diff --git a/etc/get.lua b/etc/get.lua
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4a17cfc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/etc/get.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+assert(dofile("../lua/buffer.lua"))
+assert(dofile("../lua/ftp.lua"))
+assert(dofile("../lua/base64.lua"))
+assert(dofile("../lua/http.lua"))
+
+-- format a number of bytes per second into a human readable form
+function strbps(b)
+	local l = "B/s"
+	if b > 1024 then
+		b = b / 1024
+		l = "KB/s"
+		if b > 1024 then
+			b = b / 1024
+			l = "MB/s"
+			if b > 1024 then
+				b = b / 1024
+				l = "GB/s" -- hmmm
+			end
+		end
+	end
+	return format("%.2f%s     ", b, l)
+end
+
+-- creates a new instance of a receive_cb that saves to disk
+-- kind of copied from luasocket's manual callback examples
+function receive2disk(file)
+	local aux = {
+        start = _time(),
+        got = 0,
+        file = openfile(file, "wb")
+    }
+    local receive_cb = function(chunk, err)
+        local dt = _time() - %aux.start          -- elapsed time since start
+        if not chunk or chunk == "" then
+			write("\n")
+            closefile(%aux.file)
+            return
+        end
+        write(%aux.file, chunk)
+        %aux.got = %aux.got + strlen(chunk)      -- total bytes received
+        if dt < 0.1 then return 1 end            -- not enough time for estimate
+        local rate = %aux.got / dt               -- get download rate
+        write("\r" .. strbps(rate))      -- print estimate
+        return 1
+    end
+	return receive_cb
+end
+
+-- stolen from http implementation
+function split_url(url, default)
+    -- initialize default parameters
+    local parsed = default or {}
+    -- get scheme
+    url = gsub(url, "^(.+)://", function (s) %parsed.scheme = s end)
+    -- get user name and password. both can be empty!
+    -- moreover, password can be ommited
+    url = gsub(url, "^([^@:/]*)(:?)([^:@/]-)@", function (u, c, p)
+        %parsed.user = u
+        -- there can be an empty password, but the ':' has to be there
+        -- or else there is no password
+        %parsed.pass = nil -- kill default password
+        if c == ":" then %parsed.pass = p end
+    end)
+    -- get host
+    url = gsub(url, "^([%w%.%-]+)", function (h) %parsed.host = h end)
+    -- get port if any
+    url = gsub(url, "^:(%d+)", function (p) %parsed.port = p end)
+    -- whatever is left is the path
+    if url ~= "" then parsed.path = url end
+    return parsed
+end
+
+-- stolen from http implementation
+function get_statuscode(line)
+    local _,_, code = strfind(line, " (%d%d%d) ")
+    return tonumber(code)
+end
+
+function getbyftp(url, file)
+    local err = ftp_getindirect(url, receive2disk(file), "b")
+	if err then print(err) else print("done.") end
+end
+
+function getbyhttp(url, file)
+    local hdrs, line, err = http_getindirect(url, receive2disk(file))
+	if line and get_statuscode(line) == 200 then print("done.")
+	elseif line then print(line) else print(err) end
+end
+
+function get(url, file)
+	local parsed = split_url(url)
+	if parsed.scheme == "ftp" then getbyftp(url, file)
+	else getbyhttp(url, file) end
+end
+
+arg = arg or {}
+if getn(arg) < 2 then 
+	write("Usage:\n  luasocket -f get.lua <remote-url> <local-file>\n")
+	exit(1)
+else get(arg[1], arg[2]) end