diff --git a/.github/workflows/GeneValidator.yml b/.github/workflows/GeneValidator.yml
index 60ebb079..966a84cc 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/GeneValidator.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/GeneValidator.yml
@@ -19,15 +19,12 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        ruby-version: ['2.4.10', '2.5', '2.6', '2.7']
+        ruby-version: ['3.2']
 
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v2
     - name: Set up Ruby
-    # To automatically get bug fixes and new Ruby versions for ruby/setup-ruby,
-    # change this to (see https://github.com/ruby/setup-ruby#versioning):
-    # uses: ruby/setup-ruby@v1
-      uses: ruby/setup-ruby@473e4d8fe5dd94ee328fdfca9f8c9c7afc9dae5e
+      uses: ruby/setup-ruby@v1
       with:
         ruby-version: ${{ matrix.ruby-version }}
         bundler-cache: true # runs 'bundle install' and caches installed gems automatically
diff --git a/.ruby-version b/.ruby-version
index a6c4b4a2..acf9bf09 100644
--- a/.ruby-version
+++ b/.ruby-version
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.4.10
\ No newline at end of file
+3.2.2
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.tool-versions b/.tool-versions
index 09038cb6..f2a971aa 100644
--- a/.tool-versions
+++ b/.tool-versions
@@ -1 +1 @@
-ruby 2.4.0
+ruby 3.2.2
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index c9f6e6aa..7b1f8fbc 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -1,20 +1,25 @@
 PATH
   remote: .
   specs:
-    genevalidator (2.1.11)
+    genevalidator (2.2.0)
       bio (~> 1.4)
       bio-blastxmlparser (~> 2.0)
       genevalidatorapp (~> 2.1.8)
-      ncbi-blast-dbs (= 0.0.6)
+      matrix (~> 0.4.2)
+      net-ftp (~> 0.1.3)
+      prime (~> 0.1.2)
       rack (~> 2.0)
+      rexml (~> 3.2, >= 3.2.6)
       slim (~> 3.0)
       statsample (= 2.1.0)
+      webrick (~> 1.8)
 
