* Dan Jacobson (jidanni@dman.ddts.net) [020703 00:55]: > I am looking in /var/lib/apt/lists/ > I see I have got > debian.linux.org.tw_debian_dists_woody_main_binary-i386_Packages > but uname -a says > Linux debian 2.4.18-k7 #1 Sun Apr 14 13:19:11 EST 2002 i686 unknown > I.e. I am a 686 not 386. Is this bad? Not at all. A 686 is a 386 =) It's the same architecture, but programs can be optimized for newer modesl (i.e. 686) at compile-time. The kernel you run is optimized for the k7, and thus reports 686. Programs that say i386 will run just fine. Some people insist on having everything optimized and compiled for their newer chips, but really, the difference is negligible (unless maybe you're talking about a very processor-intensive program). > Also I had 8 cdrom's worth of lists in /var/lib/apt/lists/. I see > these got blown away. It seems it is very easy to blow away things in > /var/lib/apt/lists/ . > > I suppose I should make back ups of it. But then I'm sure restoring > backups to it would mess something else up. No need. apt-get update will populate this directory. You probably shouldn't play with it by hand at all. (I don't think you'll damage anything, but I don't think it should be necessary; just let apt do it.) > please tell me [on this board] under what conditions will one blow > away a file on /var/lib/apt/lists/? Yes, just remove the corresponding lines from sources.list and update. > I must not have cdroms on the sources.list if I go on the network [modem man > me] to "update"? > > I must not have the mirror on the sources.list if I want something > from the CDs? Well, there you go. That's why the lists keep disappearing. When they get removed from sources.list, apt removes the info for them next time you update. So each time you remove one, the lists are wiped. > I use wwwoffle. If I am offline I suppose I can this fool it into I don't know anything about wwwoffle, but I don't suspect that anything I'm saying is invalidated by your using it. > thinking it [dselect] is getting its list. If not it will blow away > files in /var/lib/apt/lists/? dselect doesn't use anything in /var/lib/apt directly. dselect calls on apt to download packages to install, and apt uses data there to know what's available for download (or copying from cdrom) and the URL to get it. > Maybe with the wwwoffle passifier in the baby's mouth, file deletions > won't happen again after the first time? > > mainly i am tired of having to read the 8 cd's over and over for it to > make its fragile indexes. > > Why must it delete things from /var/lib/apt/lists/ if it is unable to > get a newer version? By removing it from sources.list, you're telling it your not interested in using it as a source anymore. I'm lucky enough to have a DSL connection, so I don't completely understand your problems. All of my apt sources are network sites (not CDROMs) and I'm always online. My guess is that if you run apt-get update with the cdrom sources in your sources.list it asks you to jockey the discs to see if they've been updated, and if you run it with the network sources in you have to wait for them to time out if you're off line. I believe that if you leave the CDROM sources in there and never take them out, apt is smart enough to recognize each CD and won't have you re-read them each time you update (unless you've removed them from sources.list so their data got thrown away). I think the answer to the CDROM dilemma is to just leave the cdrom sources in the sources.list always. As for the best solution to the network sources and offline problem, I'm not sure. good times, Vineet -- http://www.doorstop.net/ -- "Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes." -E.W. Dijkstra
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