BrokenLinks 2.5 build: 9470 released: 2012-02-28

tracks and repairs broken links and redirected links in conjunction with Xenu. Also includes utility to tidy URLs on a website..

Copyright: (c) 2012 Canadian Mind Products.

Java application.
Download from: http://mindprod.com/products1.html#BROKENLINKS
View formatted HTML Manual online at: http://mindprod.com/application/brokenlinks.manual.html

===> Free <===
Full source included.
You may even include the source code, modified or unmodified
in free/commercial open source/proprietary programs that you write and distribute.
May be used freely for any purpose but military.
For more details on this restriction, see
http://mindprod.com/contact/nonmil.html
If you include any Canadian Mind Products code in your own applications,
your app too must be labeled non-military use only.
All Java jars and source code are included.

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Prerequisites:

This program runs under any OS,
(e.g. Win2K/XP/Vista/W7x86/W7-64/OSX/Linux/Solaris/AIX...) so long as you have
<><> Java version 1.6 <><> or later installed (32-bit or 64-bit Java).
See http://mindprod.com/jgloss/installingjava.html for details.

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Installing on a PC:

Download source and compiled class files to run on your own machine as an application.
First install a recent Java JDK or JVM.
See http://mindprod.com/jgloss/installingjava.html.
To install, extract the zip download with WinZip
(or similar unzip utility) into any directory you please,
often J:\ --  ticking off the "use folder names" option.
To run as an application,type:
java -ea -jar J:\com\mindprod\brokenlinks\brokenlinks.jar {put any parms here}

adjusting as necessary to account for where the jar file is.

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Installing on a MacIntosh:

Use Safari to download source and compiled class files to run on your own machine as an application.
Safari will automatically unpack the zip into ~/Downloads (version 10.5)
[or on the Desktop (version 10.4 and earlier)].
First install a recent Java JDK or JVM.
See http://mindprod.com/jgloss/installingjava.html.
You may optionally move the download tree to a permanent home.
I don't have a MacIntosh, just a PC, so I can't test my Java programs for Mac compatibility.
In theory they should work without problems, but in practice that does not always happen.
If you have problems please, let me know, preferably with screenshots and complete verbatim error messages.
To run as an application, without parameters, just double click the jar file.

To run as an application with parameters, in bash shell type:
open Terminal.app
cd ~/Desktop
java -ea -jar com/mindprod/brokenlinks/brokenlinks.jar {put any parms here}

adjusting as necessary to account for where the jar file is.

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Rebuilding:

The zip already contains the necessary class and jar files, so unless you modify
the program, there is no need to recompile the source or rebuild the jar.
Configure.java basedir="E:/" in rebuild.xml to the drive where your files are.
Use ANT and rebuild.xml, not build.xml, to recompile and recreate the jar.

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Use:

Brokenlinks is a tool to help you find and track broken links on your
website, namely URLs that no longer point to anything useful.  It is a
back end to the Xenu Link Sleuth broken link detector that compensates for
Xenu’s weakness of overwhelming you with reports of links that are not
really broken.

Brokenlinks retests ostensibly broken links and maintains a database of
link integrity history.  It partly compensates for various bugs and
deficiencies in Xenu.

Brokenlinks automatically repairs links that have been redirected,
correcting your HTML to point to the new URL.

BrokenLinks typically discovers that only 1% of the links Xenu reports as
broken actually need to be repaired.  99% of them are just down
temporarily or fail Xenu's quick probe, but pass BrokenLink's more patient
test that more accurately simulates what a real browser does.

TidyURLs cleans up all the hrefs= and src= on your website.  This help
ReplaceURLs work properly.

ReplaceURLs patches URLs in your local website files to the new redirected
values that BrokenLinks finds.

The Brokenlinks manual at:

http://mindprod.com/application/brokenlinks.manual.html

explains in more detail what it is for and how to use it.

Why the scissors logo?  It is a temporary logo until I can find a decent
broken link icon.  It represents a link being cut/broken.


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Version History:

 1.0 2008-07-21 initial version.

 1.1 2008-08-01 export all HTML in one lump, complete with headers and footers.

 1.2 2008-08-08 first version released to the public. No forgiveness on broken local links.
                and text version of summary report.

 1.3 2008-10-29 handle empty URLs.

 1.4 2008-11-29 add suspectForgivenessDays

 1.5 2009-02-14 handle null status, properly delay reporting new broken links.

 1.6 2009-02-20 refactor to use new HTTP library

 1.7 2010-09-10 handle Xenu's new mailto checking.

 1.8 2010-11-14 primitive permanent redirect handling.

 1.9 2010-11-17 export of redirects working. Not yet polished. Add ReplaceURLs.

 2.0 2010-12-30 export permanent and temporary redirects separately.

 2.1 2010-12-31 correct bug in merging original and redirected urls.

 2.2 2011-01-16 and TidyURLs utility to clean up all the hrefs on your website.

 2.3 2011-02-08 handle https: redirects and faster https: link checking.

 2.4 2012-02-26 faster probing using 30 threads. Must delete history.bin to use new version.

 2.5 2012-02-28 faster probing of redirects with 30 threads. No longer need to sort/align results separately.

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