Re: Please add lzip support in the repository

[Stuart Prescott <stuart@debian.org>]

> What is `apt-helper cat-file' and how does it help ?

On stretch:

$ apt-file search apt-helper
apt: /usr/lib/apt/apt-helper

$ /usr/lib/apt/apt-helper
apt 1.4.6 (amd64)
Usage: apt-helper [options] command
       apt-helper [options] cat-file file ...
       apt-helper [options] download-file uri target-path

apt-helper bundles a variety of commands for shell scripts to use
e.g. the same proxy configuration or acquire system as APT would.

Most used commands:
  download-file - download the given uri to the target-path
  srv-lookup - lookup a SRV record (e.g. _http._tcp.ftp.debian.org)
  cat-file - concatenate files, with automatic decompression
  auto-detect-proxy - detect proxy using apt.conf


Configuration options and syntax is detailed in apt.conf(5).
Information about how to configure sources can be found in sources.list(5).
Package and version choices can be expressed via apt_preferences(5).
Security details are available in apt-secure(8).
                                This APT helper has Super Meep Powers.

$ /usr/lib/apt/apt-helper download-file 
http://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/sid/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz 
Packages.xz
Get:1 http://deb.debian.org/debian/dists/sid/main/binary-amd64/Packages.xz 
[7,547 kB]
Fetched 7,547 kB in 5s (1,446 kB/s)

$ /usr/lib/apt/apt-helper cat-file Packages.xz | less


(this only looks at the repo and doesn't address package compression which 
Guillem discussed elsewhere)


-- 
Stuart Prescott    http://www.nanonanonano.net/   stuart@nanonanonano.net
Debian Developer   http://www.debian.org/         stuart@debian.org
GPG fingerprint    90E2 D2C1 AD14 6A1B 7EBB 891D BBC1 7EBB 1396 F2F7