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 importing.

2. What can and can't URD do?

Do's:

• Authentication to newsserver
• Encryption of newsserver connection (TLS & SSLv2)
• Multiple newsserver connections
• Automatic detection of max. newsserver connections
  
• Downloading newsgroup headers (Xover)
• Computing sets from individual articles
• Importing sets from RSS feeds
  
• Schedule periodic newsgroup updates
• Download from an NZB file
• Download binary as an NZB file
  
• Periodically check if URD is up to date
• Preview function to quickly see .jpg / .nfo files in a set
  
• Cross-site Request Forgery (XSRF) protection
• (Smarty) Templates
• Multiple languages (EN/NL/DE)
• Multiple newsserver support
• User defined scripts can be run after a download completes

Dont's (yet):

• Read posts in non-alt.binaries newsgroups
  
• Upload to newsservers
• Automatic update to newer version without having to reinstall URD
• Automatically install new templates
  

3. Where does the name come from?

4. What it case it doesn't work?

5. Can you add this really cool feature?

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

• The database
• URDD
• 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. What licence does URD use?

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 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.

11. 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_1.0.2-1_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

12. 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. There's a donate button here .

If you want to use a different method, please send us an email at "dev@" this domain and we'll exchange information such as addresses or bank account numbers.

13. My question is not here. What now?