I have a public_html directory containing a subdirectory 'blackbox'. I run: dpkg-scanpackages blackbox /dev/null| gzip -c > blackbox/Packages.gz apt expects a gzipped Packages file. My apt line is now: deb http://va.debian.org/~shaleh blackbox Hope this helps. FYI, dpkg-scansources run the same way (file called Sources.gz) will allow apt-get source to work as well.