Putting Debian Packages onto CD

[mike_w]

Is it possible to put some Debian packages (of your choice) onto CD, so that you don't have to get it all from the internet when you reinstall?

Thanks (and sorry for all the Linux questions!)

Mike

[ikonia]

yes, just copy the deb packages on to a cd and burn in?

[directhex]

there are proper ways of doing it, but i can't remember them.

you can stick files onto a cd (when you apt-get install, backups are kept in /var/cache/apt/archives), but if you re-inject those files on a new pc, and a 100mb update has occured between when you got the files and now, then you have a whole lot of re-downloading to do anyway

'stable' debian releases you can just use the full CD set, but sarge isn't stable yet & i can't recommend woody

[ikonia]

ahh sorry, you mean use apt-get to install them as though its on web.

you create an archive on the cd rom with the same format as the website, and then there is a flag in apt-get which says use local instead of remote.

[mike_w]

there are proper ways of doing it, but i can't remember them.

you can stick files onto a cd (when you apt-get install, backups are kept in /var/cache/apt/archives), but if you re-inject those files on a new pc, and a 100mb update has occured between when you got the files and now, then you have a whole lot of re-downloading to do anyway

'stable' debian releases you can just use the full CD set, but sarge isn't stable yet & i can't recommend woody

So, if I were to reinstall and copy the files from /var/cache/apt/archives, it would pick it up and install it from the hard drive?

[directhex]

yes, as long as there aren't newer versions on the net