Script to find the fastest FreeBSD.org pkg mirror near you.
By default FreeBSD pkg uses DNS-based load balancing. This is achieved a SRV query:
$ dig +short _http._tcp.pkg.freebsd.org srv
10 10 80 pkgmir.geo.freebsd.org.
50 10 80 pkg0.bme.freebsd.org.
50 10 80 pkg0.isc.freebsd.org.
50 10 80 pkg0.nyi.freebsd.org.
50 10 80 pkg0.pkt.freebsd.org.
50 10 80 pkg0.tuk.freebsd.org.However, this method does not choose the fastest mirror. This script can help you to find the fastest pkg mirror near you.
$ ./fastest_pkg.py
pkg0.bme.freebsd.org: 628.348 KB/s
pkg0.isc.freebsd.org: 867.503 KB/s
pkg0.nyi.freebsd.org: 913.416 KB/s
pkg0.pkt.freebsd.org: 12487.97 KB/s
pkg0.tuk.freebsd.org: 884.393 KB/s
Fastest:
pkg0.pkt.freebsd.org: 12487.97 KB/s
Write configuration:
mkdir -p /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/
echo 'FreeBSD: { url: "http://pkg0.pkt.freebsd.org/${ABI}/latest" }' \
> /usr/local/etc/pkg/repos/FreeBSD.conf
At the end of the output you'll see a sample configuration to hardcode the fastest pkg mirror leading to much higher pkg performance.