[Web] [Interest] Poor mirror performance for the online Qt SDK

[Sze Howe Koh]

On 21 December 2013 07:51, Sze Howe Koh <szehowe.koh at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 20 December 2013 16:05, Jenssen Tim <Tim.Jenssen at digia.com> wrote:
>> In the past it was very easy to set a different url on the server:
>>
>>> To set a different repository on the installer: just go to "Settings" after you started the
>>> installer then click on tab "Repositories". There you can disable the default repository
>>> and add your better connected server for example
>>> http://mirrors.ustc.edu.cn/qtproject/online/qtsdkrepository/windows_x86/root/qt/ .
>>> Then you can check the url with clicking "Test" if no error is be shown then everything is ok.
>>> After that you can continue with installing as usual.
>>
>> But if I look closer to the current used method I see that the root Updates.xml contains again the general download.* url. So we need some more manual work to change the download server. (Big sorry for that and I created a task: https://bugreports.qt-project.org/browse/QTIFW-441)
>> The installer can read repositories from local so we can download the root/qt directory to hard disk (yes you need all files in that directory) and change/adjust the urls in the Updates.xml file. I did that in the attachment for the mirrors.ustc.edu.cn and windows repository.
>> Then use the path to that local root install repository with the faster download urls as the new user repository url in the installer settings - don't forget to disable the default one.
>> After that you can continue with installing as usual.
>>
>> Note: The find fastest server algorithm needs to be fixed and the best would be to create a bugreport with some more collected infos - so we can get an idea why and where this happens and how we can fix that.
>>
>> PS: Resume download feature for the installers is already a task: watch and vote https://bugreports.qt-project.org/browse/QTIFW-5
>
> Thank you for your efforts, Tim! I set up a local repo using your
> attachment, and was able to download Qt 5.2.0 quickly through the
> online installer.
>
> It's very close to the Christmas break, so it could be a while before
> the updated installer/settings/algorithm become public. Would it be a
> good idea to add a quick note to the top of
> http://qt-project.org/downloads, for the benefit of those who're
> experiencing download speed issues? Something along the lines of:
>
> "Users from some parts of the world might get connected to mirrors
> that are slow for them. The Qt Project is working on this issue. In
> the meantime, if you are experiencing extremely slow downloads, please
> click on 'Info' next to the package you want, and manually select a
> different mirror."
>
>
> Regards,
> Sze-Howe

Hello,

I'm wondering if there has been any progress on improving the Qt
Project's download experience?

There has just been another report of extremely slow downloads, this
time from Israel: http://qt-project.org/forums/viewthread/36777/

Two weeks ago I added an announcement to the forum to teach users how
to manually select mirrors
(http://qt-project.org/forums/viewthread/36351/), but newcomers are
unlikely to see it. A poor download experience is a barrier to
adoption.


Other suggestions related to downloads:
- Users are requesting Torrent support:
http://qt-project.org/forums/viewthread/36338/
- Thiago requested a "Contributed packages" section on the Downloads
page for 3rd-party builds:
http://lists.qt-project.org/pipermail/interest/2013-July/007748.html


Regards,
Sze-Howe