Re: Why Debian packaging structure is so difficult
On Fri, Jan 13, 2023 at 01:59:50PM +0530, Sadhu Santh wrote:
>
> > > I am hosting a local Debian mirror for my LAN. This helps in low internet
> > > bandwidth use.
> > >
> > > I keep only the required distributions (past five years and testing
> > > release).
> > >
> > > Compared to other distributions such ArchLinux/RockyLinux (single line Rsync
> > > can do the job), the partial mirroring over Rsync in Debian is a complex
> > > process.
> > >
> > > I use ftpsync, which can run on any Linux distribution.
> > >
Ftpsync is also available in Debian - the ftpsync.conf file will effectively
do your mirroring for you
> > > Is there any simple set of Rsync commands to sync a particular version of
> > > the platform (e.g. x86) of Debian? If not, why the upstream structure is not
> > > made simpler?
> > >
> > > Thanks for your guidance on the matter.
>
> > The best solution, IMHO, is to mirror using a tool that is aware of the
> > specific structure of apt repositories. Personally, I have had
> > excellent success with apt-cacher-ng, which functions much like a squid
> > proxy.
> > Another possibility seems like it would be apt-mirror. However, I have
> > never used it and so I cannot give a specific or detailed
> > recommendation.
> >
> Thanks for your kind suggestions.
>
> I suppose acngwill only function if the operating system is Debian or a
> close relative.
> My current archive arrangement was created on CentOS a few years ago, and
> ftpsync worked.
>
http://flosslinuxblog.blogspot.com/2020/02/rebuilding-mirror-software-mirroring-of.html might help - it's how I set up my mirror.
The post after that is how I was mirroring EPEL and setting up Apache -
I now use nginx.
It's very straightforward, I use this daily.
The two stage rsync is to ensure that the metadata is working so that
Debian packages can be validated against checksums and so on.
For Rocky, I now use the Rocky mirroring script: for EPEL, I'm still using
the Fedora script.
>
> After CentOS was withdrawn, we reverted to Debian on the majority of
> machines.
>
> Repository synchronisation for CentOS and related systems is frequently
> completed with a single line of rsync command via cron.
>
> So why use a different tool to achieve synchronisation.
>
See above: ftpsync will mostly work. Critically, keeping timestamps
and lockfiles means that you only download when upstream has changed.
> is thereany plans to make the repository structure simpler, or did I miss
> something?
>
> Best Regards,
> >
All the very best, as ever,
Andy Cater
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