Don't know if this is any help but this is what I use for a local HTTP repository for a network of workstations, where $DOCROOT is the web server DocumentRoot.
All package and source files go in $DOCROOT/debian/dists/woody/main/binary-i386 along with the following Makefile (sorry for long lines):
---------- all: Packages.gz Sources.gz
DIST = woody SECTION = main
Packages.gz: cd ../.. ;\ dpkg-scanpackages $(SECTION)/binary-i386 overrides.txt dists/$(DIST)/ | gzip -9c > $(SECTION)/binary-i386/Packages.gz
Sources.gz: cd ../.. ;\ dpkg-scansources $(SECTION)/binary-i386 overrides.txt dists/$(DIST)/ | gzip -9c > $(SECTION)/source/Sources.gz
.PHONY: clean Packages.gz Sources.gz
clean: -rm -f Packages.gz ../source/Sources.gz ----------
the clients have the following in /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://server/debain woody main deb-src http://server/debian woody main
Whether it is possible to do the equivalent of a file:// source I don't know, but hopefully the above may nudge you a little closer.
Mal
On Thu, Mar 20, 2003 at 10:38:35PM +0000, Paul wrote:
After trawling though the man pages for apt, apt-get, apt.conf and synaptic, I can't see how to set the system up to use a local repository. Searched the alug archives for an answer to no avail.. The packages need to be on a hard drive so that I can mess around on a box that doesn't have internet access... So two questions for the apt-experts..
What do I need to add to /etc/apt/apt.conf or *.lists to get Synaptic to use a local directory ?
Do I need to auto-generate a package list to resolve dependency problems, or does apt do this without prompting ?
Regards, Paul.