 GEM
   remote: http://rubygems.org/
   specs:
     awesome_print (1.9.2)
-    backports (3.21.0)
+    backports (3.24.1)
+    bigdecimal (3.1.6)
     bio (1.5.2)
     bio-blastxmlparser (2.0.4)
       bio-logger
@@ -24,27 +29,33 @@ GEM
     clbustos-rtf (0.4.2)
     daru (0.1.6)
       backports
+    date (3.3.4)
     dirty-memoize (0.0.4)
     distribution (0.8.0)
-    docile (1.3.1)
+    docile (1.4.0)
     extendmatrix (0.4)
+    forwardable (1.3.3)
     genevalidatorapp (2.1.8)
       bio (~> 1.4)
       sinatra (~> 2.0)
       sinatra-cross_origin (~> 0.3)
       slim (~> 3.0)
-    json (2.1.0)
     log4r (1.1.10)
-    mini_portile2 (2.4.0)
+    matrix (0.4.2)
+    mini_portile2 (2.8.5)
     minimization (0.2.5)
       text-table (~> 1.2)
-    minitest (5.11.3)
-    mustermann (1.1.1)
+    minitest (5.21.2)
+    mustermann (2.0.2)
       ruby2_keywords (~> 0.0.1)
-    ncbi-blast-dbs (0.0.6)
-      rake (~> 10.3, >= 10.3.2)
-    nokogiri (1.10.10)
-      mini_portile2 (~> 2.4.0)
+    net-ftp (0.1.4)
+      net-protocol
+      time
+    net-protocol (0.2.2)
+      timeout
+    nokogiri (1.16.2)
+      mini_portile2 (~> 2.8.2)
+      racc (~> 1.4)
     prawn (0.8.4)
       prawn-core (>= 0.8.4, < 0.9)
       prawn-layout (>= 0.8.4, < 0.9)
@@ -54,34 +65,42 @@ GEM
     prawn-security (0.8.4)
     prawn-svg (0.9.1.11)
       prawn (>= 0.8.4)
-    rack (2.2.3)
-    rack-protection (2.1.0)
+    prime (0.1.2)
+      forwardable
+      singleton
+    racc (1.7.3)
+    rack (2.2.8)
+    rack-protection (2.2.4)
       rack
-    rake (10.5.0)
+    rake (13.1.0)
     reportbuilder (1.4.2)
       clbustos-rtf (~> 0.4.0)
       prawn (~> 0.8.4)
       prawn-svg (~> 0.9.1)
       text-table (~> 1.2)
+    rexml (3.2.6)
     rserve-client (0.3.5)
     ruby-ole (1.2.12.2)
-    ruby2_keywords (0.0.4)
+    ruby2_keywords (0.0.5)
     rubyvis (0.6.1)
-    simplecov (0.16.1)
+    simplecov (0.22.0)
       docile (~> 1.1)
-      json (>= 1.8, < 3)
-      simplecov-html (~> 0.10.0)
-    simplecov-html (0.10.2)
-    sinatra (2.1.0)
-      mustermann (~> 1.0)
+      simplecov-html (~> 0.11)
+      simplecov_json_formatter (~> 0.1)
+    simplecov-html (0.12.3)
+    simplecov_json_formatter (0.1.4)
+    sinatra (2.2.4)
+      mustermann (~> 2.0)
       rack (~> 2.2)
-      rack-protection (= 2.1.0)
+      rack-protection (= 2.2.4)
       tilt (~> 2.0)
     sinatra-cross_origin (0.4.0)
+    singleton (0.1.1)
     slim (3.0.9)
       temple (>= 0.7.6, < 0.9)
       tilt (>= 1.3.3, < 2.1)
-    spreadsheet (1.2.9)
+    spreadsheet (1.3.1)
+      bigdecimal
       ruby-ole
     statsample (2.1.0)
       awesome_print (~> 1.6)
@@ -96,8 +115,12 @@ GEM
       spreadsheet (~> 1.1)
     temple (0.8.2)
     text-table (1.2.4)
-    tilt (2.0.10)
-    yard (0.9.16)
+    tilt (2.0.11)
+    time (0.3.0)
+      date
+    timeout (0.4.1)
+    webrick (1.8.1)
+    yard (0.9.34)
 
 PLATFORMS
   ruby
@@ -105,9 +128,9 @@ PLATFORMS
 DEPENDENCIES
   genevalidator!
   minitest (~> 5.10)
-  rake (~> 10.3, >= 10.3.2)
+  rake (~> 13.0)
   simplecov
   yard (~> 0.9.11)
 
 BUNDLED WITH
-   1.17.3
+   2.5.5
diff --git a/Rakefile b/Rakefile
index b5a2baee..245b84bf 100644
--- a/Rakefile
+++ b/Rakefile
@@ -59,36 +59,42 @@ require 'bundler/setup'
 
