{"id":9238,"library":"pySmartDL","title":"pySmartDL","description":"pySmartDL is a Smart Download Manager for Python, providing features such as built-in download acceleration, mirror support, pause/unpause, speed limiting, and hash checking. It operates in a non-blocking manner and shows a progress bar, download speed, and ETA. The library version 1.3.4 was last updated on PyPI in September 2020, and the original project is not actively maintained, though a community fork exists.","status":"maintenance","version":"1.3.4","language":"en","source_language":"en","source_url":"https://github.com/iTaybb/pySmartDL","tags":["download manager","http","acceleration","mirror","hash checking"],"install":[{"cmd":"pip install pySmartDL","lang":"bash","label":"Install latest stable version"}],"dependencies":[{"reason":"Requires Python 3.4 or greater for the 1.3.4 release.","package":"Python","optional":false}],"imports":[{"symbol":"SmartDL","correct":"from pySmartDL import SmartDL"},{"note":"Import HashFailedException for specific error handling.","symbol":"HashFailedException","correct":"from pySmartDL import SmartDL, HashFailedException"}],"quickstart":{"code":"import os\nfrom pySmartDL import SmartDL\n\n# A URL to download (using a dummy placeholder for actual use)\nurl = \"https://example.com/some_file.zip\" \n# Ensure the destination directory exists\ndest = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), \"downloads\")\nos.makedirs(dest, exist_ok=True)\n\nobj = SmartDL(url, dest)\nobj.start() # Blocks until download is complete\n\nif obj.isSuccessful():\n    print(f\"Download finished: {obj.get_dest()}\")\nelse:\n    print(\"Download failed. Errors:\")\n    for e in obj.get_errors():\n        print(str(e))","lang":"python","description":"This quickstart downloads a file to a specified destination. The `SmartDL` object's `start()` method is blocking by default. Error handling is included to report any download failures."},"warnings":[{"fix":"Consider migrating to the `pysmartdl2` fork (`pip install pysmartdl2`) for ongoing support and updates, or be aware that the original library may have unpatched issues.","message":"The original `pySmartDL` project (iTaybb/pySmartDL) is no longer actively maintained. While it may still function, it does not receive new features, bug fixes, or compatibility updates for newer Python versions or web standards. A community-maintained fork, `pysmartdl2`, exists.","severity":"deprecated","affected_versions":"1.3.4 and older"},{"fix":"Try passing custom headers to `SmartDL` using the `request_args` parameter, including a `User-Agent`. Example: `obj = SmartDL(url, dest, request_args={'headers': {'User-Agent': 'Mozilla/5.0'}})`","message":"HTTP 403 Forbidden errors can occur when downloading from certain URLs. This is often due to websites blocking requests that don't mimic a standard browser, for example, by checking the User-Agent header or requiring specific cookies/referrers.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"All versions"},{"fix":"To catch exceptions like `HashFailedException` directly, call `obj.start(blocking=True)` or `obj.wait(raise_exceptions=True)` within a `try...except` block. Otherwise, inspect `obj.get_errors()` after the download finishes.","message":"By default, `SmartDL.wait()` does not raise exceptions, instead storing them internally, which can make debugging difficult. The `SmartDL.start()` method, when called without arguments, internally calls `wait()`.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"All versions"},{"fix":"Only set `verify=False` if you understand and accept the security implications, typically in trusted environments or for specific, non-sensitive internal resources. `obj = SmartDL(url, dest, verify=False)`","message":"The `verify` parameter in `SmartDL` controls SSL certificate validation (default is `True`). Disabling it can resolve SSL-related connection issues but exposes the application to security vulnerabilities by bypassing certificate checks.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"All versions"}],"env_vars":null,"last_verified":"2026-04-16T00:00:00.000Z","next_check":"2026-07-15T00:00:00.000Z","problems":[{"fix":"Ensure the library is installed in the correct environment: `pip install pySmartDL`","cause":"The `pySmartDL` library is not installed, or the Python environment where the script is run does not have access to the installed package.","error":"ImportError: No module named pySmartDL"},{"fix":"Verify the source of the file and the correctness of the expected hash. If mirrors are provided, `pySmartDL` will attempt other mirrors. If the issue persists, the downloaded content is genuinely different from its expected hash.","cause":"The downloaded file's hash does not match the expected hash provided by `add_hash_verification()`, indicating data corruption or a tampered file.","error":"pySmartDL.HashFailedException: HashFailedException(filename, got calculated_hash, expected needed_hash)"},{"fix":"Inspect `obj.get_errors()` for details. For 403 errors, try adding a `User-Agent` header via `request_args`: `SmartDL(url, dest, request_args={'headers': {'User-Agent': 'Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; pySmartDL/1.3.4)'}})`. For 404, check the URL.","cause":"The server denied access to the URL, the URL does not exist, or there's a server-side issue. This can often be due to missing or incorrect HTTP headers (e.g., User-Agent, Referer) or rate limiting.","error":"HTTP Error 403: Forbidden (or similar HTTP error codes like 404, 500)"}]}