“pacman-mirrors” is a tool for generating a pacman mirrorlist in Manjaro Linux and other Arch Linux-based distributions. A mirrorlist is a list of mirrors (or servers) that provide access to package repositories, and pacman uses the mirrorlist to download packages during package installations and upgrades.
“pacman-mirrors” is used to generate a new and up-to-date mirrorlist for the system, by gathering information about available mirrors and selecting the best ones based on factors such as speed, reliability, and geographic location. The generated mirrorlist is then used by pacman to download packages from the selected mirrors.
Using a good mirrorlist is important for several reasons, such as:
- Speed: Selecting fast and reliable mirrors can significantly improve the download speed of packages.
- Reliability: By using a well-curated mirrorlist, the user can ensure that pacman downloads packages from mirrors that are reliable and have a good track record.
- Geo-location: By selecting mirrors that are close to the user’s location, pacman can download packages faster and more reliably.
Every run of “pacman-mirrors” requires the user to synchronize their database and update their system using “sudo pacman -Syyu”. This ensures that the system is up-to-date with the latest package information and minimizes the chances of encountering problems during package installations and upgrades.
pacman-mirrors Command Examples
1. Generate a mirrorlist using the default settings:
# sudo pacman-mirrors --fasttrack
2. Get the status of the current mirrors:
# pacman-mirrors --status
3. Display the current branch:
# pacman-mirrors --get-branch
4. Switch to a different branch:
# sudo pacman-mirrors --api --set-branch {{stable|unstable|testing}}
5. Generate a mirrorlist, only using mirrors in your country:
# sudo pacman-mirrors --geoip