Errors
What the number means.
Most download failures report an HTTP code. Knowing which side the fault is on saves the time you would spend retrying.
HTTP codes
- 400
- Bad request — the server did not understand the URL
- 403
- Forbidden — the file exists but you are not allowed to fetch it
- 404
- Not found — the link is dead or was mistyped
- 414
- URL too long for the server to accept
- 500
- Server error — the fault is on the far end, try later
- 501
- Not implemented — the server refuses the method
- 502
- Bad gateway — a proxy in between failed
- 503
- Service unavailable — the server is overloaded or down
Which are yours to fix
Codes in the 400s are about the request: a dead link, a file behind a login, an address that was cut when copied. Retrying will not help; the link needs to change.
Codes in the 500s are about the server. Retrying later often does help, and the scheduler exists partly for that.
Each code has its own page in the documentation, with what the program does automatically.