random fetch location

[RW]

On Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:54:45 -0700
Doug Barton <dougb at FreeBSD.org> wrote:

> Guoqin Ren wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > Maybe it's a naive question.  When I install a package from ports,
> > it often needs to fetch some files. But sometimes it takes a long
> > time before finding an available server to fetch. I also notice
> > that  it will try the locations/urls one by one, however the order
> > doesn't change (correct me if I'm wrong).  So the very first server
> > on the list will get a lot of traffic since everyone will fetch the
> > files from it.  Is there any way to let it randomly pick a url from
> > the list to evenly distribute the traffic among all the servers?
> 
> Two solutions:
> 
> 1. Add 'RANDOMIZE_MASTER_SITES=        true' to /etc/make.conf
> 2. Check out ports-mgmt/fastest_sites


Also consider setting  MASTER_SORT_REGEX to bring good nearby mirrors to
the front of the list. Full randomization can end-up  bringing some
flaky servers to the front.