[arch-general] 'Local mirror' page was removed from wiki

[Fess]

On 04:00 Sun 12 Sep , David C. Rankin wrote:
> On 09/09/2010 07:40 AM, Fess wrote:
>> Page "Local mirros" was removed from wiki by this reason:
>>
>> -----
>> It is generally frowned upon to create a local mirror due the bandwidth that is required.
>> There is not a good reason to create a local mirror, since one of the alternatives below will likely meet your needs.
>> -----
>>
>> I think it's very useful ability, and why this page was removed... i don't know. It's silly.
>> If anyone else think it must be return - maybe we should do it?
>>
>> P.S.
>>
>> A lot of guys agreed with me this morning, so i think many people want this article back.
>
> I looked into an Arch local 'mirror/repo' when I started using Arch, 
> similar to what I used to maintain for my SuSE installs. (the local 
> mirror page was a mess and wrong then as well) However, since Arch will 
> check for the presence of packages in /var/cache/pacman/pkg 
> before/(instead of) re-downloading the packages, for local network boxes, 
> it was just easier to use rsync to grab the packages from whatever box 
> did the most recent update and transfer then to the nextbox you need to 
> update (same architecture only).
>
> The only caveat is you need a way to manage duplicate (old packages) in  
> /var/cache/pacman/pkg so I came up with a script that does that.
>
> So instead of worrying about a 'local mirror', just:
>
> (1) rsync -uav updatedbox:/var/cache/pacman/pkg nextbox:/var/cache/pacman
>
> (2) grab the following 2 scripts:
>
> (the wrapper script that calls the main script [twice - see why below])
> http://www.3111skyline.com/dl/Archlinux/scripts/fduparch.sh
>
> (the main duplicate identification and removal script)
> http://www.3111skyline.com/dl/Archlinux/scripts/fduppkg
>
> Put them both in /usr/local/bin (or link them there), edit fduparch.sh 
> and change the directories you want the duplicates from 
> /var/cache/pacman/pkg moved to (default is /home/backup/pkg-old and for 
> the second pass to /home/backup/pkg-older). Then after updating one box, 
> just call fduparch.sh (the wrapper script) as root and the duplicates in 
> /var/cache/pacman/pkg are moved as follows:
>
> Pass 1:
> /var/cache/pacman/pkg => /home/backup/pkg-old
>
> Pass 2:
> /home/backup/pkg-old => /home/backup/pkg-older
>
> Which leaves you with the current set of packages in:
> /var/cache/pacman/pkg
>
> The last used packages before update in:
> /home/backup/pkg-old
>
> And finally all older packages in:
> /home/backup/pkg-older
>
> which can be deleted or archived. (of course you can delete the packages 
> in /home/backup/pkg-old if you like as well)
>
> NOTE: the duplicate removal script uses the file ctime and/or mtime to 
> determine which is the newer package, so when copying machine to machine 
> with rsync, make sure you preserve the file attributes. (rsync's -a 
> option works fine).
>
> Once you set this up, maintaining a local set of packages is a breeze, just:
>
> (1) pacman -Syu as normal on one box (works the same for new installs too)
> (2) fduparch.sh (as root to remove the older versions of new packages)
> (3) rsync -uav updatedbox:/var/cache/pacman/pkg nextbox:/var/cache/pacman
> (only for boxes of the same architecture of course)
> (4) pacman -Syu on the box you rsync'ed the packages to (nextbox)
> (5) call fduparch.sh on the box you just updated (nextbox), and so on, and so on...
>
> As long as your boxes have reasonably similar packages installed, this  
> eliminates 90+% of re-downloading, takes no additional bandwidth because 
> you have to download the updated packages once anyway, and is simple 
> enough for me to manage so you guy will have no problems with it :p
>
> And if you wanted to get even more creative, you could simply write a 
> script on your main box that you update to automate the entire process 
> for all your local boxes using nothing more than rsync and ssh calls of 
> run the updates and dup removal scripts. (I haven't been that creative 
> yet) Just remember to separate your boxes into groups/classes by 
> architecture (i686 & x86_64)
>
> Cheers.
>
> -- 
> David C. Rankin, J.D.,P.E.
> Rankin Law Firm, PLLC
> 510 Ochiltree Street
> Nacogdoches, Texas 75961
> Telephone: (936) 715-9333
> Facsimile: (936) 715-9339
> www.rankinlawfirm.com



err.. what?
Don't you think, that mirrorsync in crontab is MUCH more easier way to get new packages, huh?
I'm using local mirror for 3 years and i have no idea why i shoulnd't use it know.

P.S.

If you have local mirror, you won't worry about 3-4 another GB's. You just download some less porn. Less porn -> more profit.
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