Re: Package Pool Proposal

[Philip Hands <phil@hands.com>]

Jason Gunthorpe <jgg@ualberta.ca> writes:

> On Wed, 8 Dec 1999, Michael Stone wrote:
> 
> > On Wed, Dec 08, 1999 at 08:14:47PM +0100, Filip Van Raemdonck wrote:
> > > Maybe you just don't have enough hdspace on a machine and can't let
> > > apt-get from a http (or ftp) source fill /var/cache/apt with the
> > > packages you want to install (nfs mounted mirror is a 'file:/' URI and
> > > doesn't do this).
>  
> > That's a fair reason at the moment. Fixing apt so it downloads in stages
> > is a better long-term solution.
> 
> Hum? If you have the ability to run a mirror of any sort then you have the
> ability to run APT properly - just NFS mount the space you were going to
> use for a mirror under /var/cache/apt/archives.

Or just use the space you were going to use for the mirror a cache space for squid.

The only reasons that I can think of for running a full mirror are:

  1) You want to offer a mirror to the public

  2) You want to produce CD images

For option 1) it might be worth looking into some way of having a web
server which would go and check a master site if a client asks for a
file it doesn't have.  If the master has it, it could grab a copy and
give it to the client, and keep it for the next time someone asks for
it.

Is there any way of doing this with apache?

With that, and some way of disposing of deleted files on a regular
basis, we'd have a simple way for people to add second level mirrors
painlessly.

Cheers, Phil.