Announcing a new mirror verification and publication system

[Karl Tilbury]

Hello,

Launchpad are proud to announce a new mirror verification and
publication system.  The aim of this service is to replace the manually
maintained download pages with a more detailed and complete automated
reporting system.  One of the most important features of the new service
is that it allows mirror administrators to self publish detailed
information about their mirrors and maintain that information using the
Launchpad interface.

Some other advantages of the new system are:

- Automatic daily verification of the mirror contents and an estimate of
when the mirror was last updated against the main archive.

- Mirror administrators can elect to specify more comprehensive
description about their mirror including the link speed and the name of
the sponsor of the mirror.

- Users will find it easier to locate a mirror with the content they
require.

Can you please submit the details of your mirror using the following URL:

    https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+newmirror

If you have not already done so, you will need to to create a Launchpad
user account before you can submit your mirror. After your mirror is
registered we will manually review and verify the entry to ensure the
person or organisation submitting the entry is the owner or
administrator of the mirror.  Once verified, the mirror will be marked
as an official mirror.

If your mirror is not submitted to Launchpad it may in future no longer
be listed as an Ubuntu Official  Mirror.

Launchpad is, amongst other things[1], the tool we're using to control
package uploads to Ubuntu and the archive itself. As so, Launchpad knows
everything that should be in the archive, which allows us to easily
check the mirrors.


[1] - A Web-based system for translating open source software
      (https://launchpad.net/rosetta)
    - A bug tracking system (https://launchpad.net/malone)
    - A distribution management system (https://launchpad.net/distros)
    - A code-publishing system (https://launchpad.net/bazaar) using the
      Bazaar revision control system (http://www.bazaar-vcs.org/

--
Karl Tilbury
mirrors at ubuntu.com