How do I export my saved .deb files as a repository
 

Hi I've got all these .deb files saved on a hd I'm gonna blank. I want to save them on a cd that can act as a repository for other machines. How do I do that? Does anyone know? I can't be the only one wanting to do this.

Deb files on a CD are a repo. Just navigate to the file you want to install and click on it. The installer will then install it just as if it was on the web somewhere.

I want to know how to make them into a real repo. You see, clicking on individual .deb files doesn't recursively resolve dependencies. That means that there are programs (and lots of them) that won't install that way. I've tried it. I need to know what files I need to make or whatever for a repo that does recursively resolve deps.

Then you need to add the path to your CD drive in the repositories section in Synaptic and then when you use Synaptic, the dependencies will be added to the install. You can also add the dependencies to the CD and use Synaptic to install the packages.

Thanks, that sounds like it will work. I think I'll burn the entire contents of my /var/cache/apt dir to the cd and see if the .bin files in there don't help as well. :)

That is exactly how I do it. Copy them into /var/cache/apt/archives and apt will find them in the cache the next time it is called. Works great for those of us on satellite or dial-up(limited bandwidth).

Yep. I got dial-up