netselect-apt

Automatically find the fastest Debian mirror and create sources.list

TLDR

Create sources.list using the fastest mirror

$ sudo netselect-apt

Specify Debian distribution (default is stable)

$ sudo netselect-apt [testing]

Include non-free section

$ sudo netselect-apt -n

Limit mirrors to a specific country

$ sudo netselect-apt -c [India]

Include deb-src lines for source packages

$ sudo netselect-apt -s

Write output to a custom file

$ sudo netselect-apt -o [/etc/apt/sources.list]

Use a specific architecture

$ sudo netselect-apt -a [amd64]

SYNOPSIS

netselect-apt [options] [distribution]

netselect-apt automatically finds the fastest Debian mirror and generates an appropriate sources.list file. It downloads the official Debian mirror list, optionally filters by country, tests each server for latency using netselect, and creates a sources.list with the fastest mirror.This is particularly useful when setting up new Debian systems or when experiencing slow package downloads from the default mirror.

PARAMETERS

-a, --arch arch

Use mirrors containing the specified architecture. Defaults to the architecture reported by dpkg.

-c, --country name

Limit mirror selection to a specific country (ISO-3166 code or full English name).

-f, --ftp

Use FTP mirrors instead of HTTP.

-n, --non-free

Include non-free section in the generated sources.list.

-o, --outfile file

Write output to the specified file instead of sources.list.

-s, --sources

Include deb-src lines for source packages.

-t, --tests num

Number of hosts to test for mirror validity (default 10).

-i, --infile file

Use a local mirror list file instead of downloading one. Must be in mirrors_full format.

distribution

Debian release name: stable, testing, unstable, experimental, or a codename (e.g. bookworm, trixie). Default is stable.

INSTALL

sudo apt install netselect

nix profile install nixpkgs#netselect

CAVEATS

Requires root privileges for ICMP network testing. Network conditions vary over time; run periodically to find the currently optimal mirror. The generated sources.list should be reviewed before replacing the system file. Mirror latency may not reflect actual download speed for large files.