[PATCH] rpm_md Metadata vs. Mirroring

[Cliff Wells]

On Sat, 2008-06-14 at 12:08 -0700, Michael Jennings wrote:
> On Friday, 13 June 2008, at 12:45:37 (-0700),
> Cliff Wells wrote:
> 
> > And if the primary server isn't available will it fall back to a
> > mirror?  I've not had too many issues with Fedora proper, but I've
> > seen freshrpms down many times (while its mirrors are available).
> 
> No, but then that wouldn't make much sense anyway.  If the primary is
> unavailable, the mirrors can't receive updated metadata from it.  And
> packages are still installed from mirrors, so that's not an issue.

Except that it means you won't be able to install new software if the
dependencies aren't available.  It isn't always about updates =)

> Fedora's new no-master mirroring scheme doesn't really mesh with
> smart's idea of mirrors which are substring replacements for a master
> URL, so I'm not sure what the right answer would be in that scenario.
> That's probably better addressed by Gustavo.

Yes, that was the source of my original issue with the mirroring scheme.
Smart assumes there is a "master" but in Fedora's new scheme there isn't
one (although you *can* pick an arbitrary mirror and call it the
"master", it makes it rather tedious to setup and also makes me
concerned about future availability of a particular mirror).

> > I'll be glad to test it out, thanks for the work!
> 
> Let me know how it goes.  It's been quite successful for me so
> far. :-)

I've been swamped the last few days but will try to give it a go
tonight.

Cliff