[GRLUG] One HUGE software repository

[George (Skip) VerDuin]

Thanks Jeff!

On Tue, 2008-02-26 at 23:14 -0500, Jeff DeFouw wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 26, 2008 at 10:45:58PM -0500, George (Skip) VerDuin wrote:
> >>SNIP<<
>  Mirroring all of that is going to waste a lot of time and space, 
> or require a very complex exclusion list (again, time).
Yup - I knew that going into this exercise.  What I missed is that the
"exclusion" specs themselves are perhaps not really all that straight
forward to create.  Or conversely -- that there is this large mass of
software that does not get loaded for the standard pre-configured
selections.

> 
> I recommend using an automatic package cache program such as apt-cacher 
> or apt-proxy.  Just point your installers at one of those programs, and 
> the software will take care of storing local copies of only the packages 
> you've been using.  I know one of them also has offline functions.
Now this is slick and new to my experience.  It is probably the best fit
for what I want to do if it allows some variation from load-to-load.  I
will get into the detail of this approach quite soon.  Sounds a little
like specialized squid proxy in theory?  Where did I have my head before
tonight?  Thanks again.

Warmest regards from here,
George