Bug#425771: curl command quoted on 'Downloading Debian CD/DVD Images via http/ftp' webpage will not work

Package: www.debian.org

The command "curl -C - URL" suggested on <http://www.debian.org/CD/http-ftp/> will not succeed in downloading a copy of a file on an http or ftp server to the user's own machine.

Issuing this command as given will result in a copy of the remote file being sent to stdout. All the perplexed user will get is an "endless" screed of unreadable text scrolling by on their terminal screen.

In order to direct the output from a curl command to a local file on the user's own machine, either the "-o" or "-O" option needs to be invoked as part of that command.

The "-O" option is the most straightforward, as it creates a local copy of the file with exactly the same filename as that of the remote file on the server.

If the "-o" option is invoked instead, a local file will be created with the user's own choice of filename (which the user needs to enter in the command as an argument to the "-o" option).

Also, there is nothing whatever to be gained by invoking the "-C -" option when starting a fresh download using curl. Doing so is a harmless but pointless exercise, as this option has no "preemptive" or "precautionary" value. If the transfer were to be interrupted, curl could equally well pick it up again from exactly where it left off, regardless of whether or not the "-C -" option had been invoked in the first instance. It is only when a transfer has actually been interrupted that the "-C -" option is of any value: it now needs to be invoked (along with everything else that was in the original command) in order to resume the transfer from the precise point at which it was broken.

The curl manpage refers: <http://curl.haxx.se/docs/manpage.html>

I suggest that the command given on <http://www.debian.org/CD/http-ftp/> be reworded to "curl -O URL".