The pacman mirrorlist
The mirrorlist at /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist is the plain text file that tells pacman which servers to download packages and databases from, and the order of the lines is the order it tries them in.
/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlistWhat it does. One Server line per mirror; pacman tries them from the top of the file downwards.
Watch out. After editing it, refresh with sudo pacman -Syyu so the databases are fetched again rather than assumed current.
How a line is read
An active line has this shape, and the placeholders in it are filled in by pacman rather than by you:
Server = <scheme>://<mirror>/$repo/os/$archA line of the mirrorlist file, not a command. $repo becomes the repository being fetched, such as core or extra, and $arch becomes the machine architecture.
- Order is priority: the first working mirror in the file is the one used.
- A line beginning with
#is a comment, which is how mirrors are switched off without deleting them. - The scheme is whatever the mirror offers, and the file that ships with the system already contains real mirror lines — usually all commented out, so uncommenting one is the whole edit.
mirrorlist and pacman.conf are different files
| File | Decides | Contains |
|---|---|---|
/etc/pacman.conf | Which repositories exist and are enabled | A [section] per repository, plus the general options |
/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist | Which servers those repositories are fetched from | One Server line per mirror |
A repository is enabled in pacman.conf; the mirrorlist only says
where to get it. Which is why pacman -Sl <repository> lists a
repository's packages regardless of which mirror served them.
After you change it, force a refresh
pacman decides whether to download a database again by comparing it with what
the mirror advertises. Switch mirrors and the new one can hold a database that is
older than the copy already on disk, which a plain -Sy will leave alone.
sudo pacman -SyyuThe doubled y downloads the databases again whether or not they look current, then upgrades.
Skipping that step is the usual cause of signature or file not found errors right after a mirror change: the database on disk describes package files that the new mirror does not have in that version.
Generating the file
Editing by hand is fine. There are also programs that rewrite the file for you
— reflector is the one packaged for Arch — by filtering
and sorting the published mirror list. It is a separate program, so its own help
is the authority on what its options do:
reflector --helpNot part of pacman; a separate package.
Anything that rewrites mirrorlist replaces the whole file. Keep a copy first if the current one is working, because a bad regenerated list makes later pacman commands fail at the download step.
Common questions
Where is the pacman mirrorlist?
At /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist. It is a plain text file with one Server line per mirror, and the order of the lines is the order pacman tries them in.
Where can I find a list of pacman repositories?
In /etc/pacman.conf: each repository is a section in that file. To see what a repository contains, pacman -Sl <repository> lists its packages.
Why do I get errors after changing mirrors?
Because the databases on disk may still be the ones from the old mirror. Run sudo pacman -Syyu: the doubled y downloads the databases again instead of assuming the copies on disk are current.