1. What is URD?

URD is a program to download binaries from usenet (newsgroups) through a web interface.

While some other programs offer similar services (e.g. Ninan, Sabnzbd), URD doesn't need external NZB files to function. URD lets you subscribe to newsgroups, and will then automatically analyse those articles to form downloadable 'sets', consisting of all the files belonging to a specific upload. These sets are displayed, and through point and click you can be downloading a binary in no time. 

That isn't to say that NZB files are unsupported.  URD allows both exporting of NZB files (from a set, for example) and importi../../../../../cms/ng-And what is more_ URD can also obtain NZBs directly from spots such as spotnet uses- _/p__p__nbsp.css;

2. What can and can't URD do?

Do's:

• Use spots
  
• Encryption of newsserver connection (TLS & SSLv3)
• Automatically highlight interesting sets based on search terms
• Automatically downloading of sets based on search term
• Multiple newsserver connections
• Save searchparameters
• Automatic detection of max. newsserver connections
  
• Downloading newsgroup headers (Xover)
• Downloading compressed newsgroup headers (Xzver)
  
• Computing sets from individual articles
• Importi../../../../../css/li__li_Cross-site Request Forgery _XSRF.css) protection
• Authentication to newsserver
• (Smarty) Templates
• Multiple languages (EN/NL/DE/FR/SE)
• Multiple newsserver support
• Multiple styles (Classic/Blues/Silver/Desert)
• User defined scripts can be run after a download completes
• Upload to newsservers
• Read posts in non-alt.binaries newsgroups
• Statistics of user activity

Dont's (yet):

• Automatic update to newer version
• Automatically install new templates

3. Where does the name come from?

4. What in case it doesn't work?

5. Can you add this really cool feature?

6. Can the URD daemon run on a different machine then the web interface?

• The database
• URD Daemon
• The web interface

7. How do I upgrade URD to a new version?

Currently there is no 'fully-automatic' way to do it, but there is an upgrade script. If you use the debian version, it should be run automatically if you install the new .deb file. If you use the tarball, you will have to extract the new files over the old ones, and from shell run the upgrade script in the /install/ folder. It should then update the database etcetera by itself.

8. Where can I find YYDecode?

YYDecode is needed to grab binaries with URD. It used to be in the ubuntu repositories. But the good news is you can grab it from get deb. 

# sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Add the line:

       deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu/ precise-getdeb apps

 And save.

# wget -q -O- http://archive.getdeb.net/getdeb-archive.key | sudo apt-key add -

# sudo apt-get update

Install yydecode deb package:
# sudo apt-get install yydecode

Alternatively you can grab the source and compile it yourself. You can get it at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/yydecode/files/yydecode/0.2.10/

9. Should I use the download tarball or use subversion to get URD?

It is strongly recommended to use the officially released tarballs and not subversion. The subversion source may be not work at or have half implemented features. There are mostly like nightly builds. So please download the official releases. But, if you don't mind getting a slightly less stable version with more features, you can give it a go with the following command:

svn checkout http://urd.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ urd 

10. Can I use Spots with URD?

 Yes. URD has the capability to download spots and can directly download the files from the spot. URD also has advanced searching capabilities for spots as well as image preview. Spots are integrated in the same way into URD as sets from RSS feeds or group indexing.

11. Can I use NZB files with URD?

NZB usage maybe a bit hidden in URD. But the answer is "YES".

There are actually several options to work with NZB files in URD. First of all you can use NZB files to download from: in the download page you can upload a local NZB file. On the same page is also a possibility to provide an external link to an NZB file, such as a URL. Then some newsgroups also post NZB files; using the preview function on an NZB file, will give you the option to directly download from that file. Finally in view files there is an upload button in the actions part for NZB files as well. Outside of the website, you can use a special directory named spool/username  where you can put an NZB file and it will be automatically used to download from.

But there is more! URD can also be used to create NZB files from the indexes it has created so you can share it with others. This works the same as actually downloading in the browse page, but you click the NZB button instead. It will be stored in the download subdirectory name nzb/username.

12. I just upgraded but somethings not right, now what?

Be sure to run the update script to update all the database tables, in case that is needed. .deb packages should do this automatically, the tarball or svn don't

If problems persist, the first place to start is the browser cache.  Be sure to reload the page entirely (ctrl-f5). You may also have to clean out the browser cache all together. 

Second, if you use svn to update, it appears that svn sometimes gets confused. So do another checkout and copy the *config.php files and .installed to the new directory to retain your database.

Third watch the log file for errors or run the urdd.sh program from the console to see more elaborate error messages. Fix the things it says.

 In any case, if you have trouble updating, visit the forum for assistance.

13. Does URD support IPv6?

Yes. URD is fully IPv6 enabled including access to newsgroups.

14. Where can I find older versions of URD?

The following versions are outdated and shouldn't be used, but for nostalgic purposes are still available here:
(Not hyperlinked on purpose) 

• http://urdland.com/urd_1.0.9-1_all.deb
• http://urdland.com/urd-1.0.9.tar.gz
  

• http://urdland.com/urd_1.0.8-2_all.deb
• http://urdland.com/urd-1.0.8-1.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd_1.0.7-1_all.deb
• http://urdland.com/urd-1.0.7.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd_1.0.6-1_all.deb
• http://urdland.com/urd-1.0.6.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd_1.0.5-2_all.deb
• http://urdland.com/urd-1.0.5_1.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd_1.0.4-1_all.deb
• http://urdland.com/urd-1.0.4.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd_1.0.3-1_all.deb
• http://urdland.com/urd-1.0.3.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd_1.0.2-1_all.deb
• http://urdland.com/urd-1.0.2.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd_1.0.1-1_all.deb
• http://urdland.com/urd-1.0.1.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd_1.0.0-1_all.deb
• http://urdland.com/urd-1.0.0.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd_0.6.2-2_all.deb
• http://urdland.com/urd-0.6.2-1.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd_0.6.2-1_all.deb
• http://urdland.com/urd-0.6.2.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd_0.6.1-1_all.deb
• http://urdland.com/urd-0.6.1.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd_0.6.0-1_all.deb
• http://urdland.com/urd-0.6.0.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd_0.5.5-1_all.deb
• http://urdland.com/urd-0.5.5.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd-0.5.4.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd-0.5.3.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd-0.5.2.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd-0.5.1.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd-0.5.0.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd-0.4.1.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd-0.4.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd-0.4.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd-0.3.1.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd-0.3.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd-0.2.tar.gz
• http://urdland.com/urd-0.1.tar.gz

15. I'd like to donate to your project, but how?

Awesome! A token of appreciation is always very much welcomed, we don't have too many expenses but hosting does cost some 50 euros per year. The easiest way for us would be through PayPal. We're working on a donate button (damn you Joomla!) but for now the easiest way is for you to send us an email at "dev@" this domain and we'll exchange information such as addresses or bank account numbers.

16.  How can I help?

There are various ways you can help. And you don't have to do programming. Here are some suggestions

• Writing about URD, on blogs, forums, twitter and so on.
• Write tutorials on how to install URD on different platforms
• Provide translations of URD
• Create packages like RPM, deb, etc for various operating systems (including Redhat, SUSE, Slackware, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, Mac)
• Provide feed back on how it is used, or suggest improvements
• Contribute new features, fix bugs etc, etc

 Don't hesitate to get in touch.  The forum is probably the easiest way.

17.  How do I get in touch?

 The is easiest way is probably to go to the  forum and leave a message or send a PM. Of course there is always twitter too, and follow @urdland. 

18. What licence does URD use?

19. My question is not here. What now?

Please leave a message at the forum.