[Savannah-hackers-public] Don't multiplex mirror URLs that use nonfree JavaScript ?

[Thérèse Godefroy]

Hello,

Webmasters are trying to differentiate FTP mirror URLs that use nonfree
JavaScript from "good" ones. All currently listed URLs are accessible
with JavaScript and cookies disabled (e.g., with wget or curl), so there
is no reason to remove them, but the multiplexor could select good URLs
for people that use mainstream browsers with default settings.

I made a test list [1] with underscores as markers:
  '_' for URLs that use nonfree JavaScript
  '__' for mirrors that use Cloudflare services.

It looks like this:

...
Turkey - https://mirror.rabisu.com/gnu/, http://mirror.rabisu.com/gnu/ 
(also, mirrors alpha: https://mirror.rabisu.com/gnualpha/, 
http://mirror.rabisu.com/gnualpha/)
UK - _https://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/ftp.gnu.org/gnu/, 
_http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/ftp.gnu.org/gnu/, 
ftp://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/ftp.gnu.org/gnu/, 
rsync://rsync.mirrorservice.org/ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ (also, mirrors alpha: 
_https://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/alpha.gnu.org/gnu/, 
_http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/alpha.gnu.org/gnu/, 
ftp://ftp.mirrorservice.org/sites/alpha.gnu.org/gnu/, 
rsync://rsync.mirrorservice.org/alpha.gnu.org/gnu/)
UK - __https://eu.mirrors.cicku.me/gnu/, 
__http://eu.mirrors.cicku.me/gnu/ (also, mirror alpha: 
__https://eu.mirrors.cicku.me/gnu-alpha/, 
__http://eu.mirrors.cicku.me/gnu-alpha/)
...

I generated a test page [2] with a modified version of
ftp_convert.pl [3].

It probably wouldn't take much to adapt the Mirmon scripts so they
select all URLs for the "allgnu" list, and unmarked URLs for the "gnu"
list [4].

WDYT?


I have another question: how do these scripts select against alpha
mirrors? Do they look for "alpha" in the URL? Are the parentheses
necessary?

Thanks!

Thérèse

[1] https://www.gnu.org/server/staging/prep/FTP
[2] https://www.gnu.org/server/staging/prep/ftp.html
[3] 
https://www.gnu.org/server/staging/prep/wrappers-and-scripts/ftp_convert.pl
[4] http://download.savannah.gnu.org/mirmon/gnu/