Package: bdfr
Bulk Downloader for RedditThis is a tool to download submissions or submission data from Reddit. It can be used to archive data or even crawl Reddit to gather research data. The BDFR is flexible and can be used in scripts if needed through an extensive command-line interface.List of currently supported sourcesIf you wish to open an issue, please readthe guide on opening issuesto ensure that your issue is clear and contains everything it needs to for the developers to investigate.Included in this README are a few example Bash tricks to get certain behaviour. For that, seeCommon Command Tricks.InstallationBulk Downloader for Redditneeds Python version 3.9 or above. Please update Python before installation to meet the requirement.Then, you can install it via pip with:python3-mpipinstallbdfr--upgradeor viapipxwith:python3-mpipxinstallbdfrTo update BDFR, run the above command again for pip orpipx upgrade bdfrfor pipx installations.To check your version of BDFR, runbdfr --versionTo install shell completions, runbdfr completionsAUR PackageIf on Arch Linux or derivative operating systems such as Manjaro, the BDFR can be installed through the AUR.Latest Release:https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/python-bdfrLatest Development Build:https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/python-bdfr-gitSource codeIf you want to use the source code or make contributions, refer toCONTRIBUTINGUsageThe BDFR works by taking submissions from a variety of "sources" from Reddit and then parsing them to download. These sources might be a subreddit, multireddit, a user list, or individual links. These sources are combined and downloaded to disk, according to a naming and organisational scheme defined by the user.There are three modes to the BDFR: download, archive, and clone. Each one has a command that performs similar but distinct functions. Thedownloadcommand will download the resource linked in the Reddit submission, such as the images, video, etc. Thearchivecommand will download the submission data itself and store it, such as the submission details, upvotes, text, statistics, as and all the comments on that submission. These can then be saved in a data markup language form, such as JSON, XML, or YAML. Lastly, theclonecommand will perform both functions of the previous commands at once and is more efficient than running those commands sequentially.Note that theclonecommand is not a true, failthful clone of Reddit. It simply retrieves much of the raw data that Reddit provides. To get a true clone of Reddit, another tool such as HTTrack should be used.After installation, run the program from any directory as shown below:bdfrdownloadbdfrarchivebdfrcloneHowever, these commands are not enough. You should chain parameters inOptionsaccording to your use case. Don't forget that some parameters can be provided multiple times. Some quick reference commands are:bdfrdownload./path/to/output--subredditPython-L10bdfrdownload./path/to/output--userreddituser--submitted-L100bdfrdownload./path/to/output--userme--saved--authenticate-L25--file-scheme'{POSTID}'bdfrdownload./path/to/output--subreddit'Python, all, mindustry'-L10--make-hard-linksbdfrarchive./path/to/output--userreddituser--submitted--all-comments--comment-contextbdfrarchive./path/to/output--subredditall--formatyaml-L500--folder-scheme''Alternatively, you can pass options through a YAML file.bdfrdownload./path/to/output--optsmy_opts.yamlFor example, running it with the following fileskip:[mp4,avi]file_scheme:"{UPVOTES}_{REDDITOR}_{POSTID}_{DATE}"limit:10sort:topsubreddit:-EarthPorn-CityPornwould be equilavent to (take note that in YAML there isfile_schemeinstead offile-scheme):bdfrdownload./path/to/output--skipmp4--skipavi--file-scheme"{UPVOTES}_{REDDITOR}_{POSTID}_{DATE}"-L10-Stop--subredditEarthPorn--subredditCityPornAny option that can be specified multiple times should be formatted like subreddit is above.In case when the same option is specified both in the YAML file and in as a command line argument, the command line argument takes priorityOptionsThe following options are common between both thearchiveanddownloadcommands of the BDFR.directoryThis is the directory to which the BDFR will download and place all files--authenticateThis flag will make the BDFR attempt to use an authenticated Reddit sessionSeeAuthenticationfor more details--configIf the path to a configuration file is supplied with this option, the BDFR will use the specified configSeeConfiguration Filesfor more details--optsLoad options from a YAML file.Has higher prority than the global config file but lower than command-line arguments.Seeopts_example.yamlfor an example file.