Category: Computer Problems

[Solved]Fedora Linux Repository Error ([Errno 14] PYCURL ERROR 6)

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I was having trouble to update my Fedora Linux system by running sudo yum update.

sudo yum update
Loaded plugins: presto, refresh-packagekit
Error: Cannot retrieve repository metadata (repomd.xml) for repository: fedora.
Please verify its path and try again

sometimes I see different sets of error:

http://download.fedoraproject.org/pu...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] PYCURL ERROR 6 - ""

or

http://download.fedoraproject.org/pu...ta/repomd.xml: [Errno 14] PYCURL ERROR 7 - ""

After searching these error messages on Google, I found tons of the workaround methods. Unfortunately, none of them works! Finally, I came up a way to fix this problem.

The reason why you see this error message because your system could not connect to the main Fedora server(At the time of writing this blog, fedoraproject.org has been downed for at least 4 days.), so that your computer is not redirected to any Fedora mirror servers. The easiest way to fix this problem is by specifying a mirror server in your yum repository configuration file.

First, let’s find a mirror that is closed to your location:

Fedora Mirror (Fedoraproject.org)

or

Google Cache

If you have any trouble to access the information, here is a copy of the list:

North America

ftp://limestone.uoregon.edu/fedora/extras
http://limestone.uoregon.edu/fedora/extras

ftp://fedora.bu.edu/extras

http://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/extras
ftp://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/extras
rsync://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/extras

ftp://ftp.muug.mb.ca/pub/fedora/linux/extras/
http://www.muug.mb.ca/pub/fedora/linux/extras/
rsync://rsync.muug.mb.ca/fedora-linux-extras/

http://mirror.hiwaay.net/redhat/fedora/linux/extras/
ftp://mirror.hiwaay.net/redhat/fedora/linux/extras/
rsync://mirror.hiwaay.net/fedora-linux-extras/

ftp://mirror.phy.olemiss.edu/fedora/extras/
http://mirror.phy.olemiss.edu/mirror/fedora/extras/

http://fedora.mirrors.tds.net/pub/fedora-core-extras
ftp://fedora.mirrors.tds.net/pub/fedora-core-extras
rsync://fedora.mirrors.tds.net/fedora-core-extras

http://mirror.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/mirror/fedora/linux/extras/
ftp://mirror.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/mirror/fedora/linux/extras/
rsync://mirror.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/fedora-linux-extras/

http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/fedora.redhat/linux/extras/
ftp://ftp.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/fedora.redhat/linux/extras/
rsync://rsync.gtlib.gatech.edu/fedora-linux-extras/

Europe

http://sunsite.mff.cuni.cz/pub/fedora-extras/
ftp://sunsite.mff.cuni.cz/pub/fedora-extras/
rsync://sunsite.mff.cuni.cz/fedora/extras/

ftp://alviss.et.tudelft.nl/pub/fedora

http://ftp.lug.ro/fedora/linux/extras/
ftp://ftp.lug.ro/fedora/linux/extras/

http://ftp.uni-bayreuth.de/linux/fedora/linux/extras
ftp://ftp.uni-bayreuth.de/pub/linux/fedora/linux/extras
rsync://rsync.uni-bayreuth.de/fedora-linux-extras

http://ftp1.skynet.cz/pub/linux/fedora/extras/
ftp://ftp1.skynet.cz/pub/linux/fedora/extras/

ftp://ftp.tu-chemnitz.de/pub/linux/fedora-core-extras/
http://wftp.tu-chemnitz.de/pub/linux/fedora-core-extras/

ftp://ftp.chl.chalmers.se/pub/fedora/linux/extras/

ftp://ftp.udl.es/pub/fedora/linux/extras/
http://ftp.udl.es/pub/fedora/linux/extras/
rsync://ftp.udl.es/pub/fedora/linux/extras/

ftp://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/fedora/extras/
http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/fedora/extras/
rsync://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/fedora/extras/

http://fr.rpmfind.net/linux/fedora/extras/
ftp://fr.rpmfind.net/linux/fedora/extras/
rsync://fr.rpmfind.net/linux/fedora/extras/

http://mirror.etf.bg.ac.yu/fedora/linux/extras
ftp://mirror.etf.bg.ac.yu/fedora/linux/extras
rsync://mirror.etf.bg.ac.yu/fedora/linux/extras

http://mirror2.etf.bg.ac.yu/fedora/linux/extras
ftp://mirror2.etf.bg.ac.yu/fedora/linux/extras
rsync://mirror2.etf.bg.ac.yu/fedora/linux/extras

ftp://klid.dk/fedora/linux/extras/
http://klid.dk/homeftp/fedora/linux/extras/

Russia

http://ftp.rhd.ru/pub/fedora/linux/extras/
ftp://ftp.rhd.ru/pub/fedora/linux/extras/

ftp://ftp.chg.ru/pub/Linux/fedora/linux/extras/
http://ftp.chg.ru/pub/Linux/fedora/linux/extras/
rsync://ftp.chg.ru/fedora/linux/extras/

Taiwan, Asia

http://ftp.isu.edu.tw/pub/Linux/Fedora/linux/extras/
ftp://ftp.isu.edu.tw/pub/Linux/Fedora/linux/extras/

Australia

http://planetmirror.com/pub/fedora/linux/extras/
ftp://ftp.planetmirror.com/pub/fedora/linux/extras/
rsync://rsync.planetmirror.com/fedora/linux/extras/

http://mirror.pacific.net.au/linux/fedora/linux/extras/
ftp://mirror.pacific.net.au/linux/fedora/linux/extras/

In my example, I will use the following parameters:
Mirror: http://fedora.mirrors.tds.net/
Version($releasever): 12
Architecture($basearch): x86_64

If you are not sure how to determine the version and the architecture, you can type:

cat /etc/redhat-release && uname -a

It should say something like:

Fedora release 12 (Constantine)
Linux 2.6.31.6-145.fc12.x86_64 #1 SMP Sat Nov 21 15:57:45 EST 2009 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Next, run the following:

sudo nano /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora.repo

and edit the following from:

[fedora]
...
baseurl=http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/$releasever/Everything/$basearch/os/

[fedora-source]
baseurl=http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/$releasever/Everything/source/SRPMS/

to:

[fedora]
...
#baseurl=http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/$releasever/Everything/$basearch/os/
baseurl=http://fedora.mirrors.tds.net/pub/fedora/releases/12/Everything/x86_64/os/

[fedora-source]
...
#baseurl=http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/$releasever/Everything/source/SRPMS/
baseurl=http://fedora.mirrors.tds.net/pub/fedora/releases/12/Everything/source/SRPMS/

Now, let’s do something similar to another file:

sudo nano /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-updates.repo

[updates]
...
#baseurl=http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/updates/$releasever/$basearch/
baseurl=http://fedora.mirrors.tds.net/pub/fedora/updates/12/x86_64/

[updates-source]
...
#baseurl=http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/updates/$releasever/SRPMS/
baseurl=http://fedora.mirrors.tds.net/pub/fedora/updates/12/SRPMS/

Now, try to run the update again by:

sudo yum clean all
sudo yum update

It should work now. Enjoy your update!

Thoughts:

The reason why this problem happens because the Fedora server is down for at least 4 days(From 12/31 to 1/4, 2010, for four days.), and the problem is not fixed! Yes I know it is in the holiday, but it is not an excuse.

One reason why my company prefers using Fedora Linux is that it has a long history and it is backed by Red Hat. Now the quality of their service seems going down. (Their servers have gone down multiple times in December, and each down time lasted longer than a day.) I think it is probably about time for us to move to a different Linux distribution, such as Ubuntu.

Fedoraproject.org has downed.

FYI, I personally use FreeBSD for all of my server applications.

–Derrick

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Installing from FreeBSD ports without prompt

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When I configure my FreeBSD box, I like to install the applications from the ports instead of using pkg_add, because I can customize the configurations and optimize the compile process for my systems. However, if an application comes with lots of dependencies, it will take me a long time because I will need to sit in front of the computer and choose the options for each applications. It is a very time-consuming process.

So, how to make the process automatic? Here is the trick:

To use the default options, simply do:

sudo make -DBATCH install clean

Or view all of the options at the beginning:

sudo make config-recursive
sudo make install clean

Hope these two tricks will save you few hours.

–Derrick

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Installing XAMPP on Fedora 12 64-bit system

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I was installing XAMPP on Fedora 11 64-bit today, and I saw this famous message:

sudo /opt/lampp/lampp startapache
XAMPP is currently only availably as 32 bit application. Please use a 32 bit compatibility library for your system.

The message is very clear that XAMPP doesn’t like 32-bit system. So, we will need to cheat XAMPP that the system is 32-bit. First, we will need to install some libraries:

sudo yum -y install glibc.i686 libgcc.i686 libstdc++.i686

and now, we need to skip the 32-bit annoying check. Use Nano or your favorite editor to open this file: /opt/lampp/lampp

sudo nano /opt/lampp/lampp

Replace the following from:

# XAMPP is currently 32 bit only
case `uname -m` in
       *_64)
       if /opt/lampp/bin/php -v > /dev/null 2>&1
       then
               :
       else
               $de && echo "XAMPP gibt es zur Zeit nur als 32-Bit Applikation. Bitte verwende eine 32-Bit Kompatibilitaetsbibliothek fuer Dein System."
               $de || echo "XAMPP is currently only availably as 32 bit application. Please use a 32 bit compatibility library for your system."
               exit
       fi
       ;;
esac

To:

# XAMPP is currently 32 bit only
#case `uname -m` in
#       *_64)
#       if /opt/lampp/bin/php -v > /dev/null 2>&1
#       then
#               :
#       else
#               $de && echo "XAMPP gibt es zur Zeit nur als 32-Bit Applikation. Bitte verwende eine 32-Bit Kompatibilitaetsbibliothek fuer Dein System."
#               $de || echo "XAMPP is currently only availably as 32 bit application. Please use a 32 bit compatibility library for your system."
#               exit
#       fi
#       ;;
#esac

Now run the following the start XAMPP:

sudo /opt/lampp/lampp startapache

Wow! Everything is working great!

–Derrick

Our sponsors:

nginx vs Tornado Web vs Apache Performance Benchmark

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Let’s put the nginx, Tornado and Apache and see who is the winner.

What to test:

A simple Hello World webpage.

How:

ab -n 10000 -c 300 http://myserver.ip

Test Environment:

OS: Ubuntu 9.10 (32-bit) / Linux 2.6.31
CPU: Pentium Celeron M 1.5 GHz
Ram: 512 MB
Apache: 2.2.12
PHP: 5.2.10
Python: 2.6
Tornado: 0.2
nginx: 0.6.13

Result:

Apache

Server Software:        Apache/2.2.12
Server Port:            80

Document Path:          /
Document Length:        13 bytes

Concurrency Level:      300
Time taken for tests:   5.295 seconds
Complete requests:      10000
Failed requests:        0
Write errors:           0
Total transferred:      2863146 bytes
HTML transferred:       130143 bytes
Requests per second:    1888.58 [#/sec] (mean)
Time per request:       158.850 [ms] (mean)
Time per request:       0.529 [ms] (mean, across all concurrent requests)
Transfer rate:          528.05 [Kbytes/sec] received

Connection Times (ms)
              min  mean[+/-sd] median   max
Connect:        0    8 151.0      0    3028
Processing:     0  122 602.0     48    5289
Waiting:        0  122 600.8     48    5284
Total:         10  130 622.1     49    5292

Percentage of the requests served within a certain time (ms)
  50%     49
  66%     50
  75%     50
  80%     51
  90%     53
  95%     63
  98%     68
  99%   5271
 100%   5292 (longest request)

nginx

Server Software:        nginx/0.6.13
Server Port:            8000

Document Path:          /
Document Length:        13 bytes

Concurrency Level:      300
Time taken for tests:   3.172 seconds
Complete requests:      10000
Failed requests:        0
Write errors:           0
Total transferred:      2230000 bytes
HTML transferred:       130000 bytes
Requests per second:    3152.12 [#/sec] (mean)
Time per request:       95.174 [ms] (mean)
Time per request:       0.317 [ms] (mean, across all concurrent requests)
Transfer rate:          686.45 [Kbytes/sec] received

Connection Times (ms)
              min  mean[+/-sd] median   max
Connect:        0    2  68.3      0    3057
Processing:     0   70 359.1     27    3164
Waiting:        0   70 359.1     26    3164
Total:         10   72 365.6     27    3169

Percentage of the requests served within a certain time (ms)
  50%     27
  66%     27
  75%     27
  80%     27
  90%     28
  95%     29
  98%     32
  99%   3157
 100%   3169 (longest request)

Tornado Web:

Server Software:        TornadoServer/0.1
Server Port:            8888

Document Path:          /
Document Length:        12 bytes

Concurrency Level:      300
Time taken for tests:   5.109 seconds
Complete requests:      10000
Failed requests:        0
Write errors:           0
Total transferred:      1680000 bytes
HTML transferred:       120000 bytes
Requests per second:    1957.33 [#/sec] (mean)
Time per request:       153.270 [ms] (mean)
Time per request:       0.511 [ms] (mean, across all concurrent requests)
Transfer rate:          321.12 [Kbytes/sec] received

Connection Times (ms)
              min  mean[+/-sd] median   max
Connect:        0   32 309.3      0    3035
Processing:    33  103  28.5    103     375
Waiting:       33  102  28.5    103     375
Total:         36  135 311.3    103    3154

Percentage of the requests served within a certain time (ms)
  50%    103
  66%    105
  75%    108
  80%    112
  90%    116
  95%    126
  98%    313
  99%   3121
 100%   3154 (longest request)

What do these numbers mean?

In a given time, if nginx and Tornado Web can handle 1.66 and 1.036 times more requests than Apache, respectively! In the other words, the server is more efficient and it can use the saved resource to do something else!

–Derrick

Our sponsors:

Tornado Web Server – Very Fast!

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I just did a benchmark comparison on Tornado Web Server and Apache + PHP server. The result is pretty amazing.

What to test:

A simple Hello World application.

How:

ab -n 1000 -c 300 http://myserver.ip

Test Environment

OS: FreeBSD 7.1
CPU: Pentium III 933 MHz
Ram: 256 MB
PHP: 5.2.9
Python: 2.5.4
Tornado: 0.2

Result:

Apache + PHP:

Concurrency Level:      300
Time taken for tests:   3.515 seconds
Complete requests:      1000
Failed requests:        0
Write errors:           0
Total transferred:      255000 bytes
HTML transferred:       12000 bytes
Requests per second:    284.50 [#/sec] (mean)
Time per request:       1054.499 [ms] (mean)
Time per request:       3.515 [ms] (mean, across all concurrent requests)
Transfer rate:          70.85 [Kbytes/sec] received

Tornado Web Server:

Concurrency Level:      300
Time taken for tests:   1.907 seconds
Complete requests:      1000
Failed requests:        0
Write errors:           0
Total transferred:      168000 bytes
HTML transferred:       12000 bytes
Requests per second:    524.48 [#/sec] (mean)
Time per request:       571.993 [ms] (mean)
Time per request:       1.907 [ms] (mean, across all concurrent requests)
Transfer rate:          86.05 [Kbytes/sec] received

What do these numbers mean?

Tornado Web Server can handle 1.84 times more requests than Apache + PHP server in a given time!

–Derrick

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Fedora Linux 12 is out today

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Fedora Linux 12 is out today.

Here are the links to download Fedora 12:

  1. Download Fedora 12 64-Bit
  2. Download Fedora 12 32-Bit
  3. Download Fedora 12 PowerPC
  4. All versions

Suggestions:
I found that the downloading speed varies depends on which mirror you get. I suggest to test the download speed first, and re-try it (using a different mirror) if the speed is too slow.

For example, run the following command in terminal:

wget http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/12/Fedora/x86_64/iso/Fedora-12-x86_64-DVD.iso

Which will show you the speed. Simply terminate the command and re-try it if the speed is too low.

Have fun with Fedora 12.

–Derrick

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