 TMP_DIR = "#{Rake.original_dir}/tmp".freeze
 APP_NAME = "#{GEMSPEC.name}-#{GEMSPEC.version}".freeze
-PLATFORMS = %w[linux-x86_64 osx].freeze
-TRAVELING_RUBY_VERSION = 'traveling-ruby-20210206-2.4.10'.freeze
-TRAVELING_RUBYGEMS_VERSION = 'traveling-ruby-gems-20210206-2.4.10'.freeze
-NOKOGIRI_VERSION = 'nokogiri-1.10.10'.freeze
+PLATFORMS = %w[linux-x86_64 osx-x86_64 osx-arm64].freeze
+TR_RUBY_VERSION = '3.2'.freeze
+TRAVELING_RUBY_BASE_URL = "https://github.com/YOU54F/traveling-ruby/releases/download/rel-20230803"
+TRAVELING_RUBY_VERSION = "traveling-ruby-20230803-3.2.2".freeze
+TRAVELING_RUBYGEMS_VERSION = "traveling-ruby-gems-20230803-3.2.2".freeze
+NOKOGIRI_VERSION = 'nokogiri-1.15.3'.freeze
 MAFFT = {
-  version: '7.475',
-  'linux-x86_64': 'https://mafft.cbrc.jp/alignment/software/mafft-7.475-linux.tgz',
-  osx: 'https://mafft.cbrc.jp/alignment/software/mafft-7.475-mac.zip'
+  version: '7.490',
+  'linux-x86_64': 'https://mafft.cbrc.jp/alignment/software/mafft-7.520-linux.tgz',
+  'osx-x86_64': 'https://mafft.cbrc.jp/alignment/software/mafft-7.490-mac.zip',
+  'osx-arm64': 'https://mafft.cbrc.jp/alignment/software/mafft-7.490-mac.zip'
 }.freeze
 BLAST = {
-  version: '2.11.0+',
-  'linux-x86_64': 'https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/blast/executables/blast+/2.11.0/ncbi-blast-2.11.0+-x64-linux.tar.gz',
-  osx: 'https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/blast/executables/blast+/2.11.0/ncbi-blast-2.11.0+-x64-macosx.tar.gz'
+  version: '2.15.0+',
+  'linux-x86_64': 'https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/blast/executables/blast+/2.15.0/ncbi-blast-2.15.0+-x64-linux.tar.gz',
+  'osx-x86_64': 'https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/blast/executables/blast+/2.15.0/ncbi-blast-2.15.0+-x64-macosx.tar.gz',
+  'osx-arm64': 'https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/blast/executables/blast+/2.15.0/ncbi-blast-2.15.0+-x64-macosx.tar.gz'
 }.freeze
 JQ = {
-  version: '1.6',
-  'linux-x86_64': 'https://github.com/stedolan/jq/releases/download/jq-1.6/jq-linux64',
-  osx: 'https://github.com/stedolan/jq/releases/download/jq-1.6/jq-osx-amd64'
+  version: '1.7.1',
+  'linux-x86_64': 'https://github.com/jqlang/jq/releases/download/jq-1.7.1/jq-linux-amd64',
+  'osx-x86_64': 'https://github.com/jqlang/jq/releases/download/jq-1.7.1/jq-macos-amd64',
+  'osx-arm64': 'https://github.com/jqlang/jq/releases/download/jq-1.7.1/jq-macos-arm64'
 }.freeze
 CSVTK = {
-  version: '0.21.0',
-  'linux-x86_64': 'https://github.com/shenwei356/csvtk/releases/download/v0.21.0/csvtk_linux_amd64.tar.gz',
-  osx: 'https://github.com/shenwei356/csvtk/releases/download/v0.21.0/csvtk_darwin_amd64.tar.gz'
+  version: '0.29.0',
+  'linux-x86_64': 'https://github.com/shenwei356/csvtk/releases/download/v0.29.0/csvtk_linux_amd64.tar.gz',
+  'osx-x86_64': 'https://github.com/shenwei356/csvtk/releases/download/v0.29.0/csvtk_darwin_amd64.tar.gz',
+  'osx-arm64': 'https://github.com/shenwei356/csvtk/releases/download/v0.29.0/csvtk_darwin_arm64.tar.gz'
 }.freeze
 
 desc 'Create standalone GeneValidator packages'
 task :package do
   rm_rf TMP_DIR
   mkdir TMP_DIR
-  task('package:build' => ['package:linux-x86_64', 'package:osx']).invoke
+  task('package:build' => ['package:linux-x86_64', 'package:osx-x86_64', 'package:osx-arm64']).invoke
   rm_rf TMP_DIR
 end
 