--disable-moduleCan be specified multiple timesDisables certain modules from being usedSeeDisabling Modulesfor more information and a list of module names--filename-restriction-schemeCan be:windows,linuxTurns off the OS detection and specifies which system to use when making filenamesSeeFilesystem Restrictions--ignore-userThis will add a user to ignoreCan be specified multiple times--include-id-fileThis will add any submission with the IDs in the files providedCan be specified multiple timesFormat is one ID per line--logThis allows one to specify the location of the logfileThis must be done when running multiple instances of the BDFR, seeMultiple Instancesbelow--savedThis option will make the BDFR use the supplied user's saved posts list as a download sourceThis requires an authenticated Reddit instance, using the--authenticateflag, as well as--userset tome--searchThis will apply the input search term to specific lists when scraping submissionsA search term can only be applied when using the--subredditand--multiredditflags--submittedThis will use a user's submissions as a sourceA user must be specified with--user--upvotedThis will use a user's upvoted posts as a source of posts to scrapeThis requires an authenticated Reddit instance, using the--authenticateflag, as well as--userset tome-L, --limitThis is the limit on the number of submissions retrieveDefault is max possibleNote that this limit applies toeach source individuallye.g. if a--limitof 10 and three subreddits are provided, then 30 total submissions will be scrapedIf it is not supplied, then the BDFR will default to the maximum allowed by Reddit, roughly 1000 posts.We cannot bypass this.-S, --sortThis is the sort type for each applicable submission source supplied to the BDFRThis option does not apply to upvoted or saved posts when scraping from these sourcesThe following options are available:controversialhot(default)newrelevance(only available when using--search)risingtop-l, --linkThis is a direct link to a submission to download, either as a URL or an IDCan be specified multiple times-m, --multiredditThis is the name of a multireddit to add as a sourceCan be specified multiple timesThis can be done by using-mmultiple timesMultireddits can also be used to provide CSV multireddits e.g.-m 'chess, favourites'The specified multireddits must all belong to the user specified with the--useroption-s, --subredditThis adds a subreddit as a sourceCan be used mutliple timesThis can be done by using-smultiple timesSubreddits can also be used to provide CSV subreddits e.g.-m 'all, python, mindustry'-t, --timeThis is the time filter that will be applied to all applicable sourcesThis option does not apply to upvoted or saved posts when scraping from these sourcesThis option only applies if sorting by top or controversial.  See --sort for more detail.The following options are available:all(default)hourdayweekmonthyear--time-formatThis specifies the format of the datetime string that replaces{DATE}in file and folder naming schemesSeeTime Formatting Customisationfor more details, and the formatting scheme-u, --userThis specifies the user to scrape in concert with other optionsWhen using--authenticate,--user mecan be used to refer to the authenticated userCan be specified multiple times for multiple usersIf downloading a multireddit, only one user can be specified-v, --verboseIncreases the verbosity of the programCan be specified multiple timesDownloader OptionsThe following options apply only to thedownloadcommand. This command downloads the files and resources linked to in the submission, or a text submission itself, to the disk in the specified directory.--make-hard-linksThis flag will create hard links to an existing file when a duplicate is downloaded in the current runThis will make the file appear in multiple directories while only taking the space of a single instance--max-wait-timeThis option specifies the maximum wait time for downloading a resourceThe default is 120 secondsSeeRate Limitingfor details--no-dupesThis flag will not redownload files if they were already downloaded in the current runThis is calculated by MD5 hash--search-existingThis will make the BDFR compile the hashes for every file indirectoryThe hashes are used to remove duplicates if--no-dupesis supplied or make hard links if--make-hard-linksis supplied--file-schemeSets the scheme for filesDefault is{REDDITOR}_{TITLE}_{POSTID}SeeFolder and File Name Schemesfor more details--folder-schemeSets the scheme for foldersDefault is{SUBREDDIT}SeeFolder and File Name Schemesfor more details--exclude-idThis will skip the download of any submission with the ID providedCan be specified multiple times--exclude-id-fileThis will skip the download of any submission with any of the IDs in the files providedCan be specified multiple timesFormat is one ID per line--skip-domainThis adds domains to the download filter i.e. submissions coming from these domains will not be downloadedCan be specified multiple timesDomains must be supplied in the formexample.comorimg.example.com--skipThis adds file types to the download filter i.e. submissions with one of the supplied file extensions will not be downloadedCan be specified multiple times--skip-subredditThis skips all submissions from the specified subredditCan be specified multiple timesAlso accepts CSV subreddit names--min-scoreThis skips all submissions which have fewer than specified upvotes--max-scoreThis skips all submissions which have more than specified upvotes--min-score-ratioThis skips all submissions which have lower than specified upvote ratio--max-score-ratioThis skips all submissions which have higher than specified upvote ratioArchiver OptionsThe following options are for thearchivecommand specifically.