Moved the repo server and image-files server over to Oracle always-free-services tier, which has a static ip. There should be no problems migrating. It may be better reachable, perhaps even through the great wall of china.
Ftp and http servers are up, https is to follow up.
All packages are also built on this (aarch64) server periodially, keeping them up to date.
I have a new custom and simple initrd build script. It can replace mkinitcpio.
It creates a smaller imagefile and it does not use busybox, just uses the normal linux commands. Basic necessary commands for initrd are included.
It is the default for new installations. It uses the same configuration files as mkinitcpio (from the linux-bpir-git package).
To change to the new script:
pacman -Rdd mkinitcpio
pacman -Syu bpir-initrd
pacman -S linux-bpir-git
See for source of script:
https://github.com/ericwoud/archlinuxarm-repo/blob/bpir-initrd/bpir-initrd
Default config:
https://github.com/ericwoud/archlinuxarm-repo/blob/linux-bpir-git/mkinitcpio.conf
Default hook:
https://github.com/ericwoud/archlinuxarm-repo/blob/linux-bpir-git/mkinitcpio.hook