Usage¶
macOS / Linux¶
export WAYBACK_URL="https://web.archive.org/web/20051231235226/http://www.python.org/"
export OUTPUT_DIR="./my_website"
export REMOVE_CLICKABLE_CONTACTS="false" # Keep email/phone links
wayback-archive
Windows (PowerShell)¶
$env:WAYBACK_URL = "https://web.archive.org/web/20051231235226/http://www.python.org/"
$env:OUTPUT_DIR = ".\my_website"
$env:REMOVE_CLICKABLE_CONTACTS = "false"
wayback-archive
Windows (CMD)¶
set WAYBACK_URL=https://web.archive.org/web/20051231235226/http://www.python.org/
set OUTPUT_DIR=.\my_website
set REMOVE_CLICKABLE_CONTACTS=false
wayback-archive
Quick Test¶
Download the first 50 files to check that everything works. On this snapshot the homepage, its stylesheet and its images are all within the first 50, so the copy opens styled:
export WAYBACK_URL="https://web.archive.org/web/20051231235226/http://www.python.org/"
export MAX_FILES=50
wayback-archive
Preview the result¶
The copy lands in the OUTPUT_DIR folder, ./my_website in the examples above (./output when OUTPUT_DIR is unset). It opens straight from disk: open my_website/index.html on macOS, xdg-open my_website/index.html on Linux, start my_website\index.html on Windows. A browser that blocks scripts on file:// pages can use a local server instead:
Exit status¶
The command exits with status 1 and a one-line Error: message when WAYBACK_URL is missing or is not a Wayback Machine URL, when MAX_FILES is not a positive whole number, when nothing could be saved because the start page has no usable capture, or when the Wayback Machine refused 5 requests in a row (throttling with HTTP 429 or not answering), in which case the files saved so far stay in place and a later run can be tried. A 429 is first retried up to three times, waiting as long as its Retry-After header asks, up to 30 seconds. Ctrl-C stops the run with status 1 and keeps what was saved. Otherwise a run that saves the start page exits 0, even if some assets failed.