Linux ISO Downloader

A Python utility for downloading Linux distribution ISO files in parallel with resume capability, progress tracking, and robust error handling.

🚀 Quick Start

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/xixu-me/linux-iso.git
cd linux-iso

# Run the setup script (recommended for first-time users)
python setup.py

# Or install dependencies manually
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Start downloading all Linux ISOs
python download_isos.py

⭐ Features

• ⚡ Parallel Downloads: Download multiple ISO files simultaneously with configurable worker threads
• 🔄 Resume Support: Automatically resume interrupted downloads
• 📊 Progress Tracking: Real-time progress bars for each download
• 🔁 Retry Logic: Configurable retry attempts with exponential backoff
• 🛡️ Error Handling: Robust error handling with detailed failure reporting
• ⚙️ Flexible Configuration: Command-line options for all parameters

🐧 Supported Distributions

The included urls.txt contains direct links to the latest stable releases of popular Linux distributions:

Distribution	Architecture	Version
AlmaLinux	x86_64	10.0
Arch Linux	x86_64	Latest
CachyOS	x86_64	Latest
CentOS	x86_64	7.9/8.5
Debian	amd64	12.11.0
EndeavourOS	x86_64	Latest
Fedora	x86_64	42
Kali Linux	amd64	2025.2
Linux Mint	x86_64	22.1
Manjaro	x86_64	25.0.4
openEuler	x86_64	24.03-LTS-SP2
Pop!_OS	amd64	22.04
openSUSE	x86_64	Tumbleweed
Oracle Linux	x86_64	10.0
Rocky Linux	x86_64	10.0
Ubuntu	amd64	24.04.2

📦 Installation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.6 or higher
• pip package manager

Install Dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

Usage

Basic Usage

Download all ISOs from the default urls.txt file:

python download_isos.py

Advanced Usage

python download_isos.py --urls-file custom_urls.txt --output-dir /path/to/isos --max-workers 10 --retries 3

Command Line Options

• --urls-file: File containing URLs to download (default: urls.txt)
• --output-dir: Directory to save downloaded files (default: ./isos)
• --max-workers: Maximum number of parallel downloads (default: 5)
• --retries: Number of retry attempts per file (default: 5)
• --chunk-size: Chunk size for downloading in bytes (default: 8192)

Help

python download_isos.py --help

URL File Format

The URL file should contain one URL per line. Empty lines are ignored. Example:

https://releases.ubuntu.com/24.04/ubuntu-24.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso
https://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/42/Workstation/x86_64/iso/Fedora-Workstation-Live-42-1.1.x86_64.iso

Examples

Download with Custom Settings

# Use 8 parallel workers and save to custom directory
python download_isos.py --max-workers 8 --output-dir ~/Downloads/linux-isos

# Use custom URL file with different retry settings
python download_isos.py --urls-file my_distros.txt --retries 10

Download Single Distribution

Create a custom URL file with just one distribution:

echo "https://releases.ubuntu.com/24.04/ubuntu-24.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso" > ubuntu.txt
python download_isos.py --urls-file ubuntu.txt

📚 Examples

The examples/ directory contains sample scripts demonstrating various usage patterns:

• download_specific.py - Download only specific distributions (Ubuntu + Fedora)
• create_custom_categories.py - Create and use custom distribution categories

See the examples README for detailed usage instructions.

Output

The script provides real-time progress information:

• Individual progress bars for each file
• Download speed and ETA
• Success/failure summary
• Detailed error reporting for failed downloads

Error Handling

• Network Issues: Automatic retry with exponential backoff
• Interrupted Downloads: Resume from where it left off
• Invalid URLs: Detailed error messages
• Disk Space: Handles low disk space gracefully
• Permissions: Clear error messages for permission issues

Performance Tips

1. Optimal Worker Count: Start with 5 workers and adjust based on your network and system performance
2. Chunk Size: Default 8KB works well for most cases; increase for faster networks
3. Retry Attempts: Increase for unreliable connections
4. Resume Downloads: The script automatically resumes interrupted downloads

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Downloads are slow:

• Reduce --max-workers if you have limited bandwidth
• Check your internet connection
• Some mirrors may be slower than others

Downloads fail repeatedly:

• Increase --retries for unreliable connections
• Check if the URLs are still valid
• Verify you have write permissions to the output directory

Out of disk space:

• Check available disk space before starting large downloads
• Use --output-dir to specify a location with more space

🏆 Acknowledgments

• Thanks to all the Linux distribution maintainers for providing direct download links
• Built with Python's requests library for HTTP handling
• Uses tqdm for beautiful progress bars
• Implements concurrent downloads with concurrent.futures

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

⚠️ Disclaimer

This tool downloads files from third-party servers. Please respect the bandwidth and terms of service of the mirror providers. Consider using official torrents or mirrors when available.