[oe] metalink support for OE package source mirrors

[Leon Woestenberg]

Hello,

I am new to metalink, but I think this system might be interesting for OE.

Regards,

Leon.



Metalink is a system which attempts to improve the download process by
increasing availability and guaranteeing integrity. It can give your
users a more reliable download by providing multiple links to the same
file, which can be switched to if one server is down or fails during
transmission. It can also make downloads faster by using multiple
resources at once.

Metalink lists mirrors with machine readable information on priority
and location so their efficient use can be automated by download
programs. It can list mirrors around the world, but will automatically
default to mirrors closer to you and by priority. The checksum
verification process, usually manual and arcane to most people, is
automated with Metalink, so files are guaranteed to be an exact copy
of the file you downloaded, free of errors. Metalinks can also contain
publisher information, Operating System and architecture, language,
file descriptions, mutliple files (to be added to a download queue),
partial file checksums, and so on. All this extra information allows
download programs to do interesting things.

Linux Kernel Metalink downloads (All):
http://download.packages.ro/metalink/kernel/
More details..."Downloading bliss with Metalink":
http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/11/01/1641247