fast-apt-mirror.sh 
Feedback and high-quality pull requests are highly welcome!
What is it?
fast-apt-mirror.sh is a self-contained Bash script that helps you to easily and quickly determine and configure a fast APT repository mirror on Debian, Ubuntu, Pop!_OS, Kali systems.
It was born out of the ongoing stability issues with the azure.archive.ubuntu.com Ubuntu
mirror pre-configured in GitHub Actions runners.
Usage as GitHub Action
name: Build
on: [ push, pull_request ]
jobs:
build:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- name: Configure Fast APT Mirror
uses: vegardit/fast-apt-mirror.sh@v1
with: # the following parameters are listed with their action default values and are optional
healthchecks: 20 # Number of mirrors from the mirrors list to check for availability and up-to-dateness
speedtests: 10 # Maximum number of healthy mirrors to test for speed
parallel: 2 # Number of parallel speed tests
sample-size: 1024 # Number of kilobytes to download during the speed from each mirror
sample-time: 3 # Maximum number of seconds within the sample download from a mirror must finish
The action output will look like this:
Current mirror: http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ (/etc/apt/sources.list)
Randomly selecting 20 mirrors...done
Checking health status of 20 mirrors....................done
-> 17 mirrors are reachable and up-to-date
Speed testing 10 of the available 17 mirrors (sample download size: 1024KB)..........done
-> http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ (85MB/s) determined as fastest mirror within 4 seconds
-> http://pubmirrors.dal.corespace.com/ubuntu/ (3.7MB/s)
-> http://mirrors.xmission.com/ubuntu/ (3.0MB/s)
-> http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/ubuntu/ (2.0MB/s)
-> http://mirrors.rit.edu/ubuntu/ (1.8MB/s)
-> http://ubuntu.cs.utah.edu/ubuntu/ (1.8MB/s)
-> https://mirror.us.leaseweb.net/ubuntu/ (1.6MB/s)
-> https://mirrors.iu13.net/ubuntu/ (1.5MB/s)
-> http://mirrors.syringanetworks.net/ubuntu-archive/ (1.4MB/s)
-> https://mirrors.bloomu.edu/ubuntu/ (1.1MB/s)
Current mirror: http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ (/etc/apt/sources.list)
Nothing to do, already using: http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/
Usage on the command line
Installation
For example:
# install pre-reqs: bash, curl and HTTPS transport support for apt
$ sudo apt-get install -y bash curl apt-transport-https ca-certificates
# install fast-apt-mirror.sh under /usr/local/bin/ to make it automatically available via $PATH
$ sudo curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vegardit/fast-apt-mirror.sh/v1/fast-apt-mirror.sh -o /usr/local/bin/fast-apt-mirror.sh
$ sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/fast-apt-mirror.sh
# show the help
$ fast-apt-mirror.sh --help
fast-apt-mirror.sh COMMAND
Available commands:
current - Prints the currently configured APT mirror.
find - Finds and prints the URL of a fast APT mirror and optionally applies it using the 'fast-apt-mirror.sh set' command.
set - Configures the given APT mirror in /etc/apt/sources.list and runs 'sudo apt-get update'.
The current sub command
Determines the currently effective APT mirror.
$ fast-apt-mirror.sh current
Current mirror: http://artfiles.org/ubuntu
Capture the current mirror URL in a variable:
$ current_mirror=$(fast-apt-mirror.sh current)
$ echo $current_mirror
http://artfiles.org/ubuntu
The find sub command
Determines and prints the URL of a fast APT mirror and optionally activates it.
To perform the connectivity and speed tests, the curl command must be installed.
Usage:
fast-apt-mirror.sh find [OPTION]...
Options:
--apply - Replaces the current APT mirror in /etc/apt/(sources.list|sources.list.d/system.sources) with a fast mirror and runs 'sudo apt-get update'
--exclude-current - If specified, don't include the current APT mirror in the speed tests.
