Re: Periodic connection timed out when downloading ncurses

[Thomas Dickey]

On Sun, Oct 02, 2022 at 11:44:14AM +0200, Marcin Dulak wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On Fri, Sep 30, 2022 at 12:07 AM Thomas Dickey <dickey@his.com> wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, Sep 29, 2022 at 12:30:01PM +0200, Marcin Dulak wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > >
> > > I'm having periodic problems when downloading ncurses
> > > from a github action worker, as part of an automated jhalfs build
> > > https://github.com/marcindulak/jhalfs-ci
> > > ```
> > > Connecting to invisible-mirror.net (invisible-mirror.net
> > )|160.153.42.69|:
> > > 443... failed: Connection timed out.
> > > Retrying.
> > > --2022-09-29 00:11:44--  (try:11)
> > > https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/ncurses-6.3.tar.gz
> >
> > I'd expect better performance from
> >
> >   https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/ncurses-6.3.tar.gz
> >
> > > ```
> >
> I'm having some troubles convincing lfs to switch to invisible-island.net
> https://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/sympa/arc/lfs-support/2022-10/msg00006.html
> Will you find time confirming it there?
> Otherwise I'm fine abandoning the thread on lfs with no answer, I was using
> lfs just for playing.
> 
> Another person suggested https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu instead of your site
> in
> https://lists.linuxfromscratch.org/sympa/arc/lfs-support/2022-10/msg00003.html

The release announcement does say:

        The ncurses distribution is available at ncurses' homepage:

        ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net/ncurses/ or
        https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/ .

        It is also available via anonymous FTP at the GNU distribution site

        ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ncurses/ .

which at the time were the canonical locations.  The GNU https site is
a mirror (or whatever) of ftp.gnu.org

All of the tarballs are signed (of course everyone checks those).

However, over the past year, certain browser providers have done a lot to
spread misinformation about ftp, so I've revised my primary site
(invisible-island.net) to put files in https pages.  It happens that it
was convenient to use a similar url as I did for the mirror:

        https://invisible-island.net/archives/ncurses/ vs
        https://invisible-mirror.net/archives/ncurses/ .

For the time being (because some packagers really insist on ftp access),
I'll continue updating the ftp location on invisible-island.net, but
that's no longer the primary location.

The mirror site doesn't support ftp access, so that aspect was never an
issue.  It also is less capable in throughput, and doesn't come with a
service agreement.

LFS ought to recommend more than one location, because each of the above
(invisible-island.net, invisible-mirror.net and gnu.org) has problems
for different users.  Since LFS uses only the stable release, it could
recommend all three locations, letting its users determine what works
best.

-- 
Thomas E. Dickey <dickey@invisible-island.net>
https://invisible-island.net
ftp://ftp.invisible-island.net

signature.asc
Description: PGP signature