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Re: using debian dvd iso image with apt



On Mon, May 18, 2009 at 01:51:45PM +0200, Raffaele Morelli wrote:
> Hi you all,
> 
> I have 3 debian boxes (two i386 and one amd64) which are not connected to
> the network so I usually do upgrades by downloading weekly generated dvd iso
> images, burning images to a dvd-rw and running apt-cdrom add && apt-upgrade.
> 
> My question is: can I fool apt in order to avoid burning dvd-rw each week?
> 
> I am not lazy but I do this regularly and burning two dvd-iso for different
> archs sometimes makes me crazy because of errors, dvd's failures or data
> corruption.
> 
> Any suggestion is appreciated.

I too am interested in this. If there was some way to simulate an
"apt-get update" by downloading the Packages.gz file and putting that on
the non-networked machine and doing the magic to that file the same way
that "apt-get update" does on a networked machine.

Then all you need to do is: 

1. apt-get dist-upgrade
2. answer no.
3. take note of the packages it wants to download.
4. Download the packages from a network machine
   + go to packages.debian.org/<package-name>
   + download .deb + put on USB stick.
5. Put downloaded packages into /var/cache/apt/archives/
   of non-networked machine
6. Run "apt-get dist-upgrade"
   When it says "Need to get 0MB/XXXMB of archives."
   - answer yes.

It will now dist-upgrade normally

Have a look at apt-zip for steps 1-6.

It seems to be non-trivial to simulate an "apt-get update" :(

This doesn't work: :(

I wonder if you can copy:
/var/lib/apt/lists/debian.attica.net.nz_debian_dists_lenny_contrib_binary-i386_Packages
[..]
/var/lib/apt/lists/www.debian-multimedia.org_dists_lenny_main_binary-i386_Packages

from a networked machine to a non-networked machine?

-- 
Chris.
======
I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god
than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other
possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.
                                           -- Stephen F Roberts


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