Recently, the error "[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum"
often happens repeatedly while trying to download the file
primary.sqlite.bz2 from different servers. It's common for this to
happen around a dozen times or more, which since the file is 3.8M can
add up to 50M just to download metadata to find out whether there are
updates. For those on dialup, this is a major pain. Why is this
happening? For example
[root@localhost ~]# yum update
Loading "installonlyn" plugin
Loading "presto" plugin
Loading "dellsysidplugin" plugin
Setting up Update Process
Setting up Presto
livna 100% |=========================| 2.1 kB
00:00
dell-software 100% |=========================| 1.9 kB
00:00
adobe-linux 100% |=========================| 951 B
00:00
fwupdate 100% |=========================| 951 B
00:00
updates 100% |=========================| 383 B
00:00
dribble 100% |=========================| 951 B
00:00
fedora 100% |=========================| 2.1 kB
00:00
Reading Presto metadata in from local files
presto.xml.gz 100% |=========================| 95 kB
00:00
primary.xml.gz 100% |=========================| 6.2 kB
00:00
primary.xml.gz 100% |=========================| 1.0 kB
00:00
primary.xml.gz 100% |=========================| 30 kB
00:00
updates 100% |=========================| 1.9 kB
00:00
primary.xml.gz 100% |=========================| 23 kB
00:00
primary.sqlite.bz2 100% |=========================| 3.8 MB
00:11
http://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2:
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2 100% |=========================| 3.8 MB
00:11
http://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2:
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2 100% |=========================| 3.8 MB
00:11
ftp://fedora.bu.edu/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2:
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2 100% |=========================| 3.8 MB
00:11
ftp://fedora.bu.edu/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2:
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2 100% |=========================| 3.8 MB
00:11
http://mirror.linux.duke.edu/pub/fedora/linux/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2:
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2 100% |=========================| 3.8 MB
00:11
ftp://ftp.cse.buffalo.edu/pub/Linux/fedora/linux/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2:
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2 100% |=========================| 3.8 MB
00:31
ftp://mirrors.imagi.net/fedora/linux/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2:
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2 100% |=========================| 3.8 MB
00:11
http://mirror.linux.duke.edu/pub/fedora/linux/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2:
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2 100% |=========================| 3.8 MB
00:11
http://mirror.stanford.edu/fedora/linux/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2:
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2 100% |=========================| 3.8 MB
00:11
http://limestone.uoregon.edu/ftp/fedora/linux/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2:
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2 100% |=========================| 3.8 MB
00:11
ftp://ftp.cse.buffalo.edu/pub/Linux/fedora/linux/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2:
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2 3.8 MB
00:11
ftp://mirror.nyi.net/fedora/linux/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2:
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2 100% |=========================| 3.8 MB
00:11
http://mirror.hiwaay.net/pub/fedora/linux/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2:
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2 100% |=========================| 3.8 MB
00:11
http://ftp.linux.ncsu.edu/pub/fedora/linux/releases/7/Everything/i386/os/repodata/primary.sqlite.bz2:
[Errno -1] Metadata file does not match checksum
Trying other mirror.
primary.sqlite.bz2 100% |=========================| 3.8 MB
00:11
No Packages marked for Update/Obsoletion
[root@localhost ~]#
