With Debian you can easily auto-detect the fastest mirror for apt-get!
First install this package:
$ sudo apt-get install netselect-apt
Then run the following, adjusting for your desired version. I’m using LMDE, so I’m going to run:
$ sudo netselect-apt testing
Other examples:
sudo netselect-apt [stable|testing|unstable|experimental|release_codename|sid]
This will query various debian mirrors then leave a file sources.list in your current working directory.
You can now manually update your /etc/apt/sources.list with the fastest mirror found for your system.
$ sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list
Only replace the existing line
deb http://[___]debian.org/debian stable main contrib
with your new mirror. Leave others such as security.debian.org and third party repos as they are.
Sweet!
Do you know how I could do the same on Ubuntu? I cannot seem to install it:
$ sudo apt-get install netselect-apt
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information… Done
Package netselect-apt is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
E: Package ‘netselect-apt’ has no installation candidate
Download the source from a http:// repo and compile the tool on ubuntu.
Many good debian-tools are not available in ubuntu since they are replaced by tools from the ubuntu-repo or just not done for ubuntu (yet).
But I just thought, that I read somewhere, that a similar tool is available… still don’t remember the name.
Maybe google helps, too
Just use Debian or at least LMDE (Linux Mint Debian Edition).
Scott did you know that you can rename (or remove) the current sources.list before running the netselect?
$ sudo mv /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.bak
$ sudo netselect-apt sid
Way long easier!
Greets
Forgot to say that renaming/removing the sources.list will generate the sources.list automatically for you.
Twitter: scottlinux
Whoa thanks!