[apt-zip] offline functionality
Hello God :),
First the introductory part:
apt- zip - Update a non-networked computer using apt and removable media
These scripts simplify the process of using dselect and apt on a
non-networked Debian box, using removable media like ZIP floppies and
USB keys. One generates a `fetch' script (supporting backends such as
wget and lftp, in a modular, extensible way) to be run on a host with
better connectivity, check space constraints of your removable media,
and then install the package on your Debian box.
I have been thinking of adding an offline capability to apt-zip[1]
package for some time as so did others.
There were some discussions[2][3][4] on this matter, but the problem
is quite complex because of the limited capabilities of the connected
machine.
The sumarisation of the discutions is here[5].
The main issue is that the dependency computation should be done on
the connected machine so that the applications are the most recent
ones and, of course, their dependencies are also the correct ones.
The most portable solution would be a internet computational site so
that the OS/platform of the connected machine is irelevant. But this
would mean another dedicated server (might have also other purposes,
'though).
The elegant solution would be a library that computes the dependecies
which is written in a portable language (perl, python, java, posix
shell script), but this would mean a setup which is more than basic in
most cases - perl, python, java.
The pragmatic solution would be using the prior knowledge that the
connected machine has Debian installed (not true for some people) and
use dpkg+apt for dependency handling computation.
It is obvious that all of the solutions above have thier deficiencies
and taking into account that a dedicated dependency computation
machine on a site would be (probably) not that popular and would
require maintanance while the supposition that the connected machine
uses Debian is somehow restricted, I feel that the portable library
would be a solution.
So, my question is: is there such a library written?
Better yet, does it exist and is written in a portable language? If
not, is there intent in writing it?
Please CC me, I am not listed.
[1] http://packages.debian.org/apt-zip
[2] http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=43622
[3] http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=133117
[4] http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=223372
[5] http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=223372;msg=29
--
Regards,
EddyP
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"Imagination is more important than knowledge" A.Einstein
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