--all-commentsWhen combined with the--useroption, this will download all the user's comments-f, --formatThis specifies the format of the data file saved to diskThe following formats are available:json(default)xmlyaml--comment-contextThis option will, instead of downloading an individual comment, download the submission that comment is a part ofMay result in a longer run time as it retrieves much more dataCloner OptionsTheclonecommand can take all the options listed above for both thearchiveanddownloadcommands since it performs the functions of both.Common Command TricksA common use case is for subreddits/users to be loaded from a file. The BDFR supports this via YAML file options (--opts my_opts.yaml).Alternatively, you can use the command-linexargsfunction.
For a list of usersusers.txt(one user per line), type:catusers.txt|xargs-L1echo--user|xargs-L50bdfrdownload<ARGS>The part-L 50is to make sure that the character limit for a single line isn't exceeded, but may not be necessary. This can also be used to load subreddits from a file, simply exchange--userwith--subredditand so on.Authentication and SecurityThe BDFR uses OAuth2 authentication to connect to Reddit if authentication is required. This means that it is a secure, token-based system for making requests. This also means that the BDFR only has access to specific parts of the account authenticated, by default only saved posts, upvoted posts, and the identity of the authenticated account. Note that authentication is not required unless accessing private things like upvoted posts, saved posts, and private multireddits.To authenticate, the BDFR will first look for a token in the configuration file that signals that there's been a previous authentication. If this is not there, then the BDFR will attempt to register itself with your account. This is normal, and if you run the program, it will pause and show a Reddit URL. Click on this URL and it will take you to Reddit, where the permissions being requested will be shown. Read this andconfirm that there are no more permissions than needed to run the program. You should not grant unneeded permissions; by default, the BDFR only requests permission to read your saved or upvoted submissions and identify as you.If the permissions look safe, confirm it, and the BDFR will save a token that will allow it to authenticate with Reddit from then on.Changing PermissionsMost users will not need to do anything extra to use any of the current features. However, if additional features such as scraping messages, PMs, etc are added in the future, these will require additional scopes. Additionally, advanced users may wish to use the BDFR with their own API key and secret. There is normally no need to do this, but itisallowed by the BDFR.The configuration file for the BDFR contains the API secret and key, as well as the scopes that the BDFR will request when registering itself to a Reddit account via OAuth2. These can all be changed if the user wishes, however do not do so if you don't know what you are doing. The defaults are specifically chosen to have a very low security risk if your token were to be compromised, however unlikely that actually is. Never grant more permissions than you absolutely need.For more details on the configuration file and the values therein, seeConfiguration Files.Folder and File Name SchemesThe naming and folder schemes for the BDFR are both completely customisable. A number of different fields can be given which will be replaced with properties from a submission when downloading it. The scheme format takes the form of{KEY}, whereKEYis a string from the below list.DATEFLAIRPOSTIDREDDITORSUBREDDITTITLEUPVOTESEach of these can be enclosed in curly bracket,{}, and included in the name. For example, to just title every downloaded post with the unique submission ID, you can use{POSTID}. Static strings can also be included, such asdownload_{POSTID}which will not change from submission to submission. For example, the previous string will result in the following submission file names:download_aaaaaa.pngdownload_bbbbbb.pngAt least one keymustbe included in the file scheme, otherwise an error will be thrown. The folder scheme however, can be null or a simple static string. In the former