command on the latest version of FreeBSD Unix computer:
$ sudo pkg update
$ sudo pkg install wget

Type the following command as root user for older version of FreeBSD v8.x or older:
# pkg_add -r -v wget
# rehash

Install wget Using FreeBSD Ports Collection

Type the following command as root user to upgrade ports tree, enter:
# portsnap fetch update
Now, install the wget, enter:
# cd /usr/ports/ftp/wget
# make install clean
# rehash ## or hash -r for 'bash/sh/ksh'


Finding wget version

Run the following to print GNU/wget version:
wget --version
Outputs:

GNU Wget 1.20.3 built on freebsd12.1.
 
-cares +digest -gpgme +https +ipv6 +iri +large-file -metalink +nls 
+ntlm +opie -psl +ssl/openssl 
 
Wgetrc: 
    /usr/local/etc/wgetrc (system)
Locale: 
    /usr/local/share/locale 
Compile: 
    cc -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -DSYSTEM_WGETRC="/usr/local/etc/wgetrc" 
    -DLOCALEDIR="/usr/local/share/locale" -I. -I../lib -I../lib 
    -I/usr/local/include -I/usr/local/include -I/usr/include 
    -DLIBICONV_PLUG -D_THREAD_SAFE -DNDEBUG -O2 -pipe -DLIBICONV_PLUG 
    -fstack-protector-strong -fno-strict-aliasing 
Link: 
    cc -DNDEBUG -O2 -pipe -DLIBICONV_PLUG -fstack-protector-strong 
    -fno-strict-aliasing -L/usr/local/lib -L/usr/local/lib -L/usr/lib 
    -fstack-protector-strong -lidn2 /usr/lib/libssl.so 
    /usr/lib/libcrypto.so -ldl -lz ftp-opie.o openssl.o http-ntlm.o 
    ../lib/libgnu.a /usr/local/lib/libintl.so -Wl,-rpath 
    -Wl,/usr/local/lib /usr/local/lib/libunistring.so -Wl,-rpath 
    -Wl,/usr/local/lib 
 
Copyright (C) 2015 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
<http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
 
Originally written by Hrvoje Niksic <hniksic@xemacs.org>.
Please send bug reports and questions to <bug-wget@gnu.org>.

How do I use wget command on FreeBSD?

You can use the wget command as follows:
$ wget http://example.com/file.pdf
$ wget ftp://ftp.example.com/dir/foo.tbz
$ wget ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports/amd64/packages-8.0-release/All/qt4-doc-4.5.2.tbz
For more info see “Linux wget: Your Ultimate Command Line Downloader.

How do I resume file downloads on wget?

The syntax is:
wget -c url
wget --continue url

Conclusion

This page demonstrated how to install the wget command on a FreeBSD based operating system using both binary pkg and ports methods. GNU/wget is easy and can be used from your shell scripts, cron jobs, terminals without GUI or X-Windows support, and more. GNU wget has many features to make retrieving large files or mirroring entire web or FTP sites easy. For more info see GNU/wget homepage.