m1ms

This script is for Manjaro systems on which configures/creates or tests system's mirrorlist. It can also change the active mirror in mirrorlist ("on-the-fly"), protecting from selecting an unsafe mirror. (Acts like Manjaro pacman-mirrors, from a different perspective)

Dependencies

• bash :)
• jq
• curl (required by pacman too)
• awk, grep, (included in base/base-devel)
• pkexec (optional for writing system mirrorlist, provided by polkit)

M1mS creates Manjaro mirrorlist and changes mirrors safely
    Options:
    m1ms {-i --init} (Re)Initialize the mirrorlist sorted by fastest
    m1ms {-n --next} Select the next (safe) mirror server in /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
    m1ms {-t --test} Test current active servers status
    m1ms (-h --help) This help message information

• -i | --init

Reads mirror status from repo.manjaro.org, filters out currently in-active servers and starts testing for speed, by downloading a file. Sorts on fastest server and offers to save as the system (pacman) mirrorlist, or in temp folder.

• -n | --next

Checks current system's mirrorlist servers repo DBs timestamp and

• accepts as safe and enables the first one (if it is not already) more recent than system's DBs timestamps

• disables each one that has older timestamp than system's DBs, as unsafe.

• -t | --test

Tests mirror servers for speed or whatever (WIP), similarly to --init

Scope and perspective

The perspective used for a proper and safe package update, avoiding accidental partial updates is to always have ONLY ONE active server in the mirrorlist and only change it when needed (server is not responding, need of the latest Manjaro updates as soon as posible etc.). The problem arises when your current active mirror has temporary problems. If there are more than one servers in the mirrorlist, pacman uses the next one. During this change, it is not checked whether the new assigned server has the same update status as the default one (at least, this is what I think, since I haven't read or heard it is; I would be happy if I find out I was wrong!). Manjaro mirror servers have various update/sync frequencies. Some update every hour (or less) while others once a day, depending on the providers. In case you configure your mirrors depending on their up-to-date status, you may have different results depending on the time of configuration and the chosen mirrors/countries. For example:

A (the) Greek mirror syncs once a day at about 12:00 UTC, while a french mirror every one hour.

• If I run pacman mirrors or check on the repo webpage at 14:00 UTC, I will choose the Greek server as it will be up-to-date and since it's the nearest to me, it's my best choice for speed, as well as the French mirror, but because the French mirror is faster, it goes at the top of the mirrorlist (if I rank for speed), with the Greek one as second.
• Then there is a Manjaro update at 22:00 UTC and I update my system at 24:00 UTC (using the French mirror).
• Next day at about 08:00-10:00 UTC, I try to install a new package or update the system. If at that time the French mirror is not responding, pacman will fallback to the Greek mirror, which has older packages. If you don't use -y pacman parameter, you will not even notice an error message for "local packages are newer than remote ones" and you will get into a "partially updated" system!!

With M1mS method, you are supposed to have only one enabled mirror in the mirrorlist. Then, whenever the server is unusable, you run m1ms --next and in a few seconds you have the fastest and sefest (for your system) mirror enabled, while the unsafe mirror is disabled. Also, if you always use this command before any system or package syncing action, you will always be sure you will never have a partially updated system!

You may use m1ms either in your manually configured mirrorlist, or even in combination with a pacman-mirrors created one, or of course... exclusively, as it can create a preferred servers list in a very easy interactive procedure, with 9 prefixed country groups (by regions) and a choice to just enter a group number, or enter country names (with or without capitalization format, or spaces, or underscores), or a combination of both. You may write the result to pacman mirrorlist (getting root privileges), keeping a copy of the old one, or save locally and use it as you like.

A possible workflow for using m1ms as your main mirrorlist maintenance tool can be:

1. Create your mirrorlist initially, choosing from any available countries in repo.manjaro.org. (--init). This will save a sorted list of servers by speed (fastest first) and enable the first one.
2. After initial creation, run --next to verify the active server is safe (DBs are same or newer than your current local DBs). If not, it will disable the current (unsafe) and enable the next safe server.
3. That's it, until you notice pacman reporting unable to update, or very slow downloads etc. If you decide to change the active server, only run --next and check again with pacman.

For whoever finds this useful, I will be happy. For the rest, do your maintenance however you prefer.

Please report any bugs and ideas for relevant useful improvements and features.

Manual installation (suggested)

curl -o m1ms https://raw.githubusercontent.com/petsam/m1ms/master/m1ms
chmod +x m1ms
sudo cp m1ms /usr/local/bin/

You may save the script to any folder in your $PATH, in order to call it from any terminal.

Contributors

@petsam (aka Petros Samaras - Πέτρος Σαμαράς) @sgse (Github) (aka sgs) - testing, images