[Debian-User] Re: More on Network Install
First, thanks to the 10 people (you know who you are) that provided me
with useful information regarding my own local mirror on my LAN. I
printed out all your correspondence -- thanks!. It appears I began with
some false assumptions even though I had read through the FAQ. Over
about a week or so I had downloaded a 128 MB ISO file Network Installer
over my dial up Internet connection (simultaneously shared by up to 5
LAN computers -- all doing data acquisition -- the rest of the 15 I use
for special efforts but if they require the Internet then the more
active ones have to suspend their operations). This is why I was asking
questions about my own local mirror or something close to one.
Anyway, I wrongfully expected the Network Installer to somehow build
this mirror and I could not have been more wrong in my expectations.
Also, I examined the contents of the Network Installer and did not
realize that it comes with only a bare bones installation which I was
mistaking as the entire Debian reference base. I thought this because
it used the same directory construct of numbers and then alsphabetical
characters. So in my mind I was thinking there was a whole lot of stuff
missing but it seems it was designed this way in order to boot up a
basic system and then by some other means (probably a selection menus or
use of package commands -- I'm not sure) fetch whatever packages a
person might want.
What I did do, since I have NO machine ready for a Debian install and
since I don't want the local LAN mirror to be constructed by the Debian
Dist. Linux OS was to use a (ugh) Windooze FTP package called ACE FTP
Pro. I had , ready to go, three SuSE Linux machines one of which could
have done this job but I was not aware of a comparable FTP package.
Anyway, as I write this the Windows XP Home machine is building (using
OE v. 2.9) creating a a Cygwin mirror (Cygwin is already installed on
this machine) and now it is also building (using FTP Pro) the Debian
Mirror. The data for both mirrors are on a network drive. The OE
package is very reliable but under certain circumstances the ACE FTP
package can lose connectivity with the FTP server and it appears it must
be disconnected which results in a very messy situation. It maintains a
local QUEUE and this contributes to the problem when it cannot
reconnect. Anyway, all I am saying is that even though it has
persistence and can be told to automatically retry it looks like a
fragile solution to my Debian local LAN mirror. The OE (Off Line
Explorer) doubles as a server and maintains reference files of the
data. This makes the Cygwin mirror dependent upon Windows and if Cygwin
wants to update itself from this OE server that server has to be
running. This is not the case with ACE FTP pro which simply creates a
directory that can be relocated on either a Windows and/or a Linux
machine. So If this ACE FTP pro works out then I will do the same with
the Cygwin mirror.
Regarding this Debian local LAN mirror. I looked all through the
Debian directories to find what alternatives are available before
setting this ACE FTP pro package into motion. Remember, whenever I have
to explore Internet possibilities I am seriously limited by the speed
the Firefox broser can return search results and explore specific
directories. I've seen me wait for half an hour just to get a single
web page of information and only after multiple REFRESHES. What I think
I found may be a big mistake. Thus, this emial. I found the directory
structure ~debian/pool/main which seems to contain all the binaries for
the large Debian distribution. Each directory selection had provision
for about 12 CPUs such as "m68k", "i386", "hurd", and others. But there
was no way I could find to identify whether these binaries (if that is
what they are) belonged to "Woody", "Testing", "Etch", "Sarge" or any
other release.
So my question is, am I collecting the right stuff and exactly what does
it mean when a BINARY package is located in the POOL directory. All I
can see in the package names is that the file is either ORIG or DEB or
DIFF or some kind of documentation file. Maybe the information is right
in front of me and I don't recognize it??? The DEB files all seem to
show the name and version information. but nothing I recognize as Etch
or Sarge except for one exception that had 5 files in the directory
where the files contained the word "sarge". I have seen this only once
so far and ACE FTP is working on ~/a/ for the next several days or weeks
-- not sure yet. Are the binary and source files wrapped together in the
POOL directory? It does not seem that way. The ORIG file appears only
once in every directory so I assumed it was source and a different DEB
file appeared for "m68k", "arm", "i386", etc. suggesting the contents
were a specific binary for each CPU type. This is also how I understood
the FAQ. My guess is that the "POOL" directory includes ALL TESTING
files. -- I vaguely remember something like that in the FAQ????
This brings us back to the Network Installer ISO. Does the Network
Installer allow one to select TESTING, SARGE, ETCH, etc., or is there a
separate Network Installer for each catagory????? Will the Network
Installer work against my local LAN mirror????
Any more help on this subject is greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Ted Hilts
Sorry for any typos
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