repositories and mirrors for LMDE

[gizmo-au]

Hi
I have used Mint XFCE since Mint 7, later Mint 9. Mint 9 XFCE was fantastic, never had a problem.
Then I decided it must be getting a bit old, thought I should update, so I have tried LMDE XFCE.

New install of LMDE. I have NOT yet updated since installing from live CD, I want to update from a particular mirror as it is not counted towards my monthly download limit.


When setting up my software sources in update manager, there is a tab for Other Sources, it had three listings:
http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest testing main contrib nonfree
http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/security testing/updates main contrib nonfree
http://debian-multimedia.org testing main nonfree

As I am doing the first update after new install, naturally it wants to do a huge download roughly equivalent to a whole install.
As I am on the other side of the planet from these servers the connect speed I am getting is woeful, it would take around 14 hours downloading, so I have cancelled.
Also downloading from these sites eats up my download limit. (8 Gb/ month.)

Is there any reason why these sources aren't mirrored locally, the same as the Linux Mint software?

I have also used PCLinuxOS and they want you to use only one mirror for everything, which suits me better. On PCLinuxOS, ALL my software updates and installs come from AARNET, which is a free download for me, and downloads super fast.

I'd appreciate an explanation if it is necessary to stick to using these three sources.

Is this any different between flavours of Linux Mint? EG: if I changed to Linux Mint 13 Mate, could I download more from a local mirror without having to get so much from linuxmint.com?

[craigevil]

viewtopic.php?f=197&t=79533

[rhodry]

....snipped.....

New install of LMDE. I have NOT yet updated since installing from live CD, I want to update from a particular mirror as it is not counted towards my monthly download limit.


When setting up my software sources in update manager, there is a tab for Other Sources, it had three listings:
http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest testing main contrib nonfree
http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/security testing/updates main contrib nonfree
http://debian-multimedia.org testing main nonfree

....snipped.....

You don't say which ISP you are with, but if it is Internode here is what your /etc/apt/sources.list should look like to mirror a standard LMDE install:

Code: Select all

deb http://mirror.internode.on.net/pub/linuxmint-packages/ debian main upstream import
deb http://mirror.internode.on.net/pub/linuxmint-debian/latest/ testing main contrib non-free
deb http://mirror.internode.on.net/pub/linuxmint-debian/latest/security/ testing/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://mirror.internode.on.net/pub/linuxmint-debian/latest/multimedia/ testing main non-free


cheers,
rhodry.

[gizmo-au]

thanks for your replies

Not with internode, my ISP is bigpond, which gives me free access to the AARNET repositories.

In software sources I have the option to select my Linux Mint software from AARNET but there is no option under the "other software" tab to select anything else.

Maybe I should go to AARNET website and see if I can find the equivalent software, if I can find it, then edit the entries under "other software" tab?

[gizmo-au]

I can't find what I'm looking for, but I don't really know what I'm doing.

Here is AARNET mirror's website: http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/

Thanks

[rhodry]

I had a look at Aarnet and it appears they do not carry the full Linuxmint mirror of the 'latest' & 'incoming' repositories. So, you are out of luck getting them as download quota free.

You could always email their admin and point out that Mint is now number one on Distowatch and is becoming one of the most important Linux distributions. In that light, they may choose to carry the FULL Linuxmint repo?!

The other alternative you have is to alter your sources.list to track Debian Testing direct. There are quite a number of people in this forum who currently do that and who would be happy to guide you. With testing about to enter development freeze in June I am expecting it will be pretty stable for the remainder of this year. If you chose to do that; here is what your /etc/apt/sources.list needs to look like:

Code: Select all

deb http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/linuxmint-packages/ debian main upstream import
deb http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/debian/ testing main contrib non-free
deb http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/debian-security/ testing/updates main contrib non-free
deb http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/debian-multimedia/mirror/ stable main non-free


This at least would get everything from Aarnet, but, there are differences in how you operate. You need to search these forums for further reference to that.

Your other option of course is to change to a decent ISP like Internode!!

On making changes, you can highlight the "Other Software" line you want to change and click 'Edit". Personally, I always edit configuration files directly through a terminal using nano or vim.

Hope this helps,
rhodry.

[gizmo-au]

thanks, very helppful.

[squeezy]

As an FYI and word of caution, I had something happen today which I hadn't experienced yet and thought I should pass it along. It regards changing the packages.linuxmint.com entry to another mirror.

I setup a custom install today of LMDE and for the first time, pointed the Mint packages repo to a mirror. I found I lost my apt pinning when I did this. I noticed the fontconfig files and libs that were being pulled down during the install were not the Ubuntu-modified ones from the Mint repo, but the standard packages from Debian.

I believe that you should edit the /etc/apt/preferences file to match the mirror you're using, or you might get an update that wipes out some of the files Mint supplies. In particular, this entry:

Code: Select all

Package: *
Pin: origin packages.linuxmint.com
Pin-Priority: 700


I would change packages.linuxmint.com to match the name of the mirror server you switch to.

Someone let me know if I'm way off base here, but I don't think I am. Before I changed things I did:

Code: Select all

apt-cache policy fontconfig

It showed the Debian version installed (because it has a higher version) and the Mint/Ubuntu one available but at priority 500.