[gentoo-alt] [PREFIX] prefix tree now defaults to being available via rsync

[Fabian Groffen]

Hi all,

Since rsync is working out well, it is now time to make the change.  The
subversion tree snapshots are no longer used for bootstrapping.
Everyone who does not do development on his/her local tree is advised
to switch to using rsync instead.  Switching is as simple as removing
the SYNC= line from your $EPREFIX/etc/make.conf.  Make sure you are
running >=portage-2.2.00.10347 before doing this.

Advantages of using rsync for normal users is that there is metadata
cache shipped with the tree.  This allows Portage to calculate
dependencies much faster after a sync.  Also tools like eix can use this
metadata to do their searches.  Please note that eix is currently not
yet configured to use the metadata in Prefix, I need testers to verify
it works with the metadata cache we provide.

For pure informational purposes, the rsync tree is served to users by
currently two public servers, kindly provided to us.  None of them are
Gentoo hardware though.  The master rsync mirror is generated on a
Solaris 10 machine.  Every ten minutes after 0:01 a new generation
process is started, which roughly takes about a minute to complete.
After a successful completion, the generated rsync image is copied to a
Gentoo Linux machine, which is the master for the two previously
mentioned public servers.  The update of the tree is implemented as an
atomic operation on the master mirror, by means of zapping a symlink
pointer from the old image to the new one, once copying has completed.
The two public servers synchronise with the master at 15 minute
intervals, 0 and 5 minutes after 0:00 for the first and the second
server.


-- 
Fabian Groffen
Gentoo on a different level
-- 
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