# Deltup

Using delta mean to save time and size in downloading and updating the system. The package that will be downloaded will be a sort of "diff" of the new package, that will be used to "build" the new package at the end of the download. This option can be used on Arch Linux i686 and x86-64 versions.

## Install

Install xdelta3 from the official repositories.

## 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 (removing `#`) 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.

## Disadvantage

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

Category:

- Package management