Help - how to build a 2nd Ubuntu machine without internet?

bt101 · 06-07-2009, 10:35 PM

Hi - I have built an Ubuntu 8.10 server machine with great agony as I have no internet. I need to make another machine and install the same software packages. I already have the packages I need. What do I need to copy from the first machine so that the second machine will install these packages? I'm not referring to the packages themselves (I can copy them over and install them). I need to get the apt database in synch with the first machine. I assume that apt has some sort of database files? Without that configuration, the damn machine keeps trying to connect to the internet.

Thanks

JulianTosh · 06-07-2009, 11:12 PM

how about imaging the drive...

install the 2nd computer hard drive into the first, dd the original to the new, and update the server specific configuration items.

farslayer · 06-08-2009, 07:39 AM

On the original machine
dpkg --get-selections > selections.txt

copy selections.txt to the new machine
on the new machine
dpkg --set-selections < selections.txt
apt-get dselect-upgrade

you will need a source for the new machine to download the packages from.. even if it's CD or DVD media..

bt101 · 06-08-2009, 02:05 PM

I figured-it-out...

Copy the following from the source machine to the destination:
copy /var/lib/apt/lists/*
copy /etc/apt/sources*

It seems to work. The destination machine recognizes the packages that I already have without trying to go to the internet.

I gotta say (bit of a rant)...I would have thought that Linux above all other OSs would be a little more friendly for installing without internet. It takes endless hours of digging to come up with half-baked solutions.

farslayer · 06-08-2009, 02:19 PM

Installing Linux without internet is drop dead simple if you have the install CD's or DVD's no clue what you are actually complaining about here.

Just a pointer don't use the netinstall CD's to install on PC's that have no internet connection.. but I always thought that was a gimme.

bt101 · 06-08-2009, 09:24 PM

I may be doing something wrong, but it doesn't seem dead simple to me.
Perhaps I can give and example.
While I was at a location with high-speed, I found a pcb layout program called kicad. I downloaded the Windows version, brought it home and installed it.
I'd love to be able to do the same thing with Linux software.
Let's say I've built a Linux box, now I'm at an internet location and I see some software that I want to bring home and install. What is the dead simple way that I can do this? Wouldn't there be a lot of work figuring out the dependencies to try and determine what you have to download. After you get the software home, how do you install it (apt really isn't aware of the software and dependencies because the machine has never been connected to the internet).

farslayer · 06-08-2009, 11:08 PM

With a Debian based distro dependencies are handled for you. the repositories have over 20,000 packages ion them so there is rarely ever an application I want that isn't in the repositories.. I'll work from your example

Code:

default@debianetch:~$ aptitude search kicad

p   kicad                           - Electronic schematic and PCB design softwa
p   kicad-common                    - Common files used by kicad                
p   kicad-doc-de                    - Kicad help files (German)                 
p   kicad-doc-en                    - Kicad help files (English)                
p   kicad-doc-es                    - Kicad help files (Spanish)                
p   kicad-doc-fr                    - Kicad help files (French)                 
p   kicad-doc-it                    - Kicad help files (Italian)                
p   kicad-doc-pt                    - Kicad help files (Portuguese)             
p   kicad-doc-ru                    - Kicad help files (Russian)    
            
default@debianetch:~$ su - 
Password: 

debianetch:~# aptitude install kicad

that will download kicad, and all of it's dependencies and install it.

if I want to see what other pcb design programs are available I can search the descriptions..

Code:

 debianetch:~# aptitude search ~d"pcb"
p   geda-xgsch2pcb                     - GPL EDA -- Electronics design software -- gschem -> PCB workflow GUI      
p   gerbv                              - Gerber file viewer for PCB design                                         
p   kicad                              - Electronic schematic and PCB design software                              
p   pcb                                - printed circuit board (pcb) design program - meta-package                 
p   pcb-common                         - printed circuit board (pcb) design program - common files                 
p   pcb-gtk                            - printed circuit board (pcb) design program - GTK+ interface               
p   pcb-lesstif                        - printed circuit board (pcb) design program - LessTif interface

if I want to download the program and it's dependencies from a different Debian based box I can use apt-zip
http://linuxbasics.org/tutorials/using/apt-zip

Does this knowledge come overnight ? no

Why doesn't Linux work like Windows ? Because Linux is not windows..

Is it hard to Learn Linux ? It can be, and you will make it harder on yourself if you expect it to work like windows..

It can also be rather enjoyable to not be locked into how someone else wants you to work. There are many distros of Linux and you can search around for one you like. theres always at least two ways to accomplish anything in Linux (more like 10 ways) But you have to be open to learn them. If you are stuck on Windows then maybe Linux isn't for you. If you are open to change and learning, Linux can be the most fun you've had in Computing EVER..

bt101 · 06-09-2009, 12:03 AM

I've done the solution that you propose a long time ago.
There's a couple of problems:
1. You have to haul the computer to an internet connected site to initially run apt-get update.
2. Every time you want new software, you have to first run home to get a list of the software you need from the computer and then run over to the internet connection to get the software and then run home.

How can this be considered dead simple? Again I may be missing something.

I ended up writing my own scripts that do the same thing as apt-zip. At that time, finding out the process of what to do took days of research. I found some semi-official instructions and I got most of the info from forums. What's more is that none of the instructions I found worked completely from beginning to end, so I had to kludge together my own solution. So I'm saying that linux setup without internet is far from dead simple and there seams to be little consideration and information for it.

For the solution to my original post, I just found it in some other forum. I could not find any official, or semi official instructions for it. It's just something some guy said in a forum and it appears to work. By contrast, there seems to be lots of comprehensive instructions for using apt if you have an internet connection.

farslayer · 06-09-2009, 08:14 AM

If you have no internet then you should acquire ALL the DVD's.. That's the reason Debian is available on 5 DVD's . for PC's without an internet connection.

Download and burn the iso files to Disc, then use apt-cdrom add to add them to the sources list for local installation. all the packages at your fingertips, no internet connection required.

You seem to be stuck in the mindset that the only place the packages are available is online.. not true.