@@ -101,12 +107,12 @@ end
 # ## TO RUN with DOCKER
 # Start docker, mounting an empty folder called `output`:
 #
-# `docker run --rm -it -v $PWD/output:/gv ruby:2.4.10 /bin/bash`
+# `docker run --rm -it -v $PWD/output:/gv ruby:3.2.2 /bin/bash`
 #
 # Then inside the shell:
 #
 # ```
-# apt update && apt install unzip && gem install bundler -v 1.17.3
+# apt update && apt install unzip && gem install bundler
 # cd /gv
 # git clone https://github.com/wurmlab/genevalidator
 # cd genevalidator
@@ -202,8 +208,9 @@ namespace :package do
 
   desc 'Install gems to local directory'
   task :bundle_install do
-    if RUBY_VERSION !~ /^2\.4\./
-      abort "You can only 'bundle install' using Ruby 2.4, because that's " \
+    puts "Using Ruby #{TR_RUBY_VERSION}"
+    if RUBY_VERSION !~ /^3\.2\./
+      abort "You can only 'bundle install' using Ruby #{TR_RUBY_VERSION}, because that's " \
             'what Traveling Ruby uses.'
     end
 
@@ -213,12 +220,12 @@ namespace :package do
     end
 
     cd TMP_DIR do
-      Bundler.with_clean_env do
-        sh "env BUNDLE_IGNORE_CONFIG=1 BUNDLE_GEMFILE=#{TMP_DIR}/Gemfile" \
+      Bundler.with_unbundled_env do
+        sh "env BUNDLE_IGNORE_CONFIG=1 BUNDLE_GEMFILE=#{TMP_DIR}/Gemfile BUNDLE_FORCE_RUBY_PLATFORM=1" \
            ' bundle install --path vendor --without development test'
       end
 
-      cd 'vendor/ruby/2.4.0' do
+      cd "vendor/ruby/#{TR_RUBY_VERSION}.0" do
         cd 'gems' do
           mkdir APP_NAME
           %w[aux lib].each { |d| cp_r "#{Rake.original_dir}/#{d}", APP_NAME }
@@ -253,9 +260,9 @@ namespace :package do
     cd "#{TMP_DIR}/vendor" do
       sh 'rm -f */*/cache/*'
       sh 'rm -rf ruby/*/extensions'
-      sh "find ruby/2.4.0/gems -name '*.so' | xargs rm -f"
-      sh "find ruby/2.4.0/gems -name '*.bundle' | xargs rm -f"
-      sh "find ruby/2.4.0/gems -name '*.o' | xargs rm -f"
+      sh "find ruby/#{TR_RUBY_VERSION}.0/gems -name '*.bundle' | xargs rm -f"
+      sh "find ruby/#{TR_RUBY_VERSION}.0/gems -name '*.so' | xargs rm -f"
+      sh "find ruby/#{TR_RUBY_VERSION}.0/gems -name '*.o' | xargs rm -f"
 
       # Remove tests
       %w[test tests spec features benchmark].each do |dir|
@@ -284,9 +291,9 @@ namespace :package do
       sh "find ruby -name '*.h' | xargs rm -f"
       sh "find ruby -name '*.rl' | xargs rm -f"
       sh "find ruby -name 'extconf.rb' | xargs rm -f"
-      sh "find ruby/2.4.0/gems -name '*.o' | xargs rm -f"
-      sh "find ruby/2.4.0/gems -name '*.so' | xargs rm -f"
-      sh "find ruby/2.4.0/gems -name '*.bundle' | xargs rm -f"
+      sh "find ruby/#{TR_RUBY_VERSION}.0/gems -name '*.o' | xargs rm -f"
+      sh "find ruby/#{TR_RUBY_VERSION}.0/gems -name '*.so' | xargs rm -f"
+      sh "find ruby/#{TR_RUBY_VERSION}.0/gems -name '*.bundle' | xargs rm -f"
 
