apt should download packages in parallel.

Bug #313685 reported by Ben James
18
This bug affects 3 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
apt (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

Binary package hint: apt

Installing applications may require downloading of packages from a number of sources. Currently this download is a linear process - required packages are downloaded one by one and the download speed varies as packages are downloaded from different sources.

I suggest that. where possible, packages should be downloaded in parallel - this will help mitigate the slowdown that arises from downloading from slow repositories (the slow download can be performed in parallel with a number of other downloads, rather than blocking them).

This "bug" should be marked as a wish-list item as it is an improvement to a working system.

Revision history for this message
Christoph Schmied (schmiedc) wrote :

Thank you for taking the time to make Ubuntu better.

This particular bug has already been reported and is a duplicate of bug #313680, so it is being marked as such. Please look at the other bug report to see if there is any missing information that you can provide, or to see if there is a workaround for the bug. Additionally, any further discussion regarding the bug should occur in the other report. Feel free to continue to report any other bugs you may find.

Since what you submitted is a Feature Request to improve Ubuntu, you are invited to post your idea in Ubuntu Brainstorm at [WWW] https://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/ where it can be discussed, voted by the community and reviewed by developers. Thanks for taking the time to share your opinion!

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Changed in apt (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Taylor Braun-Jones (nocnokneo) wrote :

This bug is different from bug #313680. This one says that downloading packages from different servers should happen in parallel whereas bug #313680 says that as soon as packages have completed downloading they should begin installing in parallel with the remaining download jobs. Both are speed optimizations, but I think think this bug is safer and simpler.

Revision history for this message
Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt) wrote :

See also bug 275994, about downloading multiple updates simultaneously from the same source.

Revision history for this message
Robie Basak (racb) wrote :

As far as I am aware, apt can already do parallel downloads from different sources. From apt.conf(5):

      Queue-Mode
           Queuing mode; Queue-Mode can be one of host or access which determines how APT parallelizes outgoing connections. host means that one connection per target host will be opened, access means that one connection per URI
           type will be opened.

I don't know when exactly this was added, but I believe that I have observed parallel behaviour for many years.

Marking Fix Released accordingly. If this functionality is not working, then please explain and reopen.

Changed in apt (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Fix Released
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