Re: Could/should you set Dir::Cache::{pkgcache, srcpkgcache} = ""; if all you are doing is locally downloading dependencies of an installation package?

[David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk>]

On Sat 02 Dec 2023 at 02:10:48 (+0000), Albretch Mueller wrote:
> On 11/30/23, David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> wrote:
> > On Thu 30 Nov 2023 at 21:05:38 (+0000), Albretch Mueller wrote:
> >>  I also notice repeated copies of {src-, pkgcache}.bin files for each
> >> downloaded package even though I am downloading them to specific
> >> subdirectories in order to then install them using dpkg.
> >>  Do you really need those binaries and cache instructions if you are
> >> just downloading the installation dependencies? How do you remove,
> >> disregard those kinds of caching strategies in a graceful way?
> >
> > Perhaps you could elaborate on the commands you're running.
> 
>  I am using apt-rdepends --follow=Depends <deb package>
> 
>  to download all dependencies into a subdirectory for each package
> then I notice the same files: srcpkgcache.bin et pkgcache.bin in every
> subdirectory.

Obviously I'm trying to replicate what you do. In case it matters,
my bullseye system has package acl installed, but not acl2. (Despite
their names, they're unrelated.)

$ mkdir temp/rdepends ; cd $_
~/temp/rdepends$ apt-rdepends --follow=Depends acl
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
acl
  Depends: libacl1 (= 2.2.53-10)
  Depends: libc6 (>= 2.14)
libacl1
  Depends: libc6 (>= 2.14)
libc6
  Depends: libcrypt1
  Depends: libgcc-s1
libcrypt1
  Depends: libc6 (>= 2.25)
libgcc-s1
  Depends: gcc-10-base (= 10.2.1-6)
  Depends: libc6 (>= 2.14)
gcc-10-base
~/temp/rdepends$ apt-rdepends --follow=Depends acl2
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
acl2
  Depends: libc6 (>= 2.29)
  Depends: libgmp10
  Depends: libreadline8 (>= 6.0)
  Depends: libx11-6
libc6
  Depends: libcrypt1
  Depends: libgcc-s1
libcrypt1
  Depends: libc6 (>= 2.25)
libgcc-s1
  Depends: gcc-10-base (= 10.2.1-6)
  Depends: libc6 (>= 2.14)
gcc-10-base
libgmp10
  Depends: libc6 (>= 2.14)
libreadline8
  Depends: libc6 (>= 2.15)
  Depends: libtinfo6 (>= 6)
  Depends: readline-common
libtinfo6
  Depends: libc6 (>= 2.16)
readline-common
  Depends: dpkg (>= 1.15.4)
  Depends: install-info
dpkg
  Depends: tar (>= 1.28-1)
  PreDepends: libbz2-1.0
  PreDepends: libc6 (>= 2.15)
  PreDepends: liblzma5 (>= 5.2.2)
  PreDepends: libselinux1 (>= 3.1~)
  PreDepends: zlib1g (>= 1:1.1.4)
tar
  PreDepends: libacl1 (>= 2.2.23)
  PreDepends: libc6 (>= 2.28)
  PreDepends: libselinux1 (>= 3.1~)
install-info
  Depends: libc6 (>= 2.14)
  PreDepends: dpkg (>= 1.16.1)
libx11-6
  Depends: libc6 (>= 2.26)
  Depends: libx11-data
  Depends: libxcb1 (>= 1.11.1)
libx11-data
libxcb1
  Depends: libc6 (>= 2.14)
  Depends: libxau6 (>= 1:1.0.9)
  Depends: libxdmcp6
libxau6
  Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4)
libxdmcp6
  Depends: libbsd0 (>= 0.2.0)
  Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4)
libbsd0
  Depends: libc6 (>= 2.25)
  Depends: libmd0 (>= 1.0.3-2)
libmd0
  Depends: libc6 (>= 2.14)
~/temp/rdepends$ ls -l
total 0
~/temp/rdepends$ ls -lR /var/cache/apt
/var/cache/apt:
total 69352
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root    57344 Dec  1 19:46 archives
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 35492253 Dec  1 21:00 pkgcache.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 35451043 Dec  1 21:00 srcpkgcache.bin

/var/cache/apt/archives:
total 4
-rw-r----- 1 root root    0 Apr 16  2022 lock
drwx------ 2 _apt root 4096 Dec  1 15:00 partial
ls: cannot open directory '/var/cache/apt/archives/partial': Permission denied
~/temp/rdepends$ 

/var/cache/apt/archives/partial was used at 3pm when libnghttp2-14
was downloaded. The {src,}pkgcache.bin files were created when the
9pm update took place. I see no extra .bin files.

Presumably you're running more commands than you revealed above?

Cheers,
David.