Arch Linux

wpkzz

Member

Registered: 2020-01-10

Posts: 46

[Solved] Apparently, many empty mirrors for pacman

I have just finished my install of Arch. No problems at all.
Now, using pacman, I have begun the process of fetching the packages that I need. I get many messages from the default mirrorlist saying that they fail to retrieve the requested files. Eventually one responds and I get the package. I got a bit tired of the process and I thought that by filtering the mirrorlist, I could have a more efficient process. I used the rankmirror tool and set it to give me the 11 fastest ones. Now it seems that being fast doesn't mean that they are usable: none of them can respond now to my pacman requests. So i get a nice list of "broken mirrors", very fast, of course...

¿Am I doing something wrong? The list of mirrors that I got is this:

Server = http://mirrors.evowise.com/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://mirrors.kernel.org/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://mirror.dal10.us.leaseweb.net/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://mirror.dc02.hackingand.coffee/arch/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://muug.ca/mirror/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://mirror.arizona.edu/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://distro.ibiblio.org/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://mirrors.xtom.com/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://mirror.vtti.vt.edu/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://mirror.pit.teraswitch.com/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch

I am in Mexico City, if that matters.

Thanks in advance.

Last edited by wpkzz (2020-01-21 01:36:48)

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Moyocoyani, Tloque Nahuaque.

merlock

Member

Registered: 2018-10-30

Posts: 258

Re: [Solved] Apparently, many empty mirrors for pacman

Wiki page for mirrors

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Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 12,430

Re: [Solved] Apparently, many empty mirrors for pacman

"fail to retrieve the requested files" doesn't tell us much. What's the actual error?

Zod

Member

From: Hoosiertucky

Registered: 2019-03-10

Posts: 634

Re: [Solved] Apparently, many empty mirrors for pacman

No dhcp client?

ipv6 is auto configured, not all mirrors do ipv6?

fukawi2

Ex-Administratorino

From: .vic.au

Registered: 2007-09-28

Posts: 6,231

Website

Re: [Solved] Apparently, many empty mirrors for pacman

Post your whole pacman.conf and mirrorlist please.

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wpkzz

Member

Registered: 2020-01-10

Posts: 46

Re: [Solved] Apparently, many empty mirrors for pacman

Okey, the whole mirrorlist is the one that is on the first post. The error is as follows:
...
Oh, hell... now it works... But it used to be something about a 404 message.

and my pacman.conf is as follows:

#
# /etc/pacman.conf
#
# See the pacman.conf(5) manpage for option and repository directives

#
# GENERAL OPTIONS
#
[options]
# The following paths are commented out with their default values listed.
# If you wish to use different paths, uncomment and update the paths.
#RootDir     = /
#DBPath      = /var/lib/pacman/
#CacheDir    = /var/cache/pacman/pkg/
#LogFile     = /var/log/pacman.log
#GPGDir      = /etc/pacman.d/gnupg/
#HookDir     = /etc/pacman.d/hooks/
HoldPkg     = pacman glibc
#XferCommand = /usr/bin/curl -L -C - -f -o %o %u
#XferCommand = /usr/bin/wget --passive-ftp -c -O %o %u
#CleanMethod = KeepInstalled
Architecture = auto

# Pacman won't upgrade packages listed in IgnorePkg and members of IgnoreGroup
#IgnorePkg   =
#IgnoreGroup =

#NoUpgrade   =
#NoExtract   =

# Misc options
#UseSyslog
Color
#TotalDownload
CheckSpace
#VerbosePkgLists

# By default, pacman accepts packages signed by keys that its local keyring
# trusts (see pacman-key and its man page), as well as unsigned packages.
SigLevel    = Required DatabaseOptional
LocalFileSigLevel = Optional
#RemoteFileSigLevel = Required

# NOTE: You must run `pacman-key --init` before first using pacman; the local
# keyring can then be populated with the keys of all official Arch Linux
# packagers with `pacman-key --populate archlinux`.

#
# REPOSITORIES
#   - can be defined here or included from another file
#   - pacman will search repositories in the order defined here
#   - local/custom mirrors can be added here or in separate files
#   - repositories listed first will take precedence when packages
#     have identical names, regardless of version number
#   - URLs will have $repo replaced by the name of the current repo
#   - URLs will have $arch replaced by the name of the architecture
#
# Repository entries are of the format:
#       [repo-name]
#       Server = ServerName
#       Include = IncludePath
#
# The header [repo-name] is crucial - it must be present and
# uncommented to enable the repo.
#

# The testing repositories are disabled by default. To enable, uncomment the
# repo name header and Include lines. You can add preferred servers immediately
# after the header, and they will be used before the default mirrors.

#[testing]
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[core]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[extra]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

#[community-testing]
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

[community]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

# If you want to run 32 bit applications on your x86_64 system,
# enable the multilib repositories as required here.

#[multilib-testing]
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

#[multilib]
#Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

# An example of a custom package repository.  See the pacman manpage for
# tips on creating your own repositories.
#[custom]
#SigLevel = Optional TrustAll
#Server = file:///home/custompkgs

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Moyocoyani, Tloque Nahuaque.

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 12,430

Re: [Solved] Apparently, many empty mirrors for pacman

404 almost always means that you need to update your system. You're trying to get an old version that isn't available anymore.

Last edited by Scimmia (2020-01-11 16:58:42)

mxfm

Member

Registered: 2015-10-23

Posts: 163

Re: [Solved] Apparently, many empty mirrors for pacman

Some time ago (November) I experienced similar issue with evowise and other servers being out of sync (it happenned before that too). But before blaming servers I suggest to check internet connectivity and whether system is up to date.

wpkzz

Member

Registered: 2020-01-10

Posts: 46

Re: [Solved] Apparently, many empty mirrors for pacman

Well, yeah, that is along the line. Internet connection was not an issue. The "up to date" seems a bit odd, due that the issue happened the day after fresh install, which I assume is an up-to-date system in a rolling release gnu/linux.

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Moyocoyani, Tloque Nahuaque.

jasonwryan

Anarchist

From: .nz

Registered: 2009-05-09

Posts: 30,426

Website

Re: [Solved] Apparently, many empty mirrors for pacman

I assume is an up-to-date system in a rolling release gnu/linux.

It doesn't happen magically. You have to update your system: `pacman -Syu`.

Please remember to mark your thread as [Solved] by editing your first post and prepending it to the title.

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Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 30,335

Website

Re: [Solved] Apparently, many empty mirrors for pacman

The "up to date" seems a bit odd, due that the issue happened the day after fresh install, which I assume is an up-to-date system

It would  be up to date as of yesterday with respect to the mirror used for the installation.  If you just happened to have had a broken mirror for your initial installation, all other symptoms you describe would follow from that.  The solution still is just to `pacman -Syu` once you have a sane mirrorlist.  Or depending on just how broken the original mirror was, the first time after updating the mirrorlist you may need `pacman -Syyu`.

In response to your original post, there is no 'default' mirrorlist.  During the installation, you should have selected a few good initial mirrors.

Last edited by Trilby (2020-01-18 15:28:21)

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wpkzz

Member

Registered: 2020-01-10

Posts: 46

Re: [Solved] Apparently, many empty mirrors for pacman

Well, yeah, it seems that one of the "fastest" mirrors is broken. I tried the pacman -Syu yesterday and it aborted after failing to retrieve inkscape. I will generate a new mirrorlist according to the wiki and see if that gives me a good mirror.

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Moyocoyani, Tloque Nahuaque.

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 12,430

Re: [Solved] Apparently, many empty mirrors for pacman

Sill sounds like PEBKAC