Trouble during creation of an offline usb Apt Kubuntu 20.04 (focal) repository.
 

Hello everyone, I'm Mario.

This is basically a repost of a thread I created on the official Ubuntu forums on Wednesday, January 23, 2024 HERE
I have edited the following for clarity. (I hope.)



I'm trying to create offline usb repositories for Kubuntu 20.04. I will require them because there is no internet access where me and mine will be going.

Here's what I have done...

I attempted to use apt-mirror, following the steps found here: https://www.linuxtechi.com/setup-loc...server-ubuntu/
I modified these steps to work with focal (20.04) instead.
After waiting for a multi-hundred GB download (understood and expected), I modified my /etc/apt/sources.list to aim ONLY at the local repo I created on the drive with apt-mirror.

I encountered the following errors when running 'sudo apt update':

As confirmed on the linuxtechi website, apt-mirror was failing to mirror necessary metadata. I ran the provided workaround configuration script after modifying it for focal (20.04), and my needs.

Please note, this is the original script, not the one I modified.
After I modified the script and ran it, the same errors persisted.

I then went to http://archive.ubuntu.com and downloaded the specific metadata files (the ones that apt said were missing) manually to my repo. It still gave the error that the files could not be found.
I verified my file path was correct, and the errors persisted.

I completely deleted the repository and decided to build the repo manually; loosely following instructions from here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Ap...ine/Repository
This proved successful, because even though it gave the same errors when I ran 'sudo apt update'; as I manually provided the files it says it was missing, apt seemed to acknowledging the presence of the files and it started syncing metadata correctly.

So I had a working repository, but no deb packages in it. This was expected and intended at that point. I wanted to ensure that apt could properly read metadata and update itself BEFORE committing to another multi-hundred GB download wait.

I successfully used apt-mirror THIS time, purely to download pool folder data (the .deb files). I trashed the metadata that apt-mirror pulled, and provided the metadata that I pulled manually from the repo.
Voila! It worked perfectly. I did a quick test installing and autoremoving the package 'gufw'. All was well.

I then copied my repo metadata to a usb drive.
And adjusted the contents of /etc/apt/sources.list to aim solely at the usb drive.
But it didn't work. The problem with apt not seeing necessary metadata pops back up again.

For example, it says it can't find icons-48x48 tarball.
But I can verify that file IS infact there.
And it SEEMS to say it cannot access and read the InRelease file, but that makes no sense since it all works just fine on the computer.


I attempted to chmod the InRelease file to 755... and then just for s&g's I chmod'd it to 777.
I still get this output when I try to run 'sudo apt update'.
I admit I am out of ideas.
I reformatted the USB drive to exfat to get around potential permissions issues and the problem remains.

And as of the time of this post, I have completely reformatted the usb drive and there is NO DATA on the drive and I STILL get the above output! Even with the drive PHYSICALLY DISCONNECTED it still gives me the above output!
Has apt somehow gotten stuck?

The moment I adjust /etc/apt/sources.list to aim at the local repo or the official online repos... apt syncs normally. But when I switch back the usb drive, it fails and says it can't find files.

I did a reboot just for the hell of it, to see if that would help. No luck. :D

I hate to admit it, but I need help.

My end goal is to have a viable offline local usb repo, that I can simply plug into a couple of different, permanently-offline computers in order to update them.
And then I can simply update files and debs on the USB repo, by connecting it to my main online desktop and running apt-mirror on it.

I've built working repositories local and network repos before... although not often.
I don't understand what I'm doing wrong for the usb repo.

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There is a second part to this.... I will post as soon as I am able.

Please post your thread in only one forum. Posting a single thread in the most relevant forum will make it easier for members to help you and will keep the discussion in one place. This thread is being closed because it is a duplicate.