Herold Heiko <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

[... use of tail -f and log file ...]
> Somebody or something always has to be the first :-)

Also, do you know that you can use `--progress=bar:force' and still
log to a file?  tail -f will work just fine, although the resulting
file will not be pretty when viewing it later.

> Another somewhat related idea I've been doodling with a long time
> (but never got around to look into the implementation) was changing
> the "dot" (when dot mode was the only available thing) to something
> different based on several current status.

There is a patch that selects the dot-style based on the size of the
file.  But the problem with that patch is that it doesn't solve the
real problem.  Based on using wget for years on different files and
connections, I now firmly believe that the correct choice of dot-style
is a function of download *speed*, not file size.

When you download a big file through the local network, thousands of
dots scroll quickly, which can lead to the conclusion that large files
imply smaller dots.  But the problem is not really in the number of
dots, but in the fact that they move so quickly and thus lose their
value for tracking the download.  For example, when I download an
equally large file over a slow connection, I have no problem with the
number of dots being printed.  As long as they're printed so that I
can follow them, their number is inconsequential.

Others may have different experiences, of course, but I do believe
that automatically selecting dot style based on file size is in most
cases inappropriate.

> Or, when the current download speed changes "too far" from the current
> dotmode (says, mode was default and now dl speed has fallen to 20
> byte/sec, switch to micro could be appropriate; if then the speed goes
> up to 1MB/sec switch up. Or switch in base of the file size.)

Note that the micro mode has been removed.  This is because it doesn't
really make sense -- network data doesn't receive in so small packets
that `micro' could ever really work as intended.

Besides, I don't want to make things *too* complex and clever.  The
dots have always been there, and have a fairly clear meaning.  As you
said yourself, they've been even more useful lately because they print
the download rate too.

The new progress bar is a departure from that concept, which has given
me a chance to experiment with something new.

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