> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: "Christian Lohmaier" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Well, I for myself are in favor of adding alternative ways of > distribution like using BitTorrent. And don't forget CD Compilations > and the like. > > The current mirror system lacks severe issues. Every release, old > versions get kicked, often enough versions for which there is no QA'd > replacement yet and similar issues. > Bouncer solves part of the problems, but unfortunately when using > bouncer, there is a single point of failure, and bouncer did > unfortunately fail quite often. On top of that, bouncer doesn't > support ftp, which makes using resume or using download mangers in > general harder (since http probably defaults to using the browser's > download manager, and that often enough sucks, doesn't support > resuming a download). As OOo is quite large to download, this aspect > should not be forgotten.
Hi Christian, I'd like to see the patch [1] for Bouncer that creates metalinks accepted upstream. I think with testing & feedback, metalinks could be very useful to people downloading OOo. OOo already uses metalinks, but they rely on an outside party & they are not always updated. metalinks are frequently used for ISO downloads which are larger & suffer from the same problems. metalinks (XML) list all the mirrors for a file, along with checksums & other info, so downloads are more reliable & can be automatically verified & repaired if needed. about 30 apps support metalink, mostly download managers, FTP & P2P clients, & web browsers. they all support resume, and since the metalinks contain multiple URLs (with priority & geographical location listed), if one fails then the next one can be tried without prompting from the user. you can open a common metalink in a text editor if you're curious: http://download.packages.ro/metalink/openoffice/OOo_2_3_0_LinuxIntel_install_wJRE_en-US_tar_gz.metalink here's a screenshot of a Ubuntu ISO metalink about to be downloaded with DownThemAll, a Firefox extension: http://www.metalinker.org/images/dta_ubuntu.png (as you can see, there's room for descriptions, graphics, OS, language, adding multiple files to a download queue, & other fun stuff). -- (( Anthony Bryan ... Metalink [ http://www.metalinker.org ] )) Easier, More Reliable, Self Healing Downloads [1] http://metamirrors.nl/node/116 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