case, all files will be placed in the folder specified with thedirectoryargument. If the folder scheme is a static string, then all submissions will be placed in a folder of that name. In both cases, there will be no separation between all submissions.It is highly recommended that the file name scheme contain the parameter{POSTID}as this isthe only parameter guaranteed to be unique. No combination of other keys will necessarily be unique and may result in posts being skipped as the BDFR will see files by the same name and skip the download, assuming that they are already downloaded.ConfigurationThe configuration files are, by default, stored in the configuration directory for the user. This differs depending on the OS that the BDFR is being run on. For Windows, this will be:C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\BDFR\bdfrIf Python has been installed through the Windows Store, the folder will appear in a different place. Note that the hash included in the file path may change from installation to installation.C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Packages\PythonSoftwareFoundation.Python.3.9_qbz5n2kfra8p0\LocalCache\Local\BDFR\bdfrOn Mac OSX, this will be:~/Library/Application Support/bdfr.Lastly, on a Linux system, this will be:~/.config/bdfr/The logging output for each run of the BDFR will be saved to this directory in the filelog_output.txt. If you need to submit a bug, it is this file that you will need to submit with the report.Configuration FileTheconfig.cfgis the file that supplies the BDFR with the configuration to use. At the moment, the following keysmustbe included in the configuration file supplied.client_idclient_secretscopesThe following keys are optional, and defaults will be used if they cannot be found.backup_log_countmax_wait_timetime_formatdisabled_modulesfilename-restriction-schemeAll of these should not be modified unless you know what you're doing, as the default values will enable the BDFR to function just fine. A configuration is included in the BDFR when it is installed, and this will be placed in the configuration directory as the default.Most of these values have to do with OAuth2 configuration and authorisation. The keybackup_log_counthowever has to do with the log rollover. The logs in the configuration directory can be verbose and for long runs of the BDFR, can grow quite large. To combat this, the BDFR will overwrite previous logs. This value determines how many previous run logs will be kept. The default is 3, which means that the BDFR will keep at most three past logs plus the current one. Any runs past this will overwrite the oldest log file, called "rolling over". If you want more records of past runs, increase this number.Time Formatting CustomisationThe optiontime_formatwill specify the format of the timestamp that replaces{DATE}in filename and folder name schemes. By default, this is theISO 8601format which is highly recommended due to its standardised nature. If you don'tneedto change it, it is recommended that you do not. However, you can specify it to anything required with this option. The--time-formatoption supersedes any specification in the configuration fileThe format can be specified through theformat codesthat are standard in the Pythondatetimelibrary.Disabling ModulesThe individual modules of the BDFR, used to download submissions from websites, can be disabled. This is helpful especially in the case of the fallback downloaders, since the--skip-domainoption cannot be effectively used in these cases. For example, the Youtube-DL downloader can retrieve data from hundreds of websites and domains; thus the only way to fully disable it is via the--disable-moduleoption.Modules can be disabled through the command line interface for the BDFR or more permanently in the configuration file via thedisabled_modulesoption. The list of downloaders that can be disabled are the following. Note that they are case-insensitive.DirectDelayForRedditEromeGallery(Reddit Image Galleries)GfycatImgurPornHubRedgifsSelfPost(Reddit Text Post)VidbleVReddit(Reddit Video Post)YoutubeYoutubeDlFallbackRate LimitingThe optionmax_wait_timehas to do with retrying downloads. There are certain HTTP errors that mean that no amount of requests will return the wanted data, but some errors are from rate-limiting. This is when a single client is making so many requests that the remote website cuts the client off to preserve the function of the site. This is a common situation when downloading many resources from the same site. It is polite and best practice to obey the website's wishes in these cases.To this end, the BDFR will sleep for a time before retrying the download, giving the remote server time to "rest". This is done in 60 second increments. For example, if a rate-limiting-related error is given, the BDFR will sleep for 60 seconds before retrying. Then, if the same type of error