-For more details, on Debian GNU/Linux systems, see the file +For more details, on Debian systems, see the file /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL for the full license. @@ -44,11 +44,13 @@ archive but can easily fit a subset large enough for most users. The idea is to use APT to generate a list of packages that are required and then fetch them onto the disc using another machine with good connectivity. It is even possible to use another Debian machine with APT or to use a completely -different OS and a download tool like wget. +different OS and a download tool like wget. Let remote host mean the +machine downloading the packages, and target host the one with bad or +no connection.
This is achieved by creatively manipulating the APT configuration file. The -essential premis to tell APT to look on a disc for it's archive files. Note +essential premise to tell APT to look on a disc for it's archive files. Note that the disc should be formated with a filesystem that can handle long file names such as ext2, fat32 or vfat. @@ -87,9 +89,9 @@ download. The disk directory structure should look like: The configuration file should tell APT to store its files on the disc and to use the configuration files on the disc as well. The sources.list should contain the proper sites that you wish to use from the remote machine, and -the status file should be a copy of /var/lib/dpkg/status. Please note, -if you are using a local archive you must use copy URIs, the syntax is identical -to file URIs. +the status file should be a copy of /var/lib/dpkg/status from the +target host. Please note, if you are using a local archive you must use +copy URIs, the syntax is identical to file URIs.
apt.conf must contain the necessary information to make APT use the @@ -99,7 +101,7 @@ disc: APT { /* This is not necessary if the two machines are the same arch, it tells - the remote APT what architecture the Debian machine is */ + the remote APT what architecture the target machine is */ Architecture "i386"; Get::Download-Only "true"; @@ -125,9 +127,9 @@ More details can be seen by examining the apt.conf man page and the sample configuration file in /usr/share/doc/apt/examples/apt.conf.
-On the remote Debian machine the first thing to do is mount the disc and copy +On the target machine the first thing to do is mount the disc and copy /var/lib/dpkg/status to it. You will also need to create the directories -outlined in the Overview, archives/partial/ and lists/partial/ +outlined in the Overview, archives/partial/ and lists/partial/. Then take the disc to the remote machine and configure the sources.list. On the remote machine execute the following: @@ -136,17 +138,17 @@ On the remote machine execute the following: # apt-get update [ APT fetches the package files ] # apt-get dist-upgrade - [ APT fetches all the packages needed to upgrade your machine ] + [ APT fetches all the packages needed to upgrade the target machine ] -The dist-upgrade command can be replaced with any-other standard APT commands, +The dist-upgrade command can be replaced with any other standard APT commands, particularly dselect-upgrade. You can even use an APT front end such as -dselect However this presents a problem in communicating your +dselect. However this presents a problem in communicating your selections back to the local computer.
Now the disc contains all of the index files and archives needed to upgrade
-the Debian machine. Take the disc back and run:
+the target machine. Take the disc back and run: