Easy NZB-downloading on Ubuntu 11.10 with nzbget via free IPv6-only Newsservers

Ubuntu 11.10 (also known as Oneiric Ocelot) has got the NZB-downloader nzbget in its repositories. Combined with IPv6 based on miredo, and the free IPv6-only Newsservers, downloading NZBs is easy and you don't need a newsserver account. Here's the howto:

Open a terminal and type:

sudo apt-get install nzbget miredo

zcat /usr/share/doc/nzbget/examples/nzbget.conf.example.gz > ~/.nzbget

nzbget -s  -o Server1.Host=weathergirl-ipv6.tele2.net 

The above will start the nzbget daemon.

Then, create a NZB, for example via http://binsearch.info/ and download it. Let's say its name is mynzb.nzb

Finally, open another terminal, add the NZB you want to download to nzbget's queue, for example: 

nzbget -A ~/Downloads/mynzb.nzb

Switch back to the 'daemon'-terminal, and you should see the nzgbet daemon downloading your request. It will end up in ~/download/dst/

If it doesn't work, check that your IPv6 is working; make sure you get an output like this:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ping6 -c4 ipv6.google.com

PING ipv6.google.com(ey-in-x63.1e100.net) 56 data bytes

64 bytes from ey-in-x63.1e100.net: icmp_seq=1 ttl=57 time=115 ms

64 bytes from ey-in-x63.1e100.net: icmp_seq=2 ttl=57 time=25.8 ms

64 bytes from ey-in-x63.1e100.net: icmp_seq=3 ttl=57 time=27.2 ms

64 bytes from ey-in-x63.1e100.net: icmp_seq=4 ttl=57 time=205 ms

--- ipv6.google.com ping statistics ---

4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3004ms

rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 25.801/93.545/205.635/74.216 ms

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

Remarks:

• Instead of weathergirl-ipv6.tele2.net, you can use the other IPv6-only accountless newsserver: newszilla6.xs4all.nl
• If you want to use a newsserver that requires an account, use something like "nzbget -s  -o Server1.Host=your.newsserver.com -o Server1.Username=user -o Server1.Password=pass" in the 'daemon'-terminal
• The plain nzbget does not take care of rar and par. However, there's a postprocessing script somewhere in the intall. EDIT: see /usr/share/doc/nzbget/examples/postprocess-example.* 
• If you prefer a more GUI-like NZB-downloader, check out SABnzbd: http://sabnzbd.org/
• Older Ubuntu's haven't got nzbget in the standard repositories. However, there's a PPA: http://ppa.launchpad.net/volkris/ppa/ubuntu/pool/main/n/nzbget/

Happy downloading!