Problem: ollama won't install — official installer/download unreachable from CN (slow, timeouts) —— Trove problem library

What you will run into

Running the official install.sh (or downloading from the official site) hangs/times out, no progress for minutes, or the download breaks halfway.

You think the whole network is down — the official download source is just unstable from CN; switch to the GitHub Release accelerated channel.

Why this happens

The official install script fetches the package from ollama.com, which is unstable on direct CN connections (slow/timeout).

The ollama binary is also published on GitHub Release (ollama-linux-amd64.tar.zst), which is reliably fetchable via gh-proxy-style accelerators (measured: 1.42GB passed).

The official install script (curl ... | sh) is essentially a "downloader + unpacker": it first pulls the package from ollama.com (unstable direct connectivity from China → slow/timeout), then unpacks it to /usr/local.

The key point: the same package is also published on GitHub Release (ollama-linux-amd64.tar.zst) — same asset, different download channel; switching channels does not change the asset.

gh-proxy style accelerators proxy the GitHub Release download request, replacing the direct-to-objects.githubusercontent.com path (unstable from China) with a reachable proxy domain.

Deterministic takeaway: curl -I against ollama.com and the gh-proxy channel separately pinpoints which domain is the bottleneck; tar --zstd -xf + putting it on PATH is equivalent to what the official script produces (both are just unpacking);

make sure the download finishes before unpacking, and do not retry the same channel repeatedly during the download phase.

Step by step

1. Confirm it's the download channel — Required

curl -sI --max-time 10 https://ollama.com/install.sh

Timeout/000 → official source unreachable; use the gh-proxy Release path.

2. Download the Release package via gh-proxy — Required

curl -fsSL -o /tmp/ollama.tar.zst https://gh-proxy.com/https://github.com/ollama/ollama/releases/latest/download/ollama-linux-amd64.tar.zst

Measured: 1.42GB (1422262024 bytes, v0.33.2, 2026-08-29). Large download; use curl -C - for resume when the network fluctuates.

3. Extract (needs the zstd tool) — Required

tar --zstd -xf /tmp/ollama.tar.zst -C /usr/local

On tar: unrecognized option --zstd, install first: apt-get install -y zstd (measured zstd 1.5.7).

4. Verify — Required

ollama --version

ollama version 0.33.2 output means success (measured shape: client version 0.33.2).

How to confirm it works

ollama --version && ollama list

Version prints normally + ollama list runs (empty table exit 0) means success (measured:）.

Other environments

Symptom

Official install.sh / official-site download stuck, timed out, or broken midway; ollama won't install.

Cause

The official download source (ollama.com) is unstable on direct CN connections; the binary is on GitHub Release and fetchable via gh-proxy acceleration.

Solution

1. curl -fsSL -o /tmp/ollama.tar.zst https://gh-proxy.com/https://github.com/ollama/ollama/releases/latest/download/ollama-linux-amd64.tar.zst.
2. tar --zstd -xf /tmp/ollama.tar.zst -C /usr/local (install zstd first if missing: apt-get install -y zstd).
3. Verify with ollama --version.

Related canonicals

Read in order: precondition -> same root / same domain / related:

• Related (similar errors, different cause):
• ollama pull hangs/times out (download chain after install)
• Move the model directory (default model dir depends on install type)