Re: 404s on update/install

[Craig Dickson <crdic@yahoo.com>]

Noah Meyerhans wrote:

> This is occurring because you're trying to update your system while the
> mirror is itself updating its archive.
> 
> In the Debian mirroring scheme, Packages files often end up being
> updated before the actual package files.  So it's not uncommon for a
> Packages file to refer to foo_1.2.3-1_i386.deb before that package
> actually exists in the archive.

I suppose this is because the mirroring software doesn't understand that
the package list's usefulness is dependent on the packages actually
being there. Isn't there some way to ensure that the package list is the
last thing updated for each section of the repository, by suitably
configuring the software? I can't possibly be the first person to think
of this, can I?

Sid is generally updated every single day, so, from what you're saying,
every single day there is a period of time, of whatever duration, when
apt-get update/upgrade will fail. This is not good. The package
repository should always be logically consistent from the user's
perspective.

I run into this problem probably at least once a week, so either my luck
has been bad far beyond the limits of probability, or these brief
inconsistencies aren't nearly as brief as you seem to think.

Craig