[SOLVED] Pacman's lists update partial fail

marfig · 2010-08-01 23:12:35

I'm trying to understand the ArchLinux upgrade process and how to better organize myself in order to perform it on a regular basis with minimum hassle.
But today I did run into a behavior I need help to understand. Pacman's package lists update (pacman -Syy) cannot retrieve a repo db but proceeds in any case.

Step 1:
I generated a mirrorlist from www.archlinux.org/mirrorlist for my country.

#
# Arch Linux repository mirrorlist
# Generated on 2010-08-01
#

# Portugal
#Server = [url]ftp://cesium.di.uminho.pt/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch[/url]
#Server = [url]http://cesium.di.uminho.pt/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch[/url]
#Server = [url]http://darkstar.ist.utl.pt/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch[/url]
#Server = [url]ftp://ftp.nux.ipb.pt/pub/dists/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch[/url]
#Server = [url]http://ftp.nux.ipb.pt/pub/dists/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch[/url]
#Server = [url]ftp://ftp.rnl.ist.utl.pt/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch[/url]
#Server = [url]http://ftp.rnl.ist.utl.pt/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch[/url]

Step 2:
Pasted that into new file mirrorlist.temp, deleted mirrorlist, and ran rankmirrors script.

rankmirrors -n 0 mirrorlist.temp > mirrorlist

Step 3:
I then tried to sync the packages lists. I got an error:

error: failed retrieving file 'community.db.tar.gz' from cesium.di.uminho.pt : Service not available, closing control connection

Core and extra where synced fine. But it can't do community. It then goes on to upgrade community regardless (I suspect from another mirror on the list) but at an incredible slow speed (between 2k/s and 3k/s)

Questions:
I suspect there is something wrong with this repo file at that mirror. Which is fine, really. I can just remove it from mirrorlist. But three two questions remain:

- Doesn't the mirrorlist generation service at archlinux.org/mirrorlist check for this exact problem?
- What exactly happened there after the error message I got the error message? It's just that my connection to the slowest of the mirrors is a lot faster than 3k/s
- Can I trust -Syy under these conditions, or should I remove that mirror from the list?

Last edited by marfig (2010-08-02 01:19:30)

karol · 2010-08-01 23:44:08

Remove the offending mirror - both http and ftp.

marfig · 2010-08-02 01:07:30

Yes. I understand that. But that didn't answer my questions.

karol · 2010-08-02 01:13:50

marfig wrote:

Yes. I understand that. But that didn't answer my questions.

- Doesn't the mirrorlist generation service at archlinux.org/mirrorlist check for this exact problem?
The mirror may have some intermittent problem - it happens.

- Can I trust -Syy under these conditions, or should I remove that mirror from the list?
If pacman says it can't get the package from some mirror, you can remove it from your mirrorlist.

marfig · 2010-08-02 01:18:43

Thank you.

skunktrader · 2010-08-02 02:57:04

AKAIK rankmirrors is currently broken -- it only sorts the mirrorlist alphabetically

karol · 2010-08-02 03:05:57

skunktrader wrote:

AKAIK rankmirrors is currently broken -- it only sorts the mirrorlist alphabetically

That's right. Coupled with two-tier mirroring Arch is undergoing now it leads to many people being unable to simply -Syu away.

marfig · 2010-08-02 03:22:24

Speed is not much a concern. I'm patient. I've decided to even skip that script entirely. I was a bit more distraught by learning I couldn't entirely trust the archlinux.org/mirrorlist service. But truth be told I may have misinterpreted its purpose.

Anyways, seems safer and more practical to keep a list of trusty mirrors and just check https://www.archlinux.de/?page=MirrorStatus. I suspect this is what most of you folks do.

Last edited by marfig (2010-08-02 03:22:42)

Arch Linux

#1 2010-08-01 23:12:35

[SOLVED] Pacman's lists update partial fail

#2 2010-08-01 23:44:08

Re: [SOLVED] Pacman's lists update partial fail

#3 2010-08-02 01:07:30

Re: [SOLVED] Pacman's lists update partial fail

#4 2010-08-02 01:13:50

Re: [SOLVED] Pacman's lists update partial fail

#5 2010-08-02 01:18:43

Re: [SOLVED] Pacman's lists update partial fail

#6 2010-08-02 02:57:04

Re: [SOLVED] Pacman's lists update partial fail

#7 2010-08-02 03:05:57

Re: [SOLVED] Pacman's lists update partial fail

#8 2010-08-02 03:22:24

Re: [SOLVED] Pacman's lists update partial fail

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