       # Remove Java files. They're only used for JRuby support
       sh "find ruby -name '*.java' | xargs rm -f"
@@ -306,12 +313,12 @@ end
 
 def download_runtime(platform)
   sh "curl -L --fail -o #{TMP_DIR}/#{TRAVELING_RUBY_VERSION}-#{platform}.tar.gz " \
-     "https://d6r77u77i8pq3.cloudfront.net/releases/#{TRAVELING_RUBY_VERSION}-#{platform}.tar.gz"
+     "#{TRAVELING_RUBY_BASE_URL}/#{TRAVELING_RUBY_VERSION}-#{platform}.tar.gz"
 end
 
 def download_native_extension(platform, gem_name_and_version)
   sh "curl -L --fail -o #{TMP_DIR}/#{TRAVELING_RUBY_VERSION}-#{platform}-#{gem_name_and_version}.tar.gz " \
-     "https://d6r77u77i8pq3.cloudfront.net/releases/#{TRAVELING_RUBYGEMS_VERSION}-#{platform}/#{gem_name_and_version}.tar.gz"
+     "#{TRAVELING_RUBY_BASE_URL}/#{TRAVELING_RUBYGEMS_VERSION}-#{platform}-#{gem_name_and_version}.tar.gz"
 end
 
 def process_package(url, package_name)
@@ -335,7 +342,7 @@ def edited_gemspec_content
     next if index < 4 # skip first four lines
     l = "s.version = '#{GEMSPEC.version}'\n" if l =~ /^\s+s.version/
     l = "s.files = ['#{file_list.join("','")}']\n" if l =~ /^\s+s.files/
-    l = "s.add_dependency 'nokogiri', '1.10.10'\nend" if l =~ /^end/
+    l = "s.add_dependency 'nokogiri', '#{NOKOGIRI_VERSION.split('-').last}'\nend" if l =~ /^end/
     edited_gemspec << l
   end
   edited_gemspec.join
@@ -347,7 +354,7 @@ source 'http://rubygems.org'
 gem 'bio', '~> 1.4'
 gem 'bio-blastxmlparser', '~> 2.0'
 gem '#{GEMSPEC.name}', '#{GEMSPEC.version}'
-gem 'nokogiri', '1.10.10'
+gem 'nokogiri', '#{NOKOGIRI_VERSION.split('-').last}'
 gem 'statsample', '2.1.0'
 GEMFILE
 
diff --git a/bin/genevalidator b/bin/genevalidator
index d6c9ccd4..2a172ae9 100755
--- a/bin/genevalidator
+++ b/bin/genevalidator
@@ -464,9 +464,15 @@ elsif command == 'serve'
   }
 elsif command == 'ncbi-blast-dbs'
   require 'rake'
-  load 'ncbi-blast-dbs.rake'
 
-  Rake.application.init 'ncbi-blast-dbs'
+  if ARGV.include? "http"
+    load "genevalidator/ncbi-blast-dbs/http-ncbi-blast-dbs.rake"
+    Rake.application.init 'http-ncbi-blast-dbs'
+  else
+    load "genevalidator/ncbi-blast-dbs/ncbi-blast-dbs.rake"
+    Rake.application.init 'ncbi-blast-dbs'
+  end
+
   Rake.application.load_imports
   Rake.application.top_level
 
diff --git a/genevalidator.gemspec b/genevalidator.gemspec
index 4b1c12b8..1b616a42 100644
--- a/genevalidator.gemspec
+++ b/genevalidator.gemspec
@@ -18,16 +18,20 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.required_ruby_version = '>= 2.2.0'
 
   s.add_development_dependency 'minitest', '~> 5.10'
-  s.add_development_dependency 'rake', '~> 10.3', '>= 10.3.2'
+  s.add_development_dependency 'rake', '~> 13.0'
   s.add_development_dependency 'yard', '~> 0.9.11'
 
   s.add_dependency 'bio', '~> 1.4'
   s.add_dependency 'bio-blastxmlparser', '~> 2.0'
   s.add_dependency 'genevalidatorapp', '~> 2.1.8'
-  s.add_dependency 'ncbi-blast-dbs', '0.0.6'
+  s.add_dependency 'matrix', '~> 0.4.2' # required by statsample
+  s.add_dependency 'net-ftp', '~> 0.1.3' # required by ncbi-blast-dbs
+  s.add_dependency 'prime', '~> 0.1.2' # required by distribution (statsample)
   s.add_dependency 'rack', '~> 2.0'
   s.add_dependency 'slim', '~>3.0'
   s.add_dependency 'statsample', '2.1.0'
+  s.add_dependency 'rexml', '~> 3.2', '>= 3.2.6' # required by prawn (statsample)
+  s.add_dependency 'webrick', '~> 1.8'
 
