on Sat, Dec 11, 2004 at 12:11:06PM -0500, cga2001@eml.cc (cga2001@eml.cc) wrote:
>
> On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 16:38:25 -0500, "Joey Hess" <joeyh@debian.org> said:
> > cga2001@eml.cc wrote:
> > > understand is the soon-to-be official "sarge" release..) and I could not
> > > find the basedbs.tar file.
> >
> > There's no such animal for sarge.
> >
> > > I also noticed that the section "Installing
> > > Debian GNU/linux from a UNIX/linux System" in the "testing" Installation
> > > Guide does not exist.
> >
> > Sure it does. http://d-i.alioth.debian.org/manual/en.i386/apcs04.html
> >
> > --
> > see shy jo
>
> I have an additional question.
>
> It appears that debootstrap uses wget. I believe that wget is able to
> recover from an interrupted download
Yes.
> - doesn't download again the files that were downloaded during a prior
> run - unless their timestamps were modified on the server.. a bit like
> "make" works regarding compiles.
>
> I was wondering if this is also the case with debootstrap?
Joey would be the authority on this, but it should be the case. If
debootstrap is calling wget in its default configuration, there are a
minimum of 20 retry attempts on a given download.
> The reason I'm asking is that the sarge base system is rumored to be
> some 100Meg+ and this should take some 10-12 hours trickling down my
> rather flimsy dialup pipe..
FWIW: I'm the original author of the chroot install instructions, and I
typically install systems over a dialup connection (56k nominal). It's
quite doable.
The situation improves markedly, however, if you have some sort of
cache. You can run a standard Web caching proxy (e.g.: Squid) which
will do this pretty much transparently, or use the apt-proxy cache
program, specifically designed for the purpose. Running apt-proxy on
a system on your local network _vastly_ improves update performance for
multiple hosts as any given package need be fetched only once.
My experience is that a relatively rich proxy cache needs about 2-4 GiB
storage (~2000 packages).
> If not, is there a way I can concurrently save the result of the
> download some place in case I mess the subsequent install... so as to
> avoid running a second (3rd.. 4th.. etc.) download.. should I need to
> start over... Or should I make a full backup of my root/base filesystem
> immediately after running debootstrap?
Sure. Your packages are stored in /var/cache/apt/archives. You can
fetch the list of packages and download them to any medium, then copy
them to this location, to avoid download times.
> Only doc I've read is the rather terse debootstrap man page and would
> gladly read other docs if available..
The entire Debian package management system is somewhat involved, and a
lot of the knowledge of it is sort of just plain institutional, though
there are extensive docs at the Debian project website, particularly
Developer and Policy docs:
http://www.debian.org/
http://www.debian.org/doc/devel-manuals#policy
http://www.debian.org/doc/user-manuals#apt-howto
http://www.debian.org/doc/user-manuals#quick-reference
http://www.debian.org/doc/devel-manuals#dpkgint
Also, Osamu Aoki's _Debian Quick Reference_ is a very useful guide
following more a "cookbook" how-to model, and focussing strongly on
package management tools:
http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/quick-reference/quick-reference.en.html
> Or.. finally.. is there a method that's better adapted to dialup than
> "debootstrap --arch i386 sarge /mnt/deb.... http://debian.org/.. etc"
> when attempting to download sarge from the mirrors.. where I could
> download the packages one at a time for instance?
> NB. Due to the volume on this list and my limited quotas.. I had to
> unsubscribe. Is there any place I can view your replies - if any..?? Or
> would you be so kind as to cc: me on this..?? <cga2001.at.eml.dot.cc>
The GMANE Usenet gateway:
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Point your newsreader at it.
Peace.
--
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