Re: [KORG] Re: kernel.org lies about latest -mm kernel

From: Russell King
Date: Sat Dec 16 2006 - 15:30:35 EST


On Sat, Dec 16, 2006 at 11:30:34AM -0800, J.H. wrote:
> The problem has been hashed over quite a bit recently, and I would be
> curious what you would consider the real problem after you see the
> situation.

One thing which isn't helping you is the way folk inevitably end up
using ftp.kernel.org rather than ftp.<cc>.kernel.org. [*]

Let me illustrate why. Throw http://ftp.uk.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel
into a web browser. The address changes to:

http://ftp.uk.kernel.org/sites/ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/

Hit reload a few times, and eventually be greated by:

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /sites/ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/ on this server.

because one of the IPs which "ftp.uk.kernel.org" resolves to isn't a
part of the UK mirror service (who are providing most of ftp.uk.kernel.org),
and therefore has a different site policy.

Ergo, downloads via http from ftp.uk.kernel.org are at best unreliable
for multiple requests.

I agree that it's not directly your problem, and isn't something you
have direct control over. However, if you want to round-robin the
<cc>.kernel.org IP addresses between different providers, I suggest
that either the name resolves to just one site, or that kernel.org
adopts a policy with their mirrors that they only become part of
the <cc>.kernel.org DNS entries as long as they do not rewrite their
site-specific URLs in terms of that address.

IOW, that URL above should've been:

http://hawking-if-b.mirrorservice.org/sites/ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/

to ensure that mirrorservice.org's policy isn't uselessly applied to
someone elses mirror site.

Maybe then ftp.<cc>.kernel.org would become slightly more attractive.

* - I gave up with ftp.uk.kernel.org many years ago when it became
unreliable and haven't looked back, despite recent news that it's
improved. But as illustrated above it does still have issues. I
certainly would _not_ want to use ftp.uk.linux.org to obtain GIT
updates from as long as the current DNS situation persists - that
would be suicide.

--
Russell King
Linux kernel 2.6 ARM Linux - http://www.arm.linux.org.uk/
maintainer of:
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