   s.files         = `git ls-files -z`.split("\x0")
   s.executables   = s.files.grep(%r{^bin/}) { |f| File.basename(f) }
diff --git a/lib/genevalidator/ext/file.rb b/lib/genevalidator/ext/file.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e0d87c0f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/genevalidator/ext/file.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# Needed for Prawn (from Statsample)
+class File
+  class << self
+    alias_method :exists?, :exist? unless respond_to?(:exists?)
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/genevalidator/ncbi-blast-dbs/http-ncbi-blast-dbs.rake b/lib/genevalidator/ncbi-blast-dbs/http-ncbi-blast-dbs.rake
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..aa276e90
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/genevalidator/ncbi-blast-dbs/http-ncbi-blast-dbs.rake
@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+require 'net/http'
+require 'uri'
+puts "using http-ncbi-dbs-dgs.rake"
+# Downloads tarball at the given URL if a local copy does not exist, or if the
+# local copy is older than at the given URL, or if the local copy is corrupt.
+def download(url, last_to_do)
+  file = File.basename(url)
+
+  # # Resume an interrupted download or fetch the file for the first time. If
+  # # the file on the server is newer, then it is downloaded from start.
+
+  sh "wget -Nc --no-verbose #{url}"
+  # If the local copy is already fully retrieved, then the previous command
+  # ignores the timestamp. So we check with the server again if the file on
+  # the server is newer and if so download the new copy.
+  sh "wget -N --no-verbose #{url}"
+  sh "wget -Nc --no-verbose #{url}.md5"
+  sh "wget -N --no-verbose #{url}.md5"
+  # Immediately download md5 and verify the tarball. Re-download tarball if
+  # corrupt; extract otherwise.
+  sh "md5sum -c #{file}.md5" do |matched, _|
+    if !matched
+      sh "rm #{file} #{file}.md5"; download(url)
+    # too many tar instances unzipping the same file clutter the system
+    elsif file == last_to_do;
+      sh "tar xfov #{file}"
+    else
+      # at least nr and nt tarballs have identical files .?al; unsure of others
+      sh "tar xfov #{file} --exclude='*.?al' --exclude='taxdb*'"
+    end
+  end
+end
+
+
+def databases
+  method = 'https://'
+  host, dir = 'ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov', 'blast/db'
+  uri = URI.parse(method + host + "/" + dir + "/")
+
+  response = Net::HTTP.get_response(uri)
+  body = response.body.split
+
+  array_of_files = []
+  body.each do |line|
+    # regex takes the raw http response, matches lines such as:
+    #    href="tsa_nt.06.tar.gz.md5">tsa_nt.06.tar.gz</a>
+    # Returns:
+    # tsa_nt.06.tar.gz
+    filenames_and_newlines = line[/(^href=".*">)(.*tar.gz|.*md5)(<\/a>)$/, 2]
+    array_of_files.append(filenames_and_newlines) unless filenames_and_newlines.nil?
+  end
+
+  # append the full path to file for downstream wget
+  array_of_files.map! { |string| "".concat("/blast/db/", string ) }
+  array_of_files.
+    map { |file| File.join(host, file) }.
+    select { |file| file.match(/\.tar\.gz$/) }.
+    group_by { |file| File.basename(file).split('.')[0] }
+end
+
+
+# Create user-facing task for each database to drive the download of its
+# volumes in parallel.
+databases.each do |name, files|
+  last = { name => files.last }
+  multitask(name => files.map { |file| task(file) { download(file, last.values.uniq) } })
+end
+
+# List name of all databases that can be downloaded if executed without
+# any arguments.
+task :default do
+  databases
+  puts databases.keys.push('taxdump').join(', ')
+end
+
+task :taxdump do
+  download('https://ftp.ncbi.nih.gov/pub/taxonomy/taxdump.tar.gz', "nil")
+end
+
+# Ruby being over my head, this is my quick-and-dirty way to trick it ignoring
