SourceForge in mirror_sites.tcl

[Juan Manuel Palacios]

	Hello Ross! I wanted to inform you on behalf of the MacPorts team that 
our 1.4 upcoming release will use sf's new redirector mechanism (the 
fix is already in our sources, awaiting release), thanks for the 
heads-up! However, I'm a bit concerned about all our sf based downloads 
failing in case that main site is down, as you point out as a possible 
scenario in your message below.

	I like the idea of keeping a few (2? 3? ...5?) backup mirrors to 
prevent this from happening, but before adding them back I'd like to 
ask you which ones you would recommend; and while at it, also how many 
;-)

	Thanks again for your help! Regards,...


-jmpp


>> From: Ross David Turk <rdt at ostg.com>
>> Date: January 5, 2007 3:58:05 PM EST
>> To: macports-users at lists.macosforge.org
>> Subject: SourceForge in mirror_sites.tcl
>>
>> Hey folks!
>>
>> I noticed that you guys are fetching SourceForge files from the 
>> mirrors directly, and did a little grepping. I'm not a 
>> macports/darwinports expert (or even a heavy user), but I think that 
>> it's set in mirror_sites.tcl:
>>
>> set portfetch::mirror_sites::sites(sourceforge) {
>>   http://easynews.dl.sourceforge.net/
>>   http://surfnet.dl.sourceforge.net/
>>   http://belnet.dl.sourceforge.net/
>>   http://heanet.dl.sourceforge.net/
>>   http://ovh.dl.sourceforge.net/
>>   http://internap.dl.sourceforge.net/
>>   http://jaist.dl.sourceforge.net/
>>   http://umn.dl.sourceforge.net/
>>   http://kent.dl.sourceforge.net/
>>   http://mesh.dl.sourceforge.net/
>>   http://ufpr.dl.sourceforge.net/
>>   http://nchc.dl.sourceforge.net/
>>   http://switch.dl.sourceforge.net/
>>   http://superb-west.dl.sourceforge.net/
>> }
>>
>> In the old days, until about a month ago, users accessing a file like 
>> http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/gaim/gaim-1.5.0.exe would be sent 
>> to a mirror selection page. Recently, we replaced that page with a 
>> more intelligent download redirector.
>>
>> I would love to see you change the snippet above to:
>>
>> set portfetch::mirror_sites::sites(sourceforge) {
>>   http://downloads.sourceforge.net/
>> }
>>
>> Doing this should provide these benefits:
>>
>> 1) You won't have to manage the mirror list as mirrors are added or 
>> removed.
>> 2) You can ensure that the mirror you're sent to has the file you're 
>> looking for. Not all mirrors have all files.
>> 3) Your users will probably get a faster download due to the 
>> geolocation.
>> 4) SourceForge projects will get fair download statistics - going to 
>> the mirror directly bypasses our statistics hooks, so your downloads 
>> haven't been counting towards their SourceForge.net project activity 
>> rating.
>>
>> The risk is, of course, that if the SF.net website goes down, so will 
>> your ability to get these files. Perhaps you could list 
>> http://downloads.sourceforge.net first and keep a few other ones in 
>> there as a backup in case we're down? Does port try to fetch from the 
>> mirrors using the listed order?
>>
>> Let me know if you have any questions.. :)
>>
>> Thanks!
>> Ross
>>
>> --
>> Ross David Turk <rdt at sf.net>
>> SourceForge.net Community Manager
>