Package: apt-cacher
Version: 1.5.3
Severity: wishlist
I couldn't figure out exactly how to use path_map or what it does from
the current man page and distributed apt.conf.
In particular, it sounded as if this would work
path_map = linux.csua.berkeley.edu/debian
linux.csua.berkeley.edu/debian
mirrors.usc.edu/pub/linux/distributions/debian
(all one line, with space separators) but it didn't seem to.
It may be useful to describe the substantive problem I'm trying to
solve. My usual mirror, at berkeley, is down. I'd like to switch to
another one while avoiding doing something that causes me to use a lot
more disk space or to download files I already have on my system
again. Because I'm not sure how apt would handle a change to
sources.list (i.e., if it would say "new server, I'll get
everything"), and because it would be easier to make the change in one
place anyway, I'm trying to solve this problem with apt-cacher. I was
using apt-cacher before this problem arose, so I already have a
vanilla setup. Finally, I'd like to be able to use the berkeley
mirror automatically when it comes back up.
Some more detailed comments about the current documentation follow.
First, it would be nice if the man page had a complete description of
the path_map option rather than a reference to a conf file (which the
user may have changed).
Second, I did not find the current comments in apt-cacher.conf to be
that helpful:
----------------------------------
# Server mapping - this allows to hide real server names behind virtual paths
# that appear in the access URL. This method is known from apt-proxy. This is
# also the only method to use FTP access to the target hosts. The
syntax is simple, the part of the beginning to replace, followed by a
list of mirror urls, all space separated. Multiple profile are
separated by semicolons
--------------------------------------
Not only may apt-proxy be unknown and uninstalled, but I couldn't find
anything that looked relevant in the current apt-proxy docs.
But the key problem is that the meaning of "virtual paths that appear
in the access URL" is unclear. Exactly which part of the path is the
virtual path? Can it be multi-part? How should the corresponding
sources.list entry be written?
Another side-issue is that the comment refers to ftp access, but since
only part of the path seems to be rewritten it's not clear how this
would work. And the comment just below in apt-cacher.conf says FTP
access is not supported, so those two comments seem in conflict.
Incidentally, the unclarity about the different path parts affects
other discussion in the man page, though I'm more confident of your
meaning in those other spots. For example...
"The only modification to each client computer is to prepend the
cache machine's address and script identifier to each HTTP
mirror in /etc/apt/sources.list (depending on the installation method
(see below)."
Exactly where in the existing string does that mean the text should be
added? Also, the script identifier is optional, and the parentheses
are unbalanced. Maybe "For clients, you must modify each line in
/etc/apt/sources.list by inserting the access to the apt-cache server
after the initial http://. The reference may include a machine name,
a port, or a cgi script invocation depending on the installation
method." Fortunately, the current example immediately following on
the man page makes this pretty clear.
Also unclear
"NOTE: For installations using a web server (CGI) the prefix should be
apt-cacher in daemon mode, the modifications of sources.list can be replaced
with a HTTP
proxy setting, see PROXY MODE USAGE below."
How can a prefix (which sounds like a string) be apt-cacher in daemon
mode (which sounds like a program)? Aren't CGI and daemon mode
alternatives anyway? The whole sentence is a run-on that is hard to
parse.
Finally, some discussion of the space implications of having multiple
servers in the path map would be useful (maybe more appropriate for
README.Debian). If you specify n servers do you risk multiplying your
disk useage (in either or both of apt and apt-cache) by roughly n? I
suspect you get extra Packages.gz files, for example, but not
duplicate .debs.
Thanks.
-- System Information:
Debian Release: testing/unstable
APT prefers testing
APT policy: (990, 'testing'), (990, 'stable'), (50, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.4.27advncdfs
Locale: LANG=en_US, LC_CTYPE=en_US (charmap=ISO-8859-1)
Versions of packages apt-cacher depends on:
ii bzip2 1.0.3-2 high-quality block-sorting file co
ii libwww-perl 5.805-1 WWW client/server library for Perl
ii perl 5.8.8-3 Larry Wall's Practical Extraction
apt-cacher recommends no packages.
-- no debconf information
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