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twanj
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Joined: 08 Jul 2007
Posts: 6
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 Posted: Sun Jul 08, 2007 12:16 am Post subject: HOWTO: Download ISOs faster and error free with metalink |
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metalinks are an XML format listing mirrors, p2p locations, checksums, & other stuff in one file used by download managers.
downloads are usually quite fast, and if aria2 is used, they will be error free and repairable.
1. Install aria2
2. http://www.metalinker.org/samples.html#isos has a large number of ISOs, including Gentoo
3. Download the Metalink for the ISO you want with 'aria2c URLtoMetalink'
if you download the .metalink file, you can use it locally with 'aria2c -M metalink'
there's a patch for Bouncer if gentoo wanted to use this for ISO downloads. different sources can be given priority, and downloads can be filtered by location and other things.
here's an example of what one looks like, minus the chunk checksums used for repairs.
| Code: | <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<metalink version="3.0" generator="Metalink Editor version 0.4.1" xmlns="http://www.metalinker.org/">
<publisher>
<name>Gentoo</name>
<url>http://www.gentoo.org/</url>
</publisher>
<version>2007.0</version>
<files>
<file name="livecd-i686-installer-2007.0.iso">
<size>734308352</size>
<os>Linux-x86</os>
<verification>
<hash type="md5">7a21c2f09edd51612fb2cd7984dd3577</hash>
<hash type="sha1">d876060d2b322b9afffdcd81da2ec8433e489d93</hash>
</verification>
<resources>
<url type="http" location="us" preference="100">http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/gentoo/releases/x86/2007.0/livecd/livecd-i686-installer-2007.0.iso</url>
<url type="http" location="kr" preference="100">http://ftp.gentoo.or.kr/releases/x86/2007.0/livecd/livecd-i686-installer-2007.0.iso</url>
<url type="http" location="tw" preference="100">http://ftp.isu.edu.tw/pub/Linux/Gentoo/releases/x86/2007.0/livecd/livecd-i686-installer-2007.0.iso</url>
<url type="http" location="ro" preference="100">http://ftp.roedu.net/pub/mirrors/gentoo.org/releases/x86/2007.0/livecd/livecd-i686-installer-2007.0.iso</url>
<url type="http" location="uk" preference="100">http://gentoo.blueyonder.co.uk/releases/x86/2007.0/livecd/livecd-i686-installer-2007.0.iso</url>
<url type="http" location="jp" preference="100">http://gentoo.gg3.net/releases/x86/2007.0/livecd/livecd-i686-installer-2007.0.iso</url>
<url type="http" location="ca" preference="100">http://gentoo.mirrored.ca/releases/x86/2007.0/livecd/livecd-i686-installer-2007.0.iso</url>
<url type="http" location="us" preference="100">http://gentoo.mirrors.pair.com/releases/x86/2007.0/livecd/livecd-i686-installer-2007.0.iso</url>
<url type="http" preference="100">http://gentoo.scphost.com/releases/x86/2007.0/livecd/livecd-i686-installer-2007.0.iso</url>
<url type="http" location="de" preference="100">http://linux.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/download/gentoo-mirror/releases/x86/2007.0/livecd/livecd-i686-installer-2007.0.iso</url>
<url type="http" location="jp" preference="100">http://mirror.gentoo.gr.jp/releases/x86/2007.0/livecd/livecd-i686-installer-2007.0.iso</url>
<url type="http" location="it" preference="100">http://www.die.unipd.it/pub/Linux/distributions/gentoo-sources/releases/x86/2007.0/livecd/livecd-i686-installer-2007.0.iso</url>
<url type="http" location="us" preference="100">http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/gentoo/releases/x86/2007.0/livecd/livecd-i686-installer-2007.0.iso</url>
<url type="http" location="br" preference="100">http://www.las.ic.unicamp.br/pub/gentoo/releases/x86/2007.0/livecd/livecd-i686-installer-2007.0.iso</url>
<url type="http" location="uk" preference="100">http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/www.ibiblio.org/gentoo/releases/x86/2007.0/livecd/livecd-i686-installer-2007.0.iso</url>
</resources>
</file>
</files>
</metalink> |
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twanj
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Joined: 08 Jul 2007
Posts: 6
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| Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 11:27 pm Post subject: |
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| DownThemAll! 1.0 Beta now supports metalink downloads from mirrors and full file checksum verification. |
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steveL
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Joined: 13 Sep 2006
Posts: 5153
Location: The Peanut Gallery
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 11:12 am Post subject: |
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| Looks interesting. There's no DTD mentioned in your sample file. That means it's not valid XML aiui. Do you believe this file-format is necessary, or could you see it being done with say an ini-style format? (or anythng but XML ;) |
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twanj
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steveL
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Joined: 13 Sep 2006
Posts: 5153
Location: The Peanut Gallery
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| Posted: Sun Jul 15, 2007 5:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | What do you have against XML?  |
http://modeemi.fi/~tuomov/b////archives/2006/04/14/T18_33_42/
http://modeemi.fi/~tuomov/b///archives/2007/01/20/T11_58_29/
..pretty much explain it. I like Gentoo GuideXML for instance as it is simple and clean, but usually XML files are way too verbose/ content-light for my liking. I blame MS for making it so bloated in their usage of it; it's ended up being something difficult for people to edit.
Most of all i like rst (as a format) and TeX for complex stuff. For configuration I prefer simple plaintext, although I haven't yet seen the one true format (can't find the url for that one but i don't really like it either)  |
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twanj
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Joined: 08 Jul 2007
Posts: 6
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| Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2007 12:19 am Post subject: |
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| Metalink is aimed at browsers and other programs that already support XML. XML seems to fit fine with what it's doing, it's been working fine for years, so I doubt it will change soon unless there were huge benefits for doing so. |
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twanj
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Posts: 6
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| Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:07 pm Post subject: |
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About 20 apps now support downloading w/ metalinks now, including KGet in KDE 4.0, the DTA Firefox extension, aria2 (CLI), wxDownload Fast, GetRight, Net Transport, FDM, Orbit, Retriever, and Speed Download.
There are a bunch of tools for automating the creation of metalinks too. |
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kernelOfTruth
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Joined: 20 Dec 2005
Posts: 6111
Location: Vienna, Austria; Germany; hello world :)
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