SABnzbd
Encyclopedia
SABnzbd is a multi-platform open source news client
News client
A newsreader is an application program that reads articles on Usenet . Newsreaders act as clients which connect to a news server, via the Network News Transfer Protocol , to download articles and post new articles...

 targeted at efficient retrieval of Usenet
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...

 binary posts.
It's written in Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...

 and works on Windows, Mac OS X and POSIX-compliant systems. It tries to offer maximum automation in downloading and post processing.

Contrary to conventional news readers, the program doesn't offer actual news reading. Instead it relies on the input of NZB
NZB
NZB is an XML-based file format for retrieving posts from NNTP servers. The format was conceived by the developers of the Newzbin.com Usenet Index. NZB is effective when used with search-capable websites. These websites create NZB files out of what is needed to be downloaded...

 files obtained from indexing sites. It's also able to automatically read and process RSS
RSS
-Mathematics:* Root-sum-square, the square root of the sum of the squares of the elements of a data set* Residual sum of squares in statistics-Technology:* RSS , "Really Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary", a family of web feed formats...

 feeds from such indexing sites.

The program doesn't have a native GUI
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...

 but functions as a web server
Web server
Web server can refer to either the hardware or the software that helps to deliver content that can be accessed through the Internet....

, relying on the use of a web browser
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...

. This makes it suitable for usage on (headless) servers
Headless system
A headless system is a computer system or device that has been configured to operate without a monitor , keyboard and mouse...

.

History

In 2006 the Austrian developer Gregor Kaufmann (using the "handle" tdian on SourceForge.net) published a Python program called SABnzbd. While still in a primitive state, the program was picked up by Usenet fans tired of manually downloading, par-checking and unpacking Usenet material.
About a year later, tdian announced that he stopped the project.
A small team took over the program and extended the automation features and engineered it into a product suitable for a less technically inclined audience.

There is some confusion about the name. When the current team forked
Fork (software development)
In software engineering, a project fork happens when developers take a legal copy of source code from one software package and start independent development on it, creating a distinct piece of software...

 the original author's abandoned project, they had to pick a new name because the author kept the existing SourceForge project. The new team picked SABnzbdPlus, but refer to their software as SABnzbd in all other outings.

The team moved their source code hosting over from Assembla.com to Launchpad.net.

Support

"Official" support is on the developers forum.

There's also a lively discussion on somethingawful.com.

Popularity

The program received a number of positive reviews in computer magazines and websites. What is primarily praised is the extent of automation (limiting the user's exposure to the actual GUI
Gui
Gui or guee is a generic term to refer to grilled dishes in Korean cuisine. These most commonly have meat or fish as their primary ingredient, but may in some cases also comprise grilled vegetables or other vegetarian ingredients. The term derives from the verb, "gupda" in Korean, which literally...

).

SABnzbd+ surpassed 2 million downloads via SourceForge in November 2010, though the total numbers of downloads in unknown due to its availability in various distributions of Linux.
The latest stable release has had about 340.000 downloads according to SourceForge's download statistics.

See also

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK