Set Up Arch Linux Mirrors

To ensure fast package updates, it's important to set up optimized mirrors for Arch Linux. This guide covers three methods to configure your mirrors:

• Reflector: An automated tool for finding and ranking mirrors (recommended)
• Mirrorlist Generator: Manual mirror selection from the Arch website
• Rankmirrors: Rank mirrors based on speed with pacman-contrib

Prerequisites

You’ll need sudo privileges to edit the mirrorlist and install packages.

1. Using Reflector for Automated Mirror Ranking (recommended)

reflector automatically updates, filters, and ranks mirrors based on speed and other criteria.

• Install Reflector Install reflector:

sudo pacman -S reflector

• Backup Your Mirrorlist Backup your current mirrorlist:

sudo cp /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.bak

• Use Reflector to Rank Mirrors Run reflector to find and rank mirrors. Customize it based on your location:

sudo reflector --country 'United States' --age 12 --protocol https --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

• --country 'United States': Replace with your country.

• --age 12: Only use mirrors synced within the last 12 hours.

• --protocol https: Use HTTPS mirrors.

• --sort rate: Rank by speed.

• Verify the MirrorlistCheck the updated mirrorlist:

cat /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

• Automate Reflector (Optional)To automate mirror updates, configure a reflector systemd service:

• Create a configuration file:

  sudo nano /etc/xdg/reflector/reflector.conf

  Example content:

  --country 'United States'
  --age 12
  --protocol https
  --sort rate
  --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

• Enable the systemd service:

  sudo systemctl enable --now reflector.service

• Update Package Databases

  After ranking mirrors, refresh the database:

sudo pacman -Syy

2. Using the Arch Linux Mirrorlist Generator

• Open the Mirrorlist Generator

Visit the official Arch Linux mirrorlist generator.

• Select Your Country or Region

Choose the country or region closest to you.

• Customize Your Mirrorlist

  • Protocol: HTTPS is preferred, but you can also select HTTP.
  • Status: Choose mirrors synced within the last 24 hours for the latest updates.
  • IPv4/IPv6: Select based on your network setup.

• Generate and Download the Mirrorlist

Click "Generate Mirrorlist" and either copy the list or download the file.

• Backup Your Current Mirrorlist

Backup your existing mirrorlist before making changes:

sudo cp /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.bak

• Replace the Mirrorlist

  • Open the mirrorlist file and replace its contents with the newly generated list:

  sudo nano /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

  • Uncomment all mirrors by running this command:

  sudo sed -i 's/^#Server/Server/' /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

• Update Package Databases

Refresh your package database:

sudo pacman -Syy

3. Using Rankmirrors from Pacman-Contrib

rankmirrors helps you rank mirrors by speed. It’s part of the pacman-contrib package.

• Install pacman-contrib

Install the package:

sudo pacman -S pacman-contrib

• Backup Your Mirrorlist

Always back up your mirrorlist first:

sudo cp /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.bak

• Uncomment All Mirrors

Uncomment all mirrors in your mirrorlist:

sudo nano /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Or use this command to do it automatically:

sudo sed -i 's/^#Server/Server/' /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

• Rank the Mirrors

Rank the mirrors and save the top 10:

rankmirrors -n 10 /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist | sudo tee /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

• Update Package Databases

Update your database after ranking the mirrors:

sudo pacman -Syy