Official FreeBSD Binary Packages now available for pkgng

[Royce Williams]

On Sat, Nov 2, 2013 at 3:57 PM, Michael Gmelin <freebsd at grem.de> wrote:

> > >>>>> Mirrors you may use instead of the global
> > >>>>> pkg.FreeBSD.org<http://pkg.freebsd.org/>
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>>     pkg.eu.FreeBSD.org <http://pkg.eu.freebsd.org/>
> > >>>>>     pkg.us-east.FreeBSD.org <http://pkg.us-east.freebsd.org/>
> > >>>>>     pkg.us-west.FreeBSD.org <http://pkg.us-west.freebsd.org/>
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> pkg.freebsd.org is, basically, an alias for the above (and any
> > >>>>> other mirrors that come online) and the pkg(1) tool will pick a
> > >>>>> "local" mirror based on the DNS response for pkg.freebsd.org.
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> However, you are free to manually enter any of the above
> > >>>>> mirrors into your pkg.conf.
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> And, you are free to browse any of the above mirrors via HTTP
> > >>>>> in any web browser.
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> It's not nearly as convenient as just browsing pkg.freebsd.org,
> > >>>>> but it's still possible to do so.
> > >>>> These are still SRV hosts as well. The real hosts can be found
> > >>>> with
> > >>>>
> > >>>> dig SRV _http._tcp.HOST HOST being the host from above lists.
> > >>>>
> > >>> Please add this to pkg.conf(5) as this it not intuitive and the
> > >>> syntax is a bit cumbersome.
> > >>
> > >> You will never have to know that syntax unless you're one of the
> > >> few that are behind a very restrictive firewall/proxy. The pkg
> > >> client does all this SRV record magic internally to find out a
> > >> suitable mirror.
> > >>
> > > Right, but I actually happen to fall into that group at work. ;-)
> > +1
> > Unless you track the mailing list, and know to use
> >
> > dig SRV _http._tcp.pkg.freebsd.org
> >
> > the inevitable questions will be asked - "Why can't I ...."
> >
> > Particularly as the availability of prebuilt packages is targeted at
> > relatively new FreeBSD folk, or those that don't customise their
> > ports. Thank-you.
>
> What about implementing something like "pkg ping" to check if pkg can
> connect to the configured repository (or make it an option in pkg
> rquery)? Could also be a useful command for scripting and
> auto-configuration. pkg-ping(8) could then serve as a place to document
> the exact repo look-up algorithm as well and pkg.conf(5) could
> reference this under PACKAGESIZE (see pkg-ping(8) for details on the
> service look-up algorithm).
>

And to help both the uninitiated, the proxied, and the troubleshooters over
time ... couldn't there be an extremely simple CGI at pkg.freebsd.org that
explains the above briefly, and also does an actual dip into the SRV record
and displays links to the current set of mirrors?

Royce