--healthchecks N - Number of mirrors from the mirrors list to check for availability and up-to-dateness - default is 20
--speedtests N - Maximum number of healthy mirrors to test for speed - default is 5
-p, --parallel N - Number of parallel speed tests. May result in incorrect results because of competing connections but finds a suitable mirror faster.
--sample-size KB - Number of kilobytes to download during the speed from each mirror - default is 200KB
--sample-time SECS - Maximum number of seconds within the sample download from a mirror must finish - default is 3
-v, --verbose - More output. Specify multiple times to increase verbosity.
Finding a fast mirror:
$ fast-apt-mirror.sh find
Current mirror: http://artfiles.org/ubuntu/
Randomly selecting 20 mirrors...done
Checking sync status of 20 mirrors....................done
-> 20 mirrors are reachable and up-to-date
Speed testing 5 of the available 20 mirrors (sample download size: 200KB).....done
-> https://mirror.netzwerge.de/ubuntu/ (1470 KB/s) determined as fastest mirror within 4 seconds
Capturing the determined mirror URL in a variable
$ fast_mirror=$(fast-apt-mirror.sh find)
$ echo $fast_mirror
https://mirror.netzwerge.de/ubuntu/
Finding and activating a fast mirror:
$ fast-apt-mirror.sh find --apply
Current mirror: http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/
Randomly selecting 20 mirrors...done
Checking sync status of 20 mirrors....................done
-> 20 mirrors are reachable and up-to-date
Speed testing 5 of the available 20 mirrors (sample download size: 200KB).....done
-> https://ubuntu.mirror.shastacoe.net/ubuntu/ (2409 KB/s) determined as fastest mirror within 6 seconds
Current mirror: http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/
Creating backup /etc/apt/sources.list.bak.20230207_211544
Changing mirror from [http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/] to [https://ubuntu.mirror.shastacoe.net/ubuntu/]...
Hit:1 https://packages.microsoft.com/ubuntu/20.04/prod focal InRelease
Get:2 https://ubuntu.mirror.shastacoe.net/ubuntu focal InRelease [265 kB]
....
Fetched 27.1 MB in 5s (5915 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
The set sub command
Finds and prints the URL of a fast APT mirror and optionally applies it using the fast-apt-mirror.sh set command.
Usage:
fast-apt-mirror.sh set MIRROR_URL
Parameters:
MIRROR_URL - the APT mirror URL to configure.
Example:
$ fast-apt-mirror.sh set https://mirrors.xtom.com/ubuntu/
Current mirror: http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/
Creating backup /etc/apt/sources.list.bak.20230207_211544
Changing mirror from [http://azure.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/] to [https://mirrors.xtom.com/ubuntu/]...
Hit:1 https://packages.microsoft.com/ubuntu/20.04/prod focal InRelease
Get:2 https://ubuntu.mirror.shastacoe.net/ubuntu focal InRelease [265 kB]....
...
Fetched 26.9 MB in 5s (4211 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
Alternatives
Here is a list of possible alternative which didn’t work for us for one reason or another:
- apt-spy2 https://github.com/lagged/apt-spy2 (Ruby based, actively maintained)
- apt-select https://github.com/jblakeman/apt-select (Python based, last commit 11/2019)
- apt-smart https://github.com/martin68/apt-smart (Python based, last commit 05/2020)
- apt-spy https://github.com/scanepa/apt-spy (C based, last commit 01/2012, repo is archived)
- getfastmirror https://github.com/hychen/getfastmirror (Python based, last commit 07/2010)
- python-apt-mirror-updater https://github.com/xolox/python-apt-mirror-updater (Python based, last commit 09/2021)
- netselect-apt https://github.com/apenwarr/netselect/blob/master/netselect-apt (Bash based, 10/2010, Limitations)
License
All files are released under the Apache License 2.0.
Individual files contain the following tag instead of the full license text:
SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
This enables machine processing of license information based on the SPDX License Identifiers that are available here: https://spdx.org/licenses/.