urpmi.addmedia [solved]

[Arne]

Hello Guys,

I have gone trough TWiky manual.

 

I have tried to download Main, contrib and update several times but I always get error like this:

 

[root@192 arne3]# urpmi.addmedia main ftp://ftp.clinet.fi/pub/mirrors/Mandrake-...i586/media/main with media_info/hdlist.cz  added medium main  retrieving source hdlist (or synthesis) of "main"...     

ftp://ftp.clinet.fi/pub/mirrors/Mandrake-..._info/hdlist.cz    ...

retrieving failed: curl: (9) Couldn't cd to official  retrieval of source hdlist (or synthesis) failed  no hdlist file found for medium "main" 

examining synthesis file [/var/lib/urpmi/synthesis.hdlist.main.cz]  problem reading synthesis file of medium "main"  unable to update medium "main"

 

I have tried the default sites in easy urpmi, Taiwan and Australia. I have tried to delete my my CD repostri but I get the same error.

 

How do I check that the sites is not overloaded??????

Is the quality of the sites equal???????

Can anyone recommend stable and good download sites????

 

What is wrong?????, please

[devries]

There is no quality check other then experience. For what it's worth I found the Dutch mirrors to be excellent. (the warwick.ac.uk are fine too)

[ianw1974]

Sometimes I've had problems, normally if the mirror has been unavailable or something like that.

 

One in particular was a sunsite mirror which I always tended to have problems with. If you're choosing a similar name type of mirror, it might be worthwhile to try a different one, and see if that comes back with anything.

[Arne]

Hello again,

I disable in mcc "media manager" all local sources. Then back to urpmi.addmedia and try again. Now I get this:

 

[root@192 arne3]# urpmi.addmedia --update updates ftp://mirror.pacific.net.au/linux/Mandrak...5/main_updates/ with media_info/hdlist.cz  added medium updates  urpmi database locked  [root@192 arne3]# urpmi.addmedia main ftp://sunsite.mff.cuni.cz/OS/Linux/Dist/M...i586/media/main with media_info/hdlist.cz  added medium main  urpmi database locked

 

Do I have to register on the media sites to access the files????

 

Should I use mcc "Media manager" instead???

 

What am i missing???????????????

Edited September 26, 2005 by Arne

[ianw1974]

I've had this, there is a way to reset it when the database is locked, but I'm not sure how. I usually just reboot, and then try again.

 

If you have sources already added, it might be best to remove them first, especially if they are main, contrib, etc, etc. Leave your CD/DVD source, this is OK.

 

I'd leave the sunsite mirror, I prefer the warwick one (just as devries says) in the UK, fast, and always up.

[Arne]

Hello again both of you,

I am trying the Dutch site (after reboot) and the download of "main" has started.

Thanks for tips.

 

It seems like this downloads are going to take a lot of time, the first one is main is 24.7 Mb.

 

I will report back.

 

ianw1974: on the printer sharing I added in localhost Administartor:pass@ and then it worked. I wonder under what circumstances this has to be added? Any tip?

[ianw1974]

I've had problems printing from Linux to Windows before, and had to use admin passwords to get it to work. I only used the GUI though to configure it, and I know that when I'd originally used my normal login id it didn't work. I think though perhaps it was because I didn't exist on the other machine :P

 

main and contrib are about the same size, 25MB or so. jpackage is about 7-8mb, and plfs are about 3mb.

[scarecrow]

If you find the normal indexes long you can use compressed indexes, which are much smaller. This is very handy if you use something like Cooker, where you would have to download more than 60 MB before any system upgrade.

[AussieJohn]

When it says the database is locked, it means that MCC is still open from a previous attempt. All that is necessary is to close ALL mcc that may be open and start again.

This is a case when it has not been able to download the update reference file but you try again to download the file without first closing MCC and starting again.

It is not complicated at all.

When it cannot download the update reference file it usually because the mirror site is down or that the reference file is itself is in the process of being updated. Either use another mirror or simply wait a few hours.

 

Scarecrow, I have not seen an update or upgrade file more than about 25 to 27mgb as ianw says. There would be no need for such a file to be 60mbs since it is only a list and not software. I still haven't found out why it even needs 25mbs.

Cheers. John.

[ianw1974]

Hi John,

 

I found that the index, if you go into MCC, and then view all software, and choose detailed, it lists all the directories/files/change log and all sorts of other details for that specific program.

 

Main and contrib are large urpmi sources of programs, and so, because of this the index seems to be large by all the info stored in it. I can only assume because of all this detail, is why it's at 25mb or so for these two sources.

 

My link here is only 128kbps at present, so it takes me like 30 minutes just to download Main plus another 30 mins for contrib :P

 

But that's only because I prefer having all that info in case I need to find out where the prog got installed, or other bits of info, else, with compressed index, I can probably download it in only five minutes or so.

 

Another way to lock urpmi, is I went to urpmi.addmedia, and it wasn't responding (mirror not accessible), so I did a CTRL-C to break it (rather than wait - too impatient :D ), and when I tried again with a different mirror, I couldn't because of the database lock error. There is a command you can issue in the terminal, but I never actually found out what it was. adamw mentioned it in a post when I originally posted this, but I'd already sorted it with a reboot, and can't remember if the solution at the terminal was posted or not! I'll have to do a google.....

[ianw1974]

Found it :P

 

Can be resolved with this:

 

rm -f "/var/lib/urpmi/.LOCK"
rm -f "/var/lib/urpmi/.RPMLOCK"

 

but only use it when not in the middle of installing or removing something!

[scarecrow]

Scarecrow, I have not seen an update or upgrade file more than about 25 to 27mgb as ianw says.  There would be no need for such a file to be 60mbs since it is only a list and not software. I still haven't found out why it even needs 25mbs.

Cheers.                            John.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

A single, large index is about that, but "main" plus "contrib" plus "PLF" plus a few more repos can easily top 60 megs.

The biggest part of the "25M index" is text file descriptions, including contents, which aren't terribly useful for advanced users. The compressed indexes are sevral times smaller.

Edited September 26, 2005 by scarecrow

[Arne]

Hello all,

Thanks for all replies.

 

My main download was 24.7 Contrib was 20.2 and update was 10.3 this should mean that my database is OK. I have not used it yet so time will tell.

 

Any tip on how to use it and/or rather what a newbie should avoid.

 

In the mean time I wonder if I should add more mirrors. I prefer to stay away from cooker for the time being considering my limited knowledge. the other options plf's, jpackage or .....

 

Can anyone explain what the other options are good and safe for a newbie??????

 

ianw1974 wrote:

rm -f "/var/lib/urpmi/.LOCK" 

rm -f "/var/lib/urpmi/.RPMLOCK"

 

Is this for unlocking the database or..........

 

Thank's for help and info Guys

Edited September 27, 2005 by Arne

[ianw1974]

Yup, they were for unlocking the database :P

 

The jpackage option I'm not sure about, PLF used to be one repository, but it got split to plf-free and plf-nonfree.

 

It's just another repository of software. I tend to add them all, then I have pretty much everything I need. Sometimes when you compile stuff, it will require various packages from either of these repositories, and if they aren't there, you'll get dependency errors and things like that.

 

Someone else might be able to explain in exact detail what each repository is there for and how they came to exist.