feature request: easier "auto select a close mirror for me"

feature request: easier "auto select a close mirror for me"

[Roger Pack]

It would be awesome if the top option for servers were "auto select
closest" or something like that.
Possibly a web server that would do the redirects for you [?] (or you
could do local pings and see which one answers quickest).  Possibly
like what VLC does for its distro's [1] or some other offering already
available.

Related, it would be nice to have a command line option for unattended
install that were "--auto-select-server" for the downloads...
FWIW.
Cheers and thank you.
-roger-
[1] https://github.com/etix/mirrorbits

--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple

Re: feature request: easier "auto select a close mirror for me"

[Andrey Repin]

Greetings, Roger Pack!

> It would be awesome if the top option for servers were "auto select
> closest" or something like that.

How would it know where you are located and how do you define "closest"?
The mirrors that are "close" to me give worst speed comparing to the ones
across the ocean.

> Possibly a web server that would do the redirects for you [?] (or you
> could do local pings and see which one answers quickest).  Possibly
> like what VLC does for its distro's [1] or some other offering already
> available.

> Related, it would be nice to have a command line option for unattended
> install that were "--auto-select-server" for the downloads...
> FWIW.


-- 
With best regards,
Andrey Repin
Friday, August 28, 2015 21:22:02

Sorry for my terrible english...


--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple

Re: feature request: easier "auto select a close mirror for me"

[Jack]

On 2015.08.28 14:23, Andrey Repin wrote:
> Greetings, Roger Pack!
> 
> > It would be awesome if the top option for servers were "auto select
> > closest" or something like that.
> 
> How would it know where you are located and how do you define  
> "closest"?
> The mirrors that are "close" to me give worst speed comparing to the  
> ones
> across the ocean.

I wouldn't make it part of setup.exe, but a separate tool, like Arch  
Linux's mirrorselect.  It finds the server with the best response, or  
perhaps the best N servers.  Yes, "best response" is subject to  
interpretation, but some combination of low latency and fastest  
download of some (small?) test file, perhaps.

Jack
--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple

Re: feature request: easier "auto select a close mirror for me"

[Warren Young]

On Aug 28, 2015, at 2:04 PM, Jack <ostroffjh@users.sourceforge.net> wrote:
> 
> On 2015.08.28 14:23, Andrey Repin wrote:
>> Greetings, Roger Pack!
>> > It would be awesome if the top option for servers were "auto select
>> > closest" or something like that.
> 
> I wouldn't make it part of setup.exe, but a separate tool

setup.exe must remain monolithic, by its nature.

> like Arch Linux's mirrorselect.

Yum has a plugin to do this, too, enabled by default in current RHEL type OSes:

  https://wiki.centos.org/PackageManagement/Yum/FastestMirror

I expect the same is true of apt, but I can’t be bothered to chase down a reference.

“Nearest” is the wrong term, since as Andrey points out, geographic proximity is not the best gauge of mirror speed.  Instead, these features generally work out which mirrors are faster by more pragmatic means.
--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple

Re: feature request: easier "auto select a close mirror for me"

[Philip Daniels]

As noted, speed is more important than proximity. Luckily, somebody
has already written a script (Perl) to determine fastest Cygwin
mirror: https://sourceforge.net/p/cygwinmirrortest

Perhaps this could become part of the base install?

On 28 August 2015 at 22:31, Warren Young <wyml@etr-usa.com> wrote:
> On Aug 28, 2015, at 2:04 PM, Jack <ostroffjh@users.sourceforge.net> wrote:
>>
>> On 2015.08.28 14:23, Andrey Repin wrote:
>>> Greetings, Roger Pack!
>>> > It would be awesome if the top option for servers were "auto select
>>> > closest" or something like that.
>>
>> I wouldn't make it part of setup.exe, but a separate tool
>
> setup.exe must remain monolithic, by its nature.
>
>> like Arch Linux's mirrorselect.
>
> Yum has a plugin to do this, too, enabled by default in current RHEL type OSes:
>
>   https://wiki.centos.org/PackageManagement/Yum/FastestMirror
>
> I expect the same is true of apt, but I can’t be bothered to chase down a reference.
>
> “Nearest” is the wrong term, since as Andrey points out, geographic proximity is not the best gauge of mirror speed.  Instead, these features generally work out which mirrors are faster by more pragmatic means.
> --
> Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
> FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
> Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
> Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple
>



-- 
Philip Daniels.

--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple

Re: feature request: easier "auto select a close mirror for me"

[Andrey Repin]

Greetings, Philip Daniels!

> As noted, speed is more important than proximity. Luckily, somebody
> has already written a script (Perl) to determine fastest Cygwin
> mirror: https://sourceforge.net/p/cygwinmirrortest

> Perhaps this could become part of the base install?

Perl script.
No Perl in base.


-- 
With best regards,
Andrey Repin
Saturday, August 29, 2015 21:14:12

Sorry for my terrible english...


--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple

Re: feature request: easier "auto select a close mirror for me"

[Warren Young]

On Aug 29, 2015, at 12:14 PM, Andrey Repin <anrdaemon@yandex.ru> wrote:
> 
>> somebody
>> has already written a script (Perl) to determine fastest Cygwin
>> mirror: https://sourceforge.net/p/cygwinmirrortest
> 
>> Perhaps this could become part of the base install?
> 
> No Perl in base.

…but someone sufficiently motivated could rewrite it in C++ and merge that into setup.exe.
--
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
FAQ:                   http://cygwin.com/faq/
Documentation:         http://cygwin.com/docs.html
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple