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Mirror Service

ODU Computer Science | Mirror Service

The Computer Science Department provides a local mirror of popular open-source software. This service is available to all ODU CS faculty, staff, and students.

Key Features of the Mirror Service:

  • Faster download speeds for commonly used software
  • Reduced traffic on the ODU network
  • Access to a wide variety of open-source software

Accessing the Mirror Server

The Mirror Server is available via both HTTPS and HTTP.

Changing Mirror Source

You can configure your system to use the ODU CS Mirror for faster package downloads. The method for changing your mirror source depends on your Linux distribution and version.

For distributions using the deb822 format (e.g., Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+)

Newer Debian-based distributions use the deb822 format for repository sources. The main configuration file is typically located at /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu.sources for Ubuntu or /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.sources for Debian.

  1. Backup your existing configuration: 

    # For Ubuntu
sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu.sources /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu.sources.backup

# For Debian
sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.sources /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.sources.backup

  2. Edit the configuration file: 

    # For Ubuntu
sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ubuntu.sources

# For Debian
sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.sources

  3. Replace the URIs field with the appropriate ODU CS Mirror URL.

    • For Ubuntu: https://mirror.cs.odu.edu/ubuntu/
    • For Debian: https://mirror.cs.odu.edu/debian/

    For example, on Ubuntu, change this: 

    Types: deb
URIs: http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/
Suites: jammy jammy-updates jammy-backports
Components: main restricted universe multiverse
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/ubuntu-archive-keyring.gpg

    to this: 

    Types: deb
URIs: https://mirror.cs.odu.edu/ubuntu/
Suites: jammy jammy-updates jammy-backports
Components: main restricted universe multiverse
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/ubuntu-archive-keyring.gpg

  4. Update your package lists: 

    sudo apt update

For distributions using the one-line format (e.g., older Ubuntu/Debian, Linux Mint)

Older Debian-based distributions and Linux Mint use a one-line format for repository sources in the /etc/apt/sources.list file and files in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/.

  1. Backup your existing configuration: 

    sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.backup

  2. Edit the configuration file(s): You may need to edit /etc/apt/sources.list and/or files in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/. For Linux Mint, the main file is often /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list.

  3. Replace all instances of the default mirror URL with the appropriate ODU CS Mirror URL.

    • For Ubuntu: https://mirror.cs.odu.edu/ubuntu/
    • For Debian: https://mirror.cs.odu.edu/debian/
    • For Linux Mint: You will need to replace the Ubuntu and Mint mirror URLs. For example, replace http://packages.linuxmint.com with https://mirror.cs.odu.edu/linuxmint/ and http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu with https://mirror.cs.odu.edu/ubuntu/.

    You can do this manually or with a command like sed. For example, on an older Ubuntu system: 

    sudo sed -i 's|http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/|https://mirror.cs.odu.edu/ubuntu/|g' /etc/apt/sources.list

  4. Update your package lists: 

    sudo apt update

Troubleshooting & Support

  • If you experience issues, please contact the Mirror Manager at mirror@cs.odu.edu with details of the problem and any error messages.