Rob Owens wrote:
On Wed, Oct 03, 2012 at 01:22:21PM +0000, Russell L. Harris wrote:* Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> [121003 12:42]:My end goal is to search out a script that will place the contents of the 8 DVD set of Debian 6.0.5 on a hard drive in such a way that the hard disk can be accessed by apt-get.Have you looked at approx? Surely approx-import can import images mounted with the "loop" mount option?apt-cacher-ng will do it as well. -Rob
I went to [ http://manpages.debian.net/cgi-bin/man.cgi?query= ] and looked up approx and apt-cacher, following some of the links given on those pages.
I see no way to *COERCE* either to accomplish my goal. Both presume topology, constraint(s) and goal(s) which differ from mine.
Their underlying presumptions include:1. a repository at the far end of a bandwidth limited channel 2. unspecified number of of local machines - physical or virtual A. these machines are connected by LAN - physical or virtual
B. all machines have majority of loaded software common
My real world actual situation is:
1. any standard repository is at end of ~0 bandwidth
channel -- a 56k analog modem. There be reason I bought 8
DVD set ;)
2. I have 3 computers with differing hardware:A. two laptops with WiFi (functional) and an Ethernet port (functionality???) B. one desktop without WiFi {possibly has Ethernet port, it's not physically available at moment to check}.
C. all have USB ports
D. I have USB connected hard drives with capacity to
store the contents of the DVDs. Thus I will implement a
"sneaker net".
To summarize:I effectively _HAVE_ the contents of a relevant repository on 8 physically discrete DVDs. I *REQUIRE* that content to reside on a single partition of a single disk in a form acceptable to apt-get. For reasons I'll not go into, any solution requiring networking of any form is irrelevant.
Restating my original subject line -- "Can someone direct me to CURRENT ( i.e. valid for Squeeze) "user friendly" detailed documentation of Debian repository structure?".
I searched debian.org for the keyword "repository" and received ONE relevant hit ( of 33 hits). http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/repository-howto/repository-howto.en.html is:
user friendly NOT current - it labels itself explicitly as "obsolete".NOT detailed enough on its own. [ If it were not obsolete to an unspecified degree it _might_ contain enough hints to required details.]