The mirrors network

The Parrot Project not only delivers a ready-to-use system in the ISO format, but it also provides a vast amount of additional software that can be installed apart from the official parrot repository.

The Parrot repository is used to provide officially supported software, system updates and security fixes.

The software in the parrot archive is delivered in form of deb packages, and these packages are served through a vast network of mirror servers that provide the same set of packages distributed all around the world for faster software delivery.

The Parrot system is configured to use the central parrot archive directors. The Parrot directors are special servers that collect all the requests of the end users and redirect them to the geographically nearest download server available for the user who made the request.

If you want and can, you can make your own mirror for Parrot following this procedure.

Security measures

The Parrot Mirror Network is secured by centralized digital signatures and the mirrors can’t inject fake updates.

If an evil mirror tries to inject a fake package, the Parrot system will automatically refuse to download and install it, and will raise an alert message.

This security measure implemented in APT (the Parrot/Debian package manager) is very efficient and reliable because digital signatures are applied offline by the Parrot archive maintainer, and not by the mirror servers, ensuring direct and secure developer-to-user chain of trust.

Configuration and custom setup

The APT package manager uses /etc/apt/sources.list and any .list file found in the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ directory.

Content of /etc/apt/sources.list.d/parrot.list

deb https://deb.parrot.sh/parrot/ rolling main contrib non-free
#deb-src https://deb.parrot.sh/parrot/ rolling main contrib non-free
deb https://deb.parrot.sh/parrot/ rolling-security main contrib non-free
#deb-src https://deb.parrot.sh/parrot/ rolling-security main contrib non-free

Other mirrors for manual configuration

NCSA

North Central and South Americas

EMEA

Europe Middle East and Asia

APAC

Asia and Pacific

Make your own mirror

You can set up a Parrot archive mirror on your server for personal or public usage by following the steps below.

Make sure to have enough free space

You can sync the entire repository or pick just the ISO images.

Make sure to have enough free space to host a mirror, and be ready for future upgrades as the archive size fluctuates.

The current archive size is available here archive.parrotsec.org/parrot/misc/archive-size.txt

Choose the upstream server

We handle several domains for repository syncing services, we suggest you use rsync.parrot.sh for automatic and failproof setups, but upstream settings can be adjusted in case of specific needs.

Feel free to contact the Parrot team if you have specific mirroring needs or bandwidth limitations. We can provide you dedicated upstream sources or professional support for your mirror.

Main Mirror Director:
    rsync.parrot.sh
Global Zones (read the notes):
    EMEA:
        emea.rsync.parrot.sh
    NCSA:
        ncsa.rsync.parrot.sh
    APAC:
        apac.rsync.parrot.sh

Single archives may be unavailable or replaced from time to time.

rsync.parrot.sh is automatically balanced between all the available mirrors and will give you zero downtimes.

Download the archive

If you sync the entire archive with the below instructions, you do NOT need to synchronize the ISO archive. ISO files are included by default!

Sync the repository

rsync -Pahv --delete-after rsync://rsync.parrot.sh:/parrot /var/www/html/parrot

Configure a cronjob

launch the following command:

crontab -e

and add the following content to the crontab file:

*/10 * * * * flock -xn /tmp/parrot-rsync.lock -c 'rsync -aq --delete-after rsync://rsync.parrot.sh:/parrot /var/www/html/parrot

Download the ISO archive only

Do not sync the ISO archive if you are already synchronizing the full archive with the above instructions. ISO files are already provided with the instructions in the precedent paragraph.

use the following instructions if you want to sync only the ISO files.

Sync the repository

rsync -Pahv --delete-after rsync://rsync.parrot.sh:/parrot-iso /var/www/html/parrot

Configure a cronjob

launch the following command:

crontab -e

and add the following content to the crontab file:

30 2 * * * flock -xn /tmp/parrot-rsync.lock -c 'rsync -aq --delete-after rsync://rsync.parrot.sh:/parrot-iso /var/www/html/parrot

Expose your mirror via rsync

Your mirror can be exposed via rsync to allow other people to sync from you and to allow our mirror director to periodically scan your mirror and perform indexing and health checks.

Rsync exposure is mandatory to add your mirror to our official list.

The following instructions will set up rsync and expose the parrot archive in compliance with our standards on a debian/ubuntu server. Minor adjustments are required for other non-apt systems.

install rsync with:

sudo apt install rsync

edit /etc/rsyncd.conf with nano:

sudo nano /etc/rsyncd.conf

paste the following settings in the config file and save it:

[parrot]
        comment = Parrot OS - full archive [rsync.parrot.sh/parrot]
        path = /var/www/html/parrot/
        hosts allow = *
        #hosts deny = *
        list=true
        uid=www-data
        gid=www-data
        read only = yes
        use chroot=yes
        dont compress # for better performance
[parrot-iso]
        comment = Parrot OS - ISO files only [rsync.parrot.sh/parrot-iso]
        path = /var/www/html/parrot/
        exclude = pool dists
        hosts allow = *
        list=true
        uid=www-data
        gid=www-data
        read only = yes
        use chroot=yes
        dont compress

Enable the rsync service:

sudo systemctl enable rsync    

Start the rsync service:

sudo service rsync start

Make your mirror official

If you want your mirror to be added to our official mirrors list and to our mirror directors, email us at team AT parrotsec DOT org

have fun 🙂