Re: Change from ftp.gnu.org to ftpmirror.gnu.org for GNU-sourced packages...

"Bruce Dubbs" ([email protected] via blfs-support Mailing List) <[email protected]>
Newsgroups gmane.linux.lfs.beyond.support
Message-ID <[email protected]>
On 8/13/25 9:05 PM, Eric Clothier ([email protected] via blfs-support Mailing 
List) wrote:
> Hey guys, so I noticed an odd and seemingly random issue several times while building 
> various BLFS packages today using the jhalfs build system. On packages sourced from 
> GNU (ftp.gnu.org <http://ftp.gnu.org>), I would occasionally get an error saying wget 
> was "Unable to establish an SSL connection." At first I didn't think too much of it, 
> chalked it up to normal Internet routing issues, and kept going, because the second 
> attempt would go through with no problem. Until I attempted to build aspell (as a 
> dependency for gedit) about 15-20 minutes ago. I tried multiple times, and just kept 
> getting SSL connection errors. Visiting https://ftp.gnu.org <https://ftp.gnu.org> 
> using Firefox would give me about a 50/50 chance of either getting the site, or 
> getting a "Connection timed out" error. Clearly, GNU's prime server is heavily 
> loaded. But, when I was able to get to https://ftp.gnu.org <https://ftp.gnu.org>, the 
> page does mention that GNU provides an automated mirror selector at https:// 
> ftpmirror.gnu.org <https://ftpmirror.gnu.org> and that they would prefer users to use 
> the mirror sites, to help reduce load on their prime server. By replacing ftp.gnu.org 
> <http://ftp.gnu.org> with ftpmirror.gnu.org <http://ftpmirror.gnu.org> in my whet 
> commands, the files downloaded with no issue.

We have certainly noticed the problem.  For BLFS, all the packages are at the files 
mirrors listed at https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/mirrors.html.

For LFS, the files for the current stable releases are there, but not the ones 
updated in the development version since the stable version was released.

We have been in contact with the gnu folks and they are aware of the problem and are 
trying to fix it as quickly as possible.

> So, I guess I just wanted to put the question out there: is there a reason that the 
> links in the BLFS (and LFS, for that matter) books use ftp.gnu.org <http:// 
> ftp.gnu.org> over ftpmirror.gnu.org <http://ftpmirror.gnu.org>? And if not, is that a 
> change that might be worth making?

As far as the books go, out policy for a long time has been to use the canonical 
location for package downloads. We would prefer to maintain that policy.

Let me note that the upstream problem is serious. The package developers do not have 
the capability right now to publish updates. This will get straightened out, but we 
don't know how long it will take.

   -- Bruce

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