Package: debmirror Version: 1:2.4.4 Severity: wishlist This is perhaps a bit of an unrealistic idea, so feel free to close the bug if it's unlikely to happen. Or possibly this should be a bigger thing than just debmirror.
zsync is an implementation of the rsync algorithm, which works over HTTP without requiring a zsync or rsync server on the remote end. apt-sync is a similar tool for .debs specifically. Both require the server to have some additional files for computing deltas between the remote and local ends. When updating a mirror with debmirror, you probably already have the old version of a package. Having support for zsync and/or apt-sync might reduce the amount of data that needs to be downloaded. This could be a big benefit for those living in bandwidth-starved locations (most of the world). To implement this, the Debian mirrors would have to add the special files required for zsync/apt-sync. In the simplistic implementation, this would result in a huge number of new files on the mirrors, and that's not acceptable, so something should be done about that. Ubuntu has considered this a bit: * https://wiki.ubuntu.com/AptSyncInKarmicSpec * https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2009-July/028529.html * https://wiki.ubuntu.com/apt-sync I don't know what the status of these things in Ubuntu are, nor what the status of using, say, apt-sync in Debian is. It might be useful to have support for both zsync and apt-sync: zsync for .orig.tar.gz and apt-sync for .deb. -- System Information: Debian Release: squeeze/sid APT prefers testing APT policy: (500, 'testing') Architecture: amd64 (x86_64) Kernel: Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores) Locale: LANG=en_NZ.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_NZ.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8) Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash Versions of packages debmirror depends on: ii bzip2 1.0.5-4 high-quality block-sorting file co pn libcompress-zlib-perl <none> (no description available) ii libdigest-sha1-perl 2.12-1 NIST SHA-1 message digest algorith ii liblockfile-simple-perl 0.207-1 Simple advisory file locking ii libwww-perl 5.836-1 Perl HTTP/WWW client/server librar ii perl [libdigest-md5-perl] 5.10.1-13 Larry Wall's Practical Extraction ii perl-modules [libnet-perl] 5.10.1-13 Core Perl modules ii rsync 3.0.7-2 fast remote file copy program (lik Versions of packages debmirror recommends: ii ed 1.4-1 The classic UNIX line editor ii gpgv 1.4.10-4 GNU privacy guard - signature veri ii patch 2.6-2 Apply a diff file to an original Versions of packages debmirror suggests: ii gnupg 1.4.10-4 GNU privacy guard - a free PGP rep -- no debconf information -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
