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Bug#439267: Post-install sources.list should contain commented-out generic URIs



Frans Pop wrote:

> [ Snip some excellent points ]
>
> Downside of this all is that you _would_ IMO need to test the mirror and 
> possibly that is exactly what the user wanted to avoid in the first
> place

Yes, this was what prompted me to originally file the BR - a friend had
installed via a DVD and it wasn't immediately obvious to him how to add a
another mirror.

Of course, this info is in sources.list(5) and all over the internet, but
it would have been a quicker and less typing if there was something
resembling an example in the file.

If a working network is not actually part of this use case then, yes, we
must conclude from that auto-detection is unworkable. If a working network
is, then we could start to look at CDN and possibly autodetection. The
latter does sound a little fragile, though.

> If you don't want to test, the defaults really should be totally generic 
> (i.e. _not_ have a specific country code at all, maybe just literally
> 'ftp.xx.d.o') and have a lot more explanation instead.

I agree. I'm starting to think that maybe this bug can be fixed with just
adding:

 * An example of a "deb http" line, commented out
 * A short description, highlighting that not all mirrors contain all archs
 * A link to the list of mirrors

In fact, using a vendor-neutral hostname instead of "d.o" such as
"ftp.xx.hostname" would prevent the derivative problem to some degree, but
I'm not entirely sure how d-i accomodates derivatives (and they may wish
to change the wording and links of the mirror list anyway).


Regards,

-- 
Chris Lamb, UK                                       chris@chris-lamb.co.uk
                                                            GPG: 0x634F9A20

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