please help - how to use a local repository on Debian Etch
 

This is beginning to make me frustrated.
I copied the .deb files to a local directory :
/var/cache/apt/archives/gnome/gnome-packages

I tried each of the following lines in sources.list :

deb file:/var/cache/apt/archives/gnome/gnome-packages stable main contrib

deb file:///var/cache/apt/archives/gnome/gnome-packages stable main contrib

and I also tried it without the "stable main contrib"

I performed "apt-get update" ,
and I got a long text saying something about "debian repository
doesn't exist" and the name of the repository which was
http://[something with security] ,
but there was not any error message about the local repository
I created, so I assume APT did update it.
When I ran "apt-get install [name of package]" ,
it said it can't find that package and that I should run
"apt-get update" to fix this problem.

All other lines in sources.list are commented out.

Any help is appreciated,
I am on the edge of desperation.

Baby Peng

I think you need to use some tools to setup the repository. Just copying the *.deb's there doesn't work. Apt needs a couple of files created to describe what's in the repository. Here's a couple of howto links to create quick and dirty repositories.

http://www.debianhelp.co.uk/pkgadm.htm -- near the bottom, Local Package Archive section
http://people.connexer.com/~roberto/.../debrepository -- more detailed howto
http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/re...-howto.en.html -- official Debian doc

thank you so much pljvaldez
 

hey pljvaldez,
thank you so much.
I just learned something from you.
I will go over these links.

Baby peng