On Mon 20 Mar 2017 at 23:03:29 (+0000), Brian wrote: > On Sun 19 Mar 2017 at 23:25:47 -0500, David Wright wrote: > > > On Sun 19 Mar 2017 at 08:50:55 (-0500), Richard Owlett wrote: > > > On 03/19/2017 08:08 AM, David Wright wrote: > > > >[snip ;] > > > > > > > >How's the other research coming along? > > > >Did you see if there were files whose timestamps change? > > > >Did you see whether you can find the files which are apparently > > > >indexed in /var/lib/apt/cdroms.list? > > > >And if/when you find them, what are you going to use them for, > > > >in view of your new philosophy of working from the DVDs anyway? > > > > > > It's not new. People just assumed that I would do things a certain > > > way because that would be the way they would do it. > > > I put effort into asking narrowly focused questions. > > > > And I put effort into answering it as best I could. > > The first answer to the thread may well be correct, but > > you don't appear to have looked to see if it was correct. > > The question asked is clear enough. The responses are muddy. I do not > think there is an agenda [1] here.
Perhaps you can bring some clarity to the situation. I have merely tried to suggest some places to look for information written by synaptic, by analogy with apt-cdrom's behaviour. > > ...where is the data about contents of each DVD stored? > > > I suggested /var/lib as another possibility, partly because > > I think it would be easier to eliminate. All the files in > > my /var/lib/apt are plain text, so it would be hard to hide > > the information from scanned CDs. > > It isn't hidden. Good. > > OTOH /var/cache/apt contains a couple of .bin files which > > have package names in them. Not having CDs to scan, I can't > > test the file timestamp idea. If they changed, it would > > suggest Jonathan was correct, but be trickier to prove. > > Hence checking, and possibly eliminating, /var/lib. > > Also there's the point that those .bin files may contain more > > than just some CD indexes, so sharing them between different > > systems would be high-risk. > > I dug out my trusty set of Slink CDs [2] and popped CD1 into the cdrom > drive. Mine could still be hanging from threads in the vegetable plot, scaring the birds. Too many oceans in between for me to check. > root@gnome-stable:~# apt-cdrom ident > Using CD-ROM mount point /media/cdrom/ > Mounting CD-ROM... > Identifying... [312b07c10c39c9ce1e89be115088d562-2] > Stored label: Debian GNU/Linux slink (2.1) 1/4 main binary-i386 section 1 > SAM19990617 > Unmounting CD-ROM... > > root@gnome-stable:~# apt-cdrom add > Using CD-ROM mount point /media/cdrom/ > Unmounting CD-ROM... > Waiting for disc... > Please insert a Disc in the drive and press enter > Mounting CD-ROM... > Identifying... [312b07c10c39c9ce1e89be115088d562-2] > Scanning disc for index files... > Found 4 package indexes, 0 source indexes, 0 translation indexes and 0 > signatures > This disc is called: > 'Debian GNU/Linux slink (2.1) 1/4 main binary-i386 section 1 SAM19990617' > Reading Package Indexes... Done > Writing new source list > Source list entries for this disc are: > deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux slink (2.1) 1/4 main binary-i386 section 1 > SAM19990617]/ slink contrib main non-US non-free > Unmounting CD-ROM... > Repeat this process for the rest of the CDs in your set. > > A portion of the output: > > root@gnome-stable:~# ls -l /var/lib/apt/lists > -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 873670 Mar 20 22:30 > Debian%20GNU_Linux%20slink%20(2.1)%201_4%20main%20binary-i386%20section%201%20SAM19990617_dists_slink_main_binary-i386_Packages > > There we are - a complete answer to the question and a completely > satisfied customer. :) I hope so. But I read "Just copying /etc/apt/sources.list and /var/lib/apt/lists is not enough" