Deltup
Delta updates save time and size in downloading and updating the system. Packages that are downloaded will be a sort of "diff" of the new package, which will be used to patch the old package into the new package at the end of the download.
Install
Configuration
Edit /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
and add the proper repository:
/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
## ## Arch Linux repository mirrorlist ## Generated on 2011-03-24 ## ## Delta Archlinux.fr Server = http://delta.archlinux.fr/$repo/os/$arch .....
Then edit /etc/pacman.conf
uncommenting the option UseDelta
:
/etc/pacman.conf
..... # Misc options (all disabled by default) #UseSyslog ShowSize UseDelta TotalDownload .....
Comparisons
Check before activating the UseDelta
option how much we need to download to full update the system.
# pacman -Syu
... Total Download Size: 416,89 MB Total Installed Size: 1933,56 MB Proceed with installation? [Y/n]
Choose n
and not confirm the update.
As shown the package to be downloaded now are 416,89 MB.
After enabling delta, check again for the updates available (now the option UseDelta
is enabled):
# pacman -Syu
... Total Download Size: 343,15 MB Total Installed Size: 1933,56 MB Proceed with installation? [Y/n]
In this way we do not need to download 416,89 MB of packages but only 343,15 MB, so we obtain a shorter time in the update process.
Disadvantages
This method isn't fully supported in Arch Linux as opposed to OpenSuSE or Gentoo which use this as standard for their update system. In fact the available delta repository are just a few. The results can be much better if delta have more deltup packages between previous versions in the repositories. For example, in the repository the author uses, there is only -1 version of each package.
kdeartwork-kscreensaver-4.6.2-1_to_4.6.3-1-x86_64.delta 2011-May-06 22:35:41 301.8K application/octet-stream kdeartwork-kscreensaver-4.6.3-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz 2011-May-06 08:57:57 589.2K application/octet-stream