APT-TRANSPORT-MIRR(1) APT APT-TRANSPORT-MIRR(1)
NAME
apt-transport-mirror - APT transport for more automated mirror
selection
DESCRIPTION
This APT transport isn't implementing a protocol to access local or
remote repositories on its own, but acquires a mirrorlist and redirects
all requests to the mirror(s) picked from this list, accessing them via
other transports like apt-transport-http(1). The basic functionality
has been available since apt 0.7.24, but was undocumented until apt 1.6
which contained a complete rework of the transport and its supported
features. Note that a transport is never called directly by a user but
used by APT tools based on user configuration.
If the acquisition of a file via a mirror fails, the method ensures
that another possible mirror from the list is automatically tried until
either the file is retrieved or no mirror is left in the list,
transparently handling server downtimes and similar problems.
The security implications of the transport depend on the security
considerations associated with the transport used to acquire the
mirrorlist and the transports involved in accessing the chosen
mirror(s) by the transport.
OPTIONS
This transport has no configuration options at present. The mirror
selection is based entirely on the mirrors offered in the mirrorlist
and the files APT needs to acquire.
Mirrorlist format
A mirrorlist contains one or more lines each specifying a URI for a
mirror. Empty lines and those starting with a hash character (#) are
ignored. A URI always starts with a URI scheme which defines the
transport used for this mirror. If for example the URI starts with
http:, the responsible transport is apt-transport-http(1) which might
have specific requirements for the format of the remaining part of the
URI.
Metadata about a mirror can be given on the same line, separated from
the URI by a tab. Multiple items of metadata can themselves be
separated by either tabs or spaces. (This is an advanced feature only
available with apt >= 1.6. Earlier apt versions will fail to parse
mirrorlists using this feature.)
Since apt 1.6 the use of compressed mirrorlists is also supported. Note
that the filename of the mirrorlist must specify the compression
algorithm used; there is no auto-detection based on file contents.
Mirror selection by metadata
As specified in the format, a mirror can have additional metadata
attached to prevent a mirror from being selected for acquiring a file
not matching this metadata. This way the mirrorlist can e.g. contain
partial mirrors serving only certain architectures and APT will
automatically choose a different mirror for files requiring an unlisted
architecture. Supported are limits for the architecture (arch),
codename of the release (codename), component of the repository the
file is in (component), language the file applies to (lang), suite name
of the release (suite) and type of the file (type).
Fallback order for mirrors
If no priority is given for a mirror via the metadata key priority, the
order in which mirrors are contacted is random. If a certain set of
mirrors should be tried first before any of another set is tried, a
priority can be explicitly set. The mirrors with the lowest number are
tried first. Mirrors which have no explicit priority set default to the
highest possible number and are therefore tried last. The choice
between mirrors with the same priority is again random.
Allowed transports in a mirrorlist
The availability and choice of transports in a mirrorlist is limited by
how the APT client is accessing the mirrorlist. If a local transport
like file or copy is used, the mirrorlist can also include local
sources, while a mirrorlist accessed via http can not. Additionally, a
mirrorlist can not contain a mirrorlist or other wrapping transports
(like apt-transport-tor). See the documentation of these transports on
how to use them with the mirror method.
Note that apt versions before 1.6 do not support any other transport
than http.
EXAMPLES
Basic example
A basic mirrorlist example supported by all apt versions with a mirror
method (>= 0.7.24) in which the client will pick any of the three
mirrors:
http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/
http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/
http://deb.debian.org/debian/
Assuming a file with this content is stored as /etc/apt/mirrorlist.txt
on your machine it can be used like this in sources.list(5) (since apt
1.6):
deb mirror+file:/etc/apt/mirrorlist.txt buster main
All versions of the mirror method support a mirrorlist accessible via
HTTP, so assuming it is available at http://apt.example.org/mirror.lst
the sources.list entry from above could instead be written as:
deb mirror://apt.example.org/mirror.lst buster main
Note that since apt 1.6 the use of mirror+http should be preferred over
mirror for uniformity. The functionality is the same.
Example with metadata-enhanced mirror selection
As explained in the format definition apt versions before 1.6 do not
support this and will fail parsing the mirrorlist. The example
mirrorlist is intentionally complicated to show some aspects of the
selection. The following setup is assumed: The first mirror is a local
mirror accessible via the file method, but potentially incomplete. The
second mirror has a great connection, but is a partial mirror insofar
as it only contains files related to the architectures amd64 and all.
The remaining mirrors are average mirrors which should be contacted
only if the earlier ones didn't work.
file:/srv/local/debian/mirror/ priority:1 type:index
http://partial.example.org/mirror/ priority:2 arch:amd64 arch:all type:deb
http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ type:deb
http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/ type:deb
https://deb.debian.org/debian/
In this setup with this mirrorlist the first mirror will be used to
download all index files assuming the mirrorlist itself is accessed via
a local transport like file. If it isn't, if the mirror is otherwise
inaccessible or if it does not contain the requested file another
mirror will be used to acquire the file, chosen depending on the type
of the file: An index file will be served by the last mirror in the
list, while a package of architecture amd64 is served by the second and
those of e.g. architecture i386 by one of the last three.
BUGS
APT bug page[1]. If you wish to report a bug in APT, please see
/usr/share/doc/debian/bug-reporting.txt or the reportbug(1) command.
AUTHOR
APT team
NOTES
1. APT bug page
http://bugs.debian.org/src:apt
APT 2.1.7 09 December 2017 APT-TRANSPORT-MIRR(1)