Can not adding a mirror repository when receiving a 302 status code

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An error message will be displayed when adding this mirror repository.

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This mirror is owned by China CERNET. It can redirect to the nearest Chinese university mirror repository through a 302 status code based on factors such as telecom operators and distance.

I hope this problem in the official client can be fixed so that it can also be added when the status code is 302, as long as it is available in the end. In contrast, third-party clients such as Droid-ify and Neo Store can be added normally.

I’m sorry that I can’t raise an issue on gitlab, because gitlab cannot register and verify via Chinese mobile phone numbers.

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For now, afaik, this is by choice, to not follow redirects.

just add all the mirrors manually

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You can find the mirrors that we track on the mirror monitor:
https://fdroid.gitlab.io/mirror-monitor/

There are currently seven in China.

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All of these 7 mirrors are members of this website. :joy:

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For example, the distance between my home and my university is one thousand kilometers, so the fastest mirror site is different. In order to ensure a good download experience everywhere, I need to add two or even more, which is a lot more troublesome.
If the official client is not going to be revised, then I can only continue to use and recommend third-party clients like Droid-ify to others. :crazy_face:

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Interesting that the official Client supports many mirrors, and it will switch between them as needed.

While other clients, last that I checked, support only one mirror… and you want that 302 redirect to fix this by redirecting to many mirrors? :person_shrugging:

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I thought you can simply use third-party clients. I hardly ever see Chinese users using the official client.

The f-droid.org website is blocked but those mirrors are still accessiable and some of them are very fast, even faster than those Chinese mirrors. And the main mirrors are updated immediately after the repo is updated while those Chinese mirrors can take several hours to sync.

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…I think the included mirror functionality and number of mirrors is testament that F-Droid does understand and does care.

While we can’t fix your coun- ahem Internet network policies, we provide the controls that allow users to get the apps in spite of them.

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If you consider less than 30KB/s as fast, then it is indeed. :cry:

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If you want to continue this question, we can discuss it in new post

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I know that this will definitely lead to off-topic discussion. :joy: Let’s put this aside for now and I’ll open a new thread later.
Now I’m asking whether it is possible to follow redirects when adding a repository. If not, what are the considerations? Security or other issues?

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apparently :person_shrugging:

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I thought it will open lots of possibility if we allow redirect. E.g., the repo can simply hosts some redirections to upstream apks.

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think this might be a separate thing, redirect APKs vs redirect repo url

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What’s the security risk? We have both the index and the apk verified.

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After Updated MirrorChooser to order mirrors based on location and success/failure (!1455) · Merge requests · F-Droid / Client · GitLab is done, then we’ll start working on a new mode where F-Droid can automatically choose the fastest mirror. That should help a lot, and perform better than the CERNET 302 system.

Not supporting 302 Redirects is about privacy and reducing complexity. The F-Droid client is not a web browser, and does not support the full HTTP spec.

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For anyone looking to add a bunch of mirrors to try, I can recommend going to F-Droid Mirror Monitor then click on the “Deep Link” and it should be very quick and easy.

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