user128430: I'd like to download all the blockheaders for the blockchain directly from the network (not an external API) ... what is the best way to do this?
I don't actually care about the transaction data and have no need for it, specifically, I need the difficulty level at each block, along with the timestamp. I know there are API's etc. to get this information but I specifically do not want to do that for my use case. I would not like to run the entire bitcoind service locally (there is too much overhead downloading the whole chain, verifying it etc.)

user109558: You can make it with getheaders p2p message, will return headers of blocks in a range.
Remember of handshaking and setting tx-relay to false.

128430: <p>I'd like to download all the blockheaders for the blockchain directly from the network (not an external API) ... what is the best way to do this?</p>
<p>I don't actually care about the transaction data and have no need for it, specifically, I need the difficulty level at each block, along with the timestamp. I know there are API's etc. to get this information but I specifically do not want to do that for my use case. I would not like to run the entire bitcoind service locally (there is too much overhead downloading the whole chain, verifying it etc.)</p>
 109558: <p>You can make it with <a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Protocol_documentation#getheaders" rel="nofollow noreferrer">getheaders</a> p2p message, will return headers of blocks in a range.<br />
Remember of <a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Protocol_documentation#version" rel="nofollow noreferrer">handshaking</a> and setting tx-relay to false.</p>
