Manjaro-downgrade: search on manjaro.tuxboy.eu is very slow

For example:

sudo manjaro-downgrade xz --ala-url 'https://archive.archlinux.org','https://manjaro.tuxboy.eu'
or
sudo manjaro-downgrade xz --ala-url 'https://manjaro.tuxboy.eu'
or
sudo manjaro-downgrade xz

Time after the command and before the list with the choice of versions appears ~ 90 seconds.
But without using manjaro.tuxboy.eu time after the command and before the list with the choice of versions appears ~ 4 seconds.

sudo manjaro-downgrade xz --ala-url 'https://archive.archlinux.org'

Problem with different packages. Package ‘xz’ is shown as an example.
Why is search on manjaro.tuxboy.eu so slow?

$ ping archive.archlinux.org -c 4
PING archive.archlinux.org (49.12.124.107) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from archive.archlinux.org (49.12.124.107): icmp_seq=1 ttl=56 time=66.6 ms
64 bytes from archive.archlinux.org (49.12.124.107): icmp_seq=2 ttl=56 time=67.7 ms
64 bytes from archive.archlinux.org (49.12.124.107): icmp_seq=3 ttl=56 time=66.7 ms
64 bytes from archive.archlinux.org (49.12.124.107): icmp_seq=4 ttl=56 time=66.8 ms
$ ping manjaro.tuxboy.eu -c 4
PING manjaro.tuxboy.eu (67.217.62.48) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 67.217.62.48: icmp_seq=1 ttl=45 time=147 ms
64 bytes from 67.217.62.48: icmp_seq=2 ttl=45 time=147 ms
64 bytes from 67.217.62.48: icmp_seq=3 ttl=45 time=147 ms
64 bytes from 67.217.62.48: icmp_seq=4 ttl=45 time=147 ms
$  manjaro-downgrade --version
2.3
# /etc/xdg/downgrade/downgrade.conf

# --pacman pacman
# --pacman-conf /etc/pacman.conf
# --pacman-cache /var/cache/pacman/pkg
# --pacman-log /var/log/pacman.log
# --maxdepth 1
# --ala-url 'https://archive.archlinux.org'
# --ignore prompt
# --ala-url 'https://archive.archlinux.org','https://manjaro.tuxboy.eu'

I didn’t know the package existed - I have always thought downgrading is unsupported hence

First of all - downgrading is unsupported - and should be avoided.

Second - you cannot compare the two archives.

The archlinux archive is using an organized structure, possibly designed for the use of the downgrade script.

The manjaro archive is simply an archive of packages, there is no database files, only packages and the only structure is the branch structure.

I know the archive exist - I have downloaded some old openbox packages no longer in the repo - and the repo only contains packages explicit provided by Manjaro - if there is an overlap with the Arch archive it is because the package has been built/rebuilt to accommodate for something specific to Manjaro.

I don’t know if it is all intended to be used by the downgrade script.

As far as I understand, the latest version of manjaro-downgrade 2.3 uses this “by default”.
Because of this, I noticed the problem of slow search when using the default syntax:

sudo manjaro-downgrade xz

Also the address “manjaro.tuxboy.eu” was included in the downgrade.conf.pacnew file along with “archive.archlinux.org”.
This address was probably not used by the “manjaro-downgrade” script before (unttil 2026).

I installed the script for the first time in 2024 after the fatal crash of “systemd” -

That time he helped me.

I just tested the script to see how it works

I used systemd as test and the response was fairly fast - given the number of entries the query returned.

A query on my system takes around 45s no matter the number of results.

Other factors may impact the result, such as network latency and the size of the page returned.

Thanks for test!
Could you test also with specifying the address (for compare)?
The list delay is 4 seconds for me:

sudo manjaro-downgrade systemd --ala-url 'https://archive.archlinux.org'

But in such a command, list delay is 80 seconds for me:

sudo manjaro-downgrade systemd

The downgrade search is taking longer for the manjaro archive.

 $ time sudo downgrade systemd --ala-url 'https://archive.archlinux.org'
Invalid choice
Unable to downgrade systemd

real    0m3,979s
user    0m0,007s
sys     0m0,009s
 $ time sudo downgrade systemd --ala-url 'https://manjaro.tuxboy.eu'
Invalid choice
Unable to downgrade systemd

real    0m39,755s
user    0m0,014s
sys     0m0,015s

I do think this is due to the different archive structures of the two archives.

It simply takes longer to parse the output from the manjaro archive page.

Thanks for the tip with the “time” command!
After the list appeared, I exited using CTRL+Z.
Here are the results:

$ time sudo LC_ALL=C manjaro-downgrade systemd --ala-url 'https://archive.archlinux.org'

[8]+  Stopped                    sudo LC_ALL=C manjaro-downgrade systemd --ala-url 'https://archive.archlinux.org'

real	0m5.382s
user	0m0.000s
sys	0m0.001s
$ time sudo LC_ALL=C manjaro-downgrade systemd

[10]+  Stopped                    sudo LC_ALL=C manjaro-downgrade systemd

real	1m20.032s
user	0m0.000s
sys	0m0.001s

You’re probably right and this is “by design”. Thanks again.

You can do

time curl https://manjaro.tuxboy.eu/stable-archive/

Then add the parsing of the output

That does not exit the running program. It simply suspends the process while keeping it in memory and waiting for a resume command.

In order to interrupt a running process whereby the process is terminated, you need CtrlC, and if it’s a communication protocol that you want to sign out of — which includes a terminal with a command prompt awaiting shell commands — then it’s CtrlD (end-of-transmission).

3 Likes

Oh, of course that’s right. Thanks for correcting.

time sudo LC_ALL=C manjaro-downgrade systemd --ala-url 'https://archive.archlinux.org'
Invalid choice
Unable to downgrade systemd

real	0m3.771s
user	0m0.026s
sys	0m0.025s