Advice on setting up hybrid mirror.

[CptKrf]

I'm trying to read the f... stupid manuals, but so far I haven't found one that quite points me into the right direction. ChatGPT usually can get me pointed to the right direction on various projects, but so far that Artificial Advice pointing is over a cliff into the tarpit.

Years ago, in the day of dialup Internet, I would download the whole Debian mirror at work over their super-fast T1 line, carrying it home on a big rust disk. (Ok, in those days, it really was fast). As my home, way out in the sticks, was bandwidth starved, that would allow me to load and learn Linux without interminable overnight download sessions.

Today, I have vastly more speed, but my bandwidth is not unlimited and I have to share it with the wife and her streaming. So, my idea of building a local mirror again.

I can order the entire repository on a flash drive for about 50 bucks and it is super fast for loading of both system and programs. But, over time libraries get out of date and apt-getting starts failing because of a missing updated library.

I can build a mirror by download, just like before, and those instructions are not much different than in way back times. Unfortunately, it would take just about the entire month of Internet data allowance to do so.

But...

I would like to set up the precursor mirror with this purchased repository flash drive, thus saving hundreds of gigs of downloads. Then, on need, just update the changes. For whatever reason, I am not seeing the forest for the trees and have yet to make it work, either corrupting the dataset or getting identical copies side by side. And often other results of a spectacular nature.

Anybody done this? Or got a pointer to a site or manual for such?

 

[KGIII]

That makes me curious...

Exactly how many different devices (running that same OS) would you have to own to justify downloading the entire repos?

I have a buddy who will drive 50 miles to save $0.02 per gallon. In his imagination, he's saving money. (He isn't. He's using more gas than it'd take to make up the difference.)

 

[CptKrf]

Well, I already have the entire repos. Just want to keep it up to date without purchasing a new flash drive every few months or, as I said, overrunning our bandwidth limits. As to the need, I do a lot of base installs for various (mostly) youngsters at the school. And as for myself, I do a lot of experimenting (on standalone systems, not this one) and afterwards, it is easier to just format and reload than try to undo back to a steady state. And I have a lifetime's worth of old PC's that need work. Or at least, an OS.

 

[Fanboi]

Just chiming in, mainly coz I wanna watch where this goes (having limited bandwidth on/off myself). I will say this much:
1. Jigdo. I think they still offer this option.
2. You could just use rsync.

 

[KGIII]

Just want to keep it up to date without purchasing a new flash drive every few months or, as I said, overrunning our bandwidth limits.

That sounds idyllic but I'd do the math first to ensure you're legitimately saving bandwidth. You'd be downloading a lot of data (as you know) and most of that data isn't even going to apply to your systems.

Is there enough meat on the bone for that in your current situation?

(If I remembered how to do this, I'd share that information. Basically, you find the download - or maybe it was a terminal command - and you'd then point your update setting, adding it as a repo, and just use that. I have done this in the past with an Debian-based system but that was years ago and mostly out of curiosity and a desire to understand.)

 

[CptKrf]

That sounds idyllic but I'd do the math first to ensure you're legitimately saving bandwidth. You'd be downloading a lot of data (as you know) and most of that data isn't even going to apply to your systems.

Is there enough meat on the bone for that in your current situation?

(If I remembered how to do this, I'd share that information. Basically, you find the download - or maybe it was a terminal command - and you'd then point your update setting, adding it as a repo, and just use that. I have done this in the past with an Debian-based system but that was years ago and mostly out of curiosity and a desire to understand.)

Well, I only need the AMD64 version, and as I said, I have the entire distro already on a server. All I need is the updates for that CPU family. I wouldn't bother, except that the purchased repro quickly becomes useless as programs are updated.

On my main programming desktop, that doesn't matter. It can't see the Internet, so nothing changes until a full update for Debian comes out. Besides, once it is set up, I almost never apt-get or dpkg anything else - my programming needs are set in stone and have been for years.

But, on other machines as I described above, changes are often as new stuff is tried.

 

[KGIII]

On my main programming desktop, that doesn't matter.

That's an unusual decision - one I've never heard of. Is the reason 'stability'? Else, if you don't mind, why do you do that?

 

[CptKrf]

That's an unusual decision - one I've never heard of. Is the reason 'stability'? Else, if you don't mind, why do you do that?

I program (now) in only three languages. 8080 assembler, C and Perl and I am too old to learn another, and since my coding is strictly for a enjoyment now, I have no reason to branch out. I use an old Apple Cheesegrater that is solid as a rock with Debian, 12 cores of Xeon and plenty of horsepower even in this day and age, and has all of the programs that I need. The only new utility that I have loaded in the last few years is the Codium editor and it is not in the Debian repositories. I downloaded it elsewhere, then put it on the Mac via flash drive.

Every thing I code runs locally and since I have no need for that machine to hit the 'Net, it needs no security updates. All of the compilers and utilities are tried and proven, even if way down in the update column, so why update them with new code that probably does nothing that I will use and may have new bugs? The machine sits by itself and only sees the outside world via flash drive.

That being said, any machine that I have connected to the 'Net is always at the latest updates and I never download anything without lots of research - at least not on any box that I care about.

Except for the Altair. I don't lose much sleep with it connected to the outside network (via another PC, of course.) It would be hard to fit IP drivers in 64k.