# Fedora EPEL 8 mirror pinning

> Even though Fedora EPEL repository's configuration points to an HTTPS location, the default location of `mirrors.fedoraproject.org` is a redirect service that redirects to a close-by but non-deterministic mirror.

Even though Fedora EPEL repository's configuration points to an HTTPS location, the default location of `mirrors.fedoraproject.org` is a redirect service that redirects to a close-by but non-deterministic mirror.

This guide aims to help in pinning down the repository location to a known FQDN, so it can be set in the allowlists, without affecting the performance of downloads.

## Virtual Machine

### AWS User Data / GCP Startup Script

```bash
#!/bin/bash -ex
sed --in-place=.orig --regexp-extended 's%#baseurl=https://download.example/pub/epel/%baseurl=https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/fedora-epel/%g' /etc/yum.repos.d/epel*.repo
sed --in-place --regexp-extended 's%^metalink=%#metalink=%g' /etc/yum.repos.d/epel*.repo
```

The command simply replaces Fedora's default mirror redirector with a known, reliable CDN, making a backup file (with extension _.orig_) in the process.

## Container

### Dockerfile

```Dockerfile
FROM almalinux:8

RUN dnf install --assumeyes epel-release && \
    sed --in-place=.orig --regexp-extended 's%#baseurl=https://download.example/pub/epel/%baseurl=https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/fedora-epel/%g' /etc/yum.repos.d/epel*.repo && \
    sed --in-place --regexp-extended 's%^metalink=%#metalink=%g' /etc/yum.repos.d/epel*.repo && \
    dnf clean expire-cache
```

## Allowlist

### FQDNs

```
mirrors.edge.kernel.org
```

### DiscrimiNAT Annotation

```
discriminat:tls:mirrors.edge.kernel.org
```

### Alternative Mirrors

Although `mirrors.edge.kernel.org` is a CDN with geo-located caches, you may want to pick a specific `https` mirror from Fedora's [official mirrors list](https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mirrormanager/mirrors/EPEL).