I have been testing the new httpredir option and replaced ftp.us in all my computers and I have quite a few: live server, VMs, and 4 hardware puppies.
Works like a charm to circumvent the infamous error 100.
So I think that smxi should replace all the mirror numbers in the setup, to just httpredir.
Back to top

http.debian.net/ explains the httpredir.debian.org

note however that these tools have never been very reliable, which is why the repo switcher was added to smxi in the first place, but it also should support that newish debian default so now it does.

You'll see, if you start smxi with -m, to bring up the repo selector, the httpredir Debian Auto option listed first along with an explanation of it.
Back to top

I have read debian.net/
I have now set the auto option on all my computers and still have to see a glitch, whereas previously the ftp.us drove me crazy, and so did other mirrors.
Thanks for updating smxi.
Back to top

thanks for the headsup on httpredir.debian.org

I posted the link for anyone who, like me, might not have known what it is.

I agree re ftp.us.debian.org, that was consistently the worst option, which is actually why I added the repo switcher in the first place.

I personally don't use these debian repos, mirrors tend to be a lot faster, at least the good ones do. I've dabbled with the notion of adding support for non debian.org repos, but the code is tricky and I didn't feel it was worth the risk of getting it wrong.
Back to top

httpredir is suddenly taking too long to load.
It finally redirects to mirror.us.leaseweb.net which also takes a bootload to load.
At this point I don't know which one is worse.
Back to top

This is why I don't use these things, they never work. Debian has tried variants of finding the fastest repo automatically before, and the technology has never been reliable or worth using. It's sort of like using apt-list-bugs, it's cute but largely worthless since it shows too many bugs.

I use secondary very fast mirrors, which are consistently more reliable.

I've thought of adding the known good and fast list of debian mirrors to the list, but it is harder programming so I didn't do it.

However, note you can just bounce around and try a few with the repo switcher, you can bring that up using a command line argument

smxi -m

will start smxi with the mirror switcher list. m for mirrors.
Back to top

Thanks for answer.
I will be looking forward to that repo switcher.
Httpredir has really been disappointing.
Back to top

I'll remove the recommended item in smxi, debian has always pretended that their repo select tools worked, but they never have, good to see things haven't changed.
Back to top

Hmm, please don't rush, give me a couple weeks or a month to do some more testing.
You are welcome to put a note in there warning users that this might not work as expected.
Let's not be combative with the Debian folks, they do a great job, and for the heck of it.
Back to top

I'm not being combative, I use only debian, but that doesn't change the fact that a certain category of apt tools have never worked, and generally been more useless than useful, that just means that the people involved in those projects either don't have the technical ability to do them, or the debian infrastructure actually doesn't work to provide that type of data, or a combination of both.

Every project is usually done by one or two people max, and those will depend on their skill, free time, energy, and if one of those is lacking, the project does't really work. aptitude, for example, was one of the ubuntu project's sort of hit of the year then they got bored with it, and now it's no longer usable in the real world for debian, but debian people still recommend it as if it were still a top flight project maintained fully by a large group, when it isn't. Noting this fact isn't criticizing debian, for example, the only criticism is that some debian support people haven't caught on and still recommend stuff that doesn't work anymore. The apt caching proxy that for a while was recommended, aprox, is another example, it was pretty good, but now is largely unusable. that's how free software goes, people's time/energy changes, and they are not actually replaced by other people in most cases, the projects just wither and fade.
Back to top