+# "http" as a task rather than a specification. Happy for an expert to fix it up!
+task :http do
+  puts "using http method"
+end
diff --git a/lib/genevalidator/ncbi-blast-dbs/ncbi-blast-dbs.rake b/lib/genevalidator/ncbi-blast-dbs/ncbi-blast-dbs.rake
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e02af706
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/genevalidator/ncbi-blast-dbs/ncbi-blast-dbs.rake
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+require 'net/ftp'
+
+# Downloads tarball at the given URL if a local copy does not exist, or if the
+# local copy is older than at the given URL, or if the local copy is corrupt.
+def download(url)
+  file = File.basename(url)
+  # Resume an interrupted download or fetch the file for the first time. If
+  # the file on the server is newer, then it is downloaded from start.
+  sh "wget -Nc --no-verbose #{url}"
+  # If the local copy is already fully retrieved, then the previous command
+  # ignores the timestamp. So we check with the server again if the file on
+  # the server is newer and if so download the new copy.
+  sh "wget -N --no-verbose #{url}"
+
+  # Download Md5
+  sh "wget --no-verbose #{url}.md5"
+
+  # Verify the tarball using md5sum or md5
+  if system("which md5sum > /dev/null")
+    matched = system("md5sum -c #{file}.md5")
+  elsif system("which md5 > /dev/null")
+    md5_out = %x[md5 -q #{file}].chomp
+    md5_actual = File.read("#{file}.md5").split[0]
+    matched = md5_out == md5_actual
+  else
+    puts "Cannot find md5sum or md5. Please install md5sum or md5 and try again"
+    exit 1
+  end
+
+  # Re-download tarball if corrupt; extract otherwise.
+  if !matched
+    sh "rm #{file} #{file}.md5"; download(url)
+  else
+    sh "tar xf #{file}"
+  end
+end
+
+# Connects to NCBI's FTP server, gets the URL of all database volumes and
+# returns them grouped by database name:
+#
+#     {'nr' => ['ftp://...', ...], 'nt' => [...], ...}
+#
+def databases
+  host, dir = 'ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov', 'blast/db'
+  usr, pswd = 'anonymous', ENV['email']
+
+  Net::FTP.open(host, usr, pswd) do |con|
+    con.passive = true
+    con.nlst(dir).
+      map { |file| File.join(host, file) }.
+      select { |file| file.match(/\.tar\.gz$/) }.
+      group_by { |file| File.basename(file).split('.')[0] }
+  end
+end
+
+# Create user-facing task for each database to drive the download of its
+# volumes in parallel.
+databases.each do |name, files|
+  multitask(name => files.map { |file| task(file) { download(file) } })
+end
+
+# Taxonomy database is different from sequence databases.
+task :taxdump do
+  download 'ftp://ftp.ncbi.nih.gov/pub/taxonomy/taxdump.tar.gz'
+end
+
+# List name of all databases that can be downloaded if executed without
+# any arguments.
+task :default do
+  puts databases.keys.push('taxdump').join(', ')
+end
diff --git a/lib/genevalidator/validation.rb b/lib/genevalidator/validation.rb
index 12fec5eb..1f79a344 100644
--- a/lib/genevalidator/validation.rb
+++ b/lib/genevalidator/validation.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 require 'forwardable'
-# Statsample: must loaded before /ext/array as they modify a built-in class
+# Statsample: must loaded after ext/file as they use a deprecated method - File.exists?
+# And before /ext/array as they modify a built-in class
+require 'genevalidator/ext/file'
 require 'statsample'
 
 require 'genevalidator/blast'
diff --git a/lib/genevalidator/version.rb b/lib/genevalidator/version.rb
index 5d749760..988e8761 100644
--- a/lib/genevalidator/version.rb
+++ b/lib/genevalidator/version.rb
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 module GeneValidator
-  VERSION = '2.1.12'.freeze
+  VERSION = '2.2.0'.freeze
 end