How to configure default options in ~/.wgetrc

Centralizing common wget options in a personal .wgetrc file keeps command lines short, reduces repetitive typing, and lowers the chance of mistakes during scripted or bulk downloads. A predictable set of defaults is especially useful for scheduled jobs, backup routines, and long-running data collection tasks that rely on non-interactive HTTP, HTTPS, or FTP transfers.

The wget client reads configuration from the global file /etc/wgetrc and then from the per-user file /$HOME/.wgetrc, applying settings in that order so user options override system defaults. Each directive typically mirrors a long command-line flag, using syntax such as option = value or option value to control headers, proxy settings, timeouts, bandwidth limits, retry behavior, and directory layouts.

Changes in /$HOME/.wgetrc affect every wget invocation for that user, including existing scripts that expect stock behavior, so conservative settings and clear comments matter. Aggressive directives like robots = off, extremely low wait delays, or disabled certificate checks via check_certificate = off can overload remote services, weaken TLS verification, or conflict with acceptable-use policies.

1. Open a terminal on Linux with the user account that runs wget.

   $ whoami
   user

   Personal settings in /$HOME/.wgetrc apply only to the account that owns the file, leaving other users and system services unaffected.

2. Create or overwrite the personal configuration file /$HOME/.wgetrc with default options and descriptive comments.

   $ cat > ~/.wgetrc <<'EOF'
   # Default directory for downloaded files
   dir_prefix = /home/user/Downloads/wget
   
   # Descriptive User-Agent string for logs
   user_agent = Wget/1.21.4 (Linux; custom-defaults)
   
   # Connection limits and timeouts
   tries = 5
   timeout = 30
   
   # Polite crawling behavior
   robots = on
   wait = 1
   random_wait = on
   
   # Prefer IPv4 if IPv6 paths are unreliable
   inet4_only = on
   
   # Limit bandwidth to avoid saturating links (example: 1 MiB/s)
   limit_rate = 1m
   
   # Example HTTPS proxy configuration (uncomment and adjust if required)
   #https_proxy = http://proxy.example.net:3128
   EOF

   Options in /$HOME/.wgetrc override matching directives in the global file /etc/wgetrc for the same user.

3. Review the file for accuracy before relying on it in scripts or automation.

   Persistent settings such as check_certificate = off or robots = off can disable TLS verification and ignore robots.txt, which may expose downloads to interception and violate remote usage policies.

4. Run wget in debug spider mode against a harmless HTTPS URL to confirm that /$HOME/.wgetrc is parsed.

   $ wget --debug --spider https://www.example.com/
   Setting --spider (spider) to 1
   DEBUG output created by Wget 1.21.4 on linux-gnu.
   
   Reading HSTS entries from /home/user/.wget-hsts
   URI encoding = 'ANSI_X3.4-1968'
   converted 'https://www.example.com/' (ANSI_X3.4-1968) -> 'https://www.example.com/' (UTF-8)
   Converted file name 'index.html' (UTF-8) -> 'index.html' (ANSI_X3.4-1968)
   Spider mode enabled. Check if remote file exists.
   --2026-01-10 05:33:44--  https://www.example.com/
   Resolving www.example.com (www.example.com)... 203.0.113.50
   Caching www.example.com => 203.0.113.50
   Connecting to www.example.com (www.example.com)|203.0.113.50|:443... connected.
   Created socket 3.
   Releasing 0x0000aaab0a8dba60 (new refcount 1).
   Initiating SSL handshake.
   Handshake successful; connected socket 3 to SSL handle 0x0000aaab0a8e0fc0
   certificate:
     subject: CN=files.example.net
     issuer:  CN=SG Test CA
   X509 certificate successfully verified and matches host www.example.com
   
   ---request begin---
   HEAD / HTTP/1.1
   Host: www.example.com
   User-Agent: Wget/1.21.4 (Linux; custom-defaults)
   Accept: */*
   Accept-Encoding: identity
   Connection: Keep-Alive
   
   ---request end---
   HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 
   ---response begin---
   HTTP/1.0 200 OK
   Server: sg-http/1.0 Python/3.12.3
   Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2026 05:33:44 GMT
   Content-type: text/html
   Content-Length: 277
   Last-Modified: Sat, 10 Jan 2026 04:05:33 GMT
   
   ---response end---
   200 OK
   Registered socket 3 for persistent reuse.
   Length: 277 [text/html]
   Remote file exists and could contain further links,
   but recursion is disabled -- not retrieving.

   If the request runs without errors, the personal configuration has been parsed; the next step verifies the active defaults.

5. Verify that the configured defaults take effect by performing a test download and inspecting behavior or headers.

   $ wget --server-response https://www.example.com/ -O /dev/null 2>&1 | grep -E '^[[:space:]]*HTTP/|Content-type'
     HTTP/1.0 200 OK
     Content-type: text/html

   Typical confirmation signals include files appearing under the configured dir_prefix directory, the custom User-Agent string visible in logs or debugging output, and request timing consistent with wait and random_wait values without extra command-line flags.