occurs, it will sleep for another 120 seconds, then 180 seconds, and so on.The option--max-wait-timeand the configuration optionmax_wait_timeboth specify the maximum time the BDFR will wait. If both are present, the command-line option takes precedence. For instance, the default is 120, so the BDFR will wait for 60 seconds, then 120 seconds, and then move one.Note that this results in a total time of 180 seconds trying the same download. If you wish to try to bypass the rate-limiting system on the remote site, increasing the maximum wait time may help. However, note that the actual wait times increase exponentially if the resource is not downloaded i.e. specifying a max value of 300 (5 minutes), can make the BDFR pause for 15 minutes on one submission, not 5, in the worst case.Multiple InstancesThe BDFR can be run in multiple instances with multiple configurations, either concurrently or consecutively. The use of scripting files facilitates this the easiest, either Powershell on Windows operating systems or Bash elsewhere. This allows multiple scenarios to be run with data being scraped from different sources, as any two sets of scenarios might be mutually exclusive i.e. it is not possible to download any combination of data from a single run of the BDFR. To download from multiple users for example, multiple runs of the BDFR are required.Running these scenarios consecutively is done easily, like any single run. Configuration files that differ may be specified with the--configoption to switch between tokens, for example. Otherwise, almost all configuration for data sources can be specified per-run through the command line.Running scenarios concurrently (at the same time) however, is more complicated. The BDFR will look to a single, static place to put the detailed log files, in a directory with the configuration file specified above. If there are multiple instances, or processes, of the BDFR running at the same time, they will all be trying to write to a single file. On Linux and other UNIX based operating systems, this will succeed, though there is a substantial risk that the logfile will be useless due to garbled and jumbled data. On Windows however, attempting this will raise an error that crashes the program as Windows forbids multiple processes from accessing the same file.The way to fix this is to use the--logoption to manually specify where the logfile is to be stored. If the given location is unique to each instance of the BDFR, then it will run fine.Filesystem RestrictionsDifferent filesystems have different restrictions for what files and directories can be named. Thesse are separated into two broad categories: Linux-based filesystems, which have very few restrictions; and Windows-based filesystems, which are much more restrictive in terms if forbidden characters and length of paths.During the normal course of operation, the BDFR detects what filesystem it is running on and formats any filenames and directories to conform to the rules that are expected of it. However, there are cases where this will fail. When running on a Linux-based machine, or another system where the home filesystem is permissive, and accessing a share or drive with a less permissive system, the BDFR will assume that thehomefilesystem's rules apply. For example, when downloading to a SAMBA share from Ubuntu, there will be errors as SAMBA is more restrictive than Ubuntu.The best option would be to always download to a filesystem that is as permission as possible, such as an NFS share or ext4 drive. However, when this is not possible, the BDFR allows for the restriction scheme to be manually specified at either the command-line or in the configuration file. At the command-line, this is done with--filename-restriction-scheme windows, or else an option by the same name in the configuration file.Manipulating LogfilesThe logfiles that the BDFR outputs are consistent and quite detailed and in a format that is amenable to regex. To this end, a number of bash scripts have beenincluded here. They show examples for how to extract successfully downloaded IDs, failed IDs, and more besides.Unsaving postsBack in v1 there was an option to unsave posts from your account when downloading, but it was removed from the core BDFR on v2 as it is considered a read-only tool. However, for those missing this functionality, a script was created that uses the log files to achieve this. There is info on how to use this on the README.md file on the scripts subdirectory.List of currently supported sourcesDirect links (links leading to a file)Delay for RedditEromeGfycatGif Delivery NetworkImgurReddit GalleriesReddit Text PostsReddit VideosRedgifsVidbleYouTubeAny source supported byYT-DLPshould be compatableContributingIf you wish to contribute, seeContributingfor more information.When reporting any issues or interacting with the developers, please follow theCode of Conduct.