netbrake

Netbrake is a highly effective process-oriented utility that lets you seamlessly limit the bandwidth used by any process without having to modify the kernel or root your device. It's a great tool for when you need to download large files from fast servers to prevent network congestion that could end up slowing down your web browsing, chatting, and other online experiences. Personally, I've used Netbrake to download huge files like kernel source code with wget.

One of the standout features of Netbrake is its implementation of a simple HTTP filesystem extension. This allows you to use standard text utilities against some URL without having to change any code or compile anything. The core of Netbrake is a small dynamic library called libnetbrake.so that comes with wrappers for essential system calls, which is what enables the bandwidth limitation. To use these wrappers, all you need to do is leverage LD_PRELOAD. Additionally, the software package includes a straightforward program called netbrake that exports the right LD_PRELOAD environment variable and runs the specified command that you want to limit.

Netbrake requires glibc, and while it is an effective utility, it is still considered to be in its early stages. Currently, the software is at version 0.2 and was designed as a quick hack for internal use, so there are no guarantees that it will be maintained or extended beyond what it already offers. Any minor fixes or improvement suggestions can be sent in for consideration. In the latest 0.2 version, a compilation bug that affected new glibc versions was fixed.