Mirrorlist Generator and FTP mirrors

starfry · 2013-06-05 19:15:15

I've just noticed the FTP option has gone from the mirrorlist generator.

I have a build script that has, for a very long time, contained a line like the below:

wget -qO- "http://www.archlinux.org/mirrorlist/?country=GB&protocol=ftp&protocol=http&ip_version=4&use_mirror_status=on" > "$PACMAN_MIRRORLIST"

The script started to fail. Accessing the above URL manually with my browser showed it didn't like the FTP protocol parameter in the URL, and removing that made it happy and all is working once again.

Just wondering what this means? The mirrors page still shows FTP mirrors exist so are they going away or is this just a feature of the generator tool ?

(I don't need FTP mirrors - everything is working fine with just HTTP ones. It's just i noticed a change because my script broke so I thought I'd ask what the story was, and I couldn't see any news item anywhere explaining any change).

Xyne · 2013-06-05 19:41:46

There are no longer any FTP mirrors:

$ reflector -p ftp
# With:       /usr/bin/reflector -p ftp
# When:       2013-06-05 19:38:33 UTC
# From:       https://www.archlinux.org/mirrors/status/json/
# Retrieved:  2013-06-05 19:38:33 UTC
# Last Check: 2013-06-05T19:28:25.203Z UTC

Lone_Wolf · 2013-06-05 23:43:55

the mirrorlist in /etc/pacman.d/ doesn't hold ftp-mirrors anymore, but there are still mirrors reachable over ftp.

looking more closely at the mirrors page, http-only mirrors are a minority.

fukawi2 · 2013-06-06 00:26:23

I can't find a source for this now, but IIRC the use of FTP mirrors was being discouraged a while ago. HTTP being the preferred delivery method for various reasons (which if I could find the source, I could share)

jasonwryan · 2013-06-06 00:55:11

Because.

fukawi2 · 2013-06-06 01:02:55

jasonwryan wrote:

Because.

Well there's that too... I was thinking of something Arch specific though.

jasonwryan · 2013-06-06 01:05:29

fukawi2 wrote:

jasonwryan wrote:
Because.
Well there's that too... I was thinking of something Arch specific though.

It may have had something to do with all the FTP-related errors that were popping up here and on the ML and IRC. The standard response was to switch to HTTP...
Perhaps the devs just removed the point of failure.

starfry · 2013-06-06 09:11:54

I just installed reflector and it doesn't list ftp mirrors but the mirrors page does. I presume reflector just gets a mirror list in a similar way to what my script does, which is to somehow use the mirrorlist generator (and that doesn't return ftp any more).

jasonwryan wrote:

Perhaps the devs just removed the point of failure.

Yes, that's what I thought too.

Last edited by starfry (2013-06-06 09:12:27)

Xyne · 2013-06-06 09:22:19

Reflector uses the Mirrorstatus JSON interface to get mirror information. That no longer includes any mirrors with "ftp" specified as the protocol, which is what the reflector output that I posted above shows. It does, however, enabled you to access rsync mirrors that you cannot access via the HTML form.

The remaining ftp mirrors on the mirrors page will likely be phased out soon.

starfry · 2013-06-06 10:38:39

Good to know, thanks Xyne.

karol · 2013-06-06 23:01:49

https://projects.archlinux.org/archweb. … 93bcd2be1a

Arch Linux

#1 2013-06-05 19:15:15

Mirrorlist Generator and FTP mirrors

#2 2013-06-05 19:41:46

Re: Mirrorlist Generator and FTP mirrors

#3 2013-06-05 23:43:55

Re: Mirrorlist Generator and FTP mirrors

#4 2013-06-06 00:26:23

Re: Mirrorlist Generator and FTP mirrors

#5 2013-06-06 00:55:11

Re: Mirrorlist Generator and FTP mirrors

#6 2013-06-06 01:02:55

Re: Mirrorlist Generator and FTP mirrors

#7 2013-06-06 01:05:29

Re: Mirrorlist Generator and FTP mirrors

#8 2013-06-06 09:11:54

Re: Mirrorlist Generator and FTP mirrors

#9 2013-06-06 09:22:19

Re: Mirrorlist Generator and FTP mirrors

#10 2013-06-06 10:38:39

Re: Mirrorlist Generator and FTP mirrors

#11 2013-06-06 23:01:49

Re: Mirrorlist Generator and FTP mirrors

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