Easier and more reliable ISO downloads, with error correction

[Anthony Bryan]

Hi,

Have you thought about using Metalinks for your ISO downloads? It's an
XML format used by download apps, and contains the ways to get a file
(mirrors/P2P) along with info for automatic error detection/recovery
(checksums) and other stuff.

It makes things simpler for the user, since they don't have to
manually try a bunch of servers that could be down, can use local
mirrors first, and can repair downloads (very useful for large files
like ISOs).

About 15 download managers & P2P apps support it so far, including
aria2 (in the Ubuntu repos), DownThemAll! (Firefox extension), KGet2
(part of KDE4), and popular DMs on Windows and OS X like GetRight,
Free Download Manager, Orbit, wxDownload Fast, Speed Download, and
TheWorld web browser.

Wubi, the Ubuntu Windows installer, Ubuntu Greece and Indonesia use
them as well. Over 20 other distros use Metalink, along with
OpenOffice.org, cURL, and LugRadio.

Metalinks for Ubuntu 7.10 are at http://www.metalinker.org/samples/ubuntu/

Here's part of what one looks like:

   <file name="ubuntu-7.10-desktop-i386.iso">
    <os>Linux-x86</os>
    <size>729608192</size>
    <verification>
     <hash type="md5">d2334dbba7313e9abc8c7c072d2af09c</hash>
    </verification>
    <resources>
      <url type="http"
           location="ro"
           preference="90">
       http://ftp.iasi.roedu.net/mirrors/ubuntulinux.org/releases/.pool/ubuntu-7.10-desktop-i386.iso
      </url>
      <url type="http"
           location="jp"
           preference="100">
       http://ftp.yz.yamagata-u.ac.jp/pub/linux/ubuntu/releases/.pool/ubuntu-7.10-desktop-i386.iso
      </url>
      <url type="http"
           location="us"
           preference="90">
       http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/ubuntu/.pool/ubuntu-7.10-desktop-i386.iso
      </url>
    </resources>
   </file>


PS - Great work on Gutsy, it's very nice :)

-- 
(( Anthony Bryan ... Metalink [ http://www.metalinker.org ]
  )) Easier, More Reliable, Self Healing Downloads