Official FreeBSD Binary Packages now available for pkgng

Michael Gmelin freebsd at grem.de
Sun Nov 3 02:04:39 UTC 2013


On Sat, 2 Nov 2013 16:20:04 -0800
Royce Williams <royce at tycho.org> wrote:

> 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

I just noticed that pkg-repository(5) documents how look-up works
(including SRV records).


-- 
Michael Gmelin


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