can I burn .deb files to a CD and then update a diff machine with that cd?

lefty.crupps · 09-21-2005, 10:38 AM

Hey, I have a fast internet connection (and computer) and I recently upgraded a standard 3.3.2 install to run KDE 3.4.2 and all the other updates that went with it. I want to do the same to an older computer, but I'm afraid that the download time alone will make the machine tremble.

Are the packages from my
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get dist-upgrade
still available on my machine? (I've not run any apt cleaning progs). If so, can I find them, burn them to CD, pop that CD in the other machine and add the CD to the Synaptic repository list, and have it do the update from that CD and from the 'net? (to balance anything that might not be on the cd, or updates, etc)

I would believe that this is possible, but I guess I am asking:
1. where are the downloaded packages stored on my machine (default install)?
2. what would i add to the three different lines in the synaptic repos settings to access the CD as a repository?

thnaks LQ'ers!

mos · 09-21-2005, 03:05 PM

look into apt-zip

lefty.crupps · 09-21-2005, 04:21 PM

I'm looking at the man page, thanks for the lead!

The man page is a bit confusing, though. It refers to the destination machine as the "host" when it obviously isn't hosting any (new .deb) files. This also doesn't discuss using a CD; I guess that I save the output to a folder and then burn that?

SO... I run

Code:

apt-zip-list

with some arguments, and then run a script (which was produced), and then burn the output files, and go to the target machine and run

Code:

apt-zip-inst

and it goes? Will this check the 'net for any changes or files that are missing?

How about this:

Quote:

The name of the script... contains the name of the Debian host for which the packages are to be fetched. Thus you can, using the same medium, upgrade several hosts at the same time, provided you have enough space on this disk.

Does that mean all my "hosts" (target computers) need to have the same name?

Why couldn't I just copy my entire /etc/apt directory to a CD and then onto the new machine and then run

Code:

apt-get dist-upgrade

and it will have much less to download (if the packages are already present)?

thanks mos and everyone else!

mos · 09-21-2005, 11:05 PM

apt-zip is for upgrading machines that dont have a network connection from a remote machine. so in response to will it check the net for changes. no it wont. if your looking to just save bandwidth, try apt-cacher.

mithereal · 09-27-2005, 04:24 AM

or you can use apt-move get to make a debian local mirror burn it to cd, add
deb file:///cdrom/ sarge main to
/etc/apt/sources.lst and use that
if doing it from remote machines another lil trick is run a http server (i use apache) mount the cdrom in the dir of your choice for simplicity say /mirrors, create a symlink mirrors in /var/www/ to /mirrors and edit the sources.lst to point to
deb http://(machinename or ipaddress)/mirrors/debian/ sarge main
ie you var/www dir should looklike /var/www/mirrors/ > /mirrors
if you changed your apache config to a different document root then you have to simlink in that dir. you can do the same with ftp just change http to ftp in sources.lst of course u must use ftp daemon and symlink in the ftp root.
it prolly would be a good to edit /etc/apt-move.conf nad change
copyonly=yes and delete=no, contents=yes but thats just my setup also localdir if ya want default is /mirrors
oh ya and burn the tree under /mirrors ie the /mirrors dir should be the root dir of the cd being created. the plus being if you dont have enuff archives to fill the cd up you can keep adding until it is (multisession).
anything else i forgot fel free to correct me on.
packages default install is /var/cache/apt/archives

anticapitalista · 09-27-2005, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by lefty.crupps
Hey, I have a fast internet connection (and computer) and I recently upgraded a standard 3.3.2 install to run KDE 3.4.2 and all the other updates that went with it. I want to do the same to an older computer, but I'm afraid that the download time alone will make the machine tremble.

Are the packages from my
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get dist-upgrade
still available on my machine? (I've not run any apt cleaning progs). If so, can I find them, burn them to CD, pop that CD in the other machine and add the CD to the Synaptic repository list, and have it do the update from that CD and from the 'net? (to balance anything that might not be on the cd, or updates, etc)

I would believe that this is possible, but I guess I am asking:
1. where are the downloaded packages stored on my machine (default install)?
2. what would i add to the three different lines in the synaptic repos settings to access the CD as a repository?

thnaks LQ'ers!

1. You will find yourdownloaded .debs in var/cache/apt/archives, but only if you edited your etc/default/mepis file so that
EMPTY_CACHE=no (the default is yes)

However reinstalling them to another box may not be as easy as it seems due to dependencies.

I'm not sure but maybe you could put all the .debs from your fast computer onto cd, then copy to a file in home for example on your old box, and then in a console as root and cd to the file, type:
dpkg -i *.deb
This should install all the deb files and I think it may solve any dependency problems.
Anyhow I'm sure someone else here will confirm if this can actually be done.

Also have a look at this link:

http://www.mepislovers-wiki.org/inde...ection_at_work

Tyroweb · 09-28-2005, 03:56 PM

This was a very popular question a while back

Anyway, look here reinstalldebs.htm

And more info about Mepis things and such Tyroweb

HTH

BTW this works on ANY Debian (installed) distro

Tyro