Telling apt where my files are...
Hi,
I've just started using apt for installing and upgrading packages. I'm
very impressed with it (at least as far as getting stuff off the web is
concerned). What I'd like to do is use it for *all* my setup. But I
can't get it to see the stuff on my (CheapBytes) Hamm CDs - which I'd
like to use for installations when I don't want to download off the web.
I have three CDs, each with part of the distribution on (assume the CD
is mounted on /cdrom):
CD1: Main, in /cdrom/debian/main
CD2: Contrib, in /cdrom/debian/contrib
CD3: Non-free, in /cdrom/debian/non-free
I'd also like to get the "frozen" stuff from www.uk.debian.org.
My sources.list file is at home (forgot the floppy with a copy on it,
rats!) but I have a line something like
deb ftp://www.uk.debian.org/debian frozen main contrib non-free non-us
which works fine. But I can't get the CDs added - it seems to dislike
the directory structure (lack of a ../dists/.. level?) Can anybody tell
me what I need?
Also, with this sort of configuration, can I set it up so that I can
"apt-get update" against all the sources somehow, then just do an
apt-get install, which will load off the CD (I'd like it to prompt for a
CD, and preferably mount it for itself if not already mounted, but I
gather that needs "multi-cd" support, which isn't ready yet...) if my
PPP connection isn't up (ie, the ftp connection isn't available), or get
the newer version off the web if it is up. Also, will apt use the CD if
the web version *isn't* any newer?
Thanks for any pointers...
Paul.
PS I'd like to do apt-get upgrade (or even dist-upgrade) but I don't
want to do the multi-megabyte download all at once. Can I get apt to
tell me what would be done by a [dist-]upgrade and then let me do it in
stages?
PPS Someone here has been talking about getting apt to let me retain
downloaded sources after the upgrade. I agree, that would be useful for
me, too. Maybe allow a "cache" directory to be specified, where
downloaded sources get cached (a zip drive, say). And add an extra
"type" for sources.list which lets apt point at that cache as another
(incomplete) distribution source...
I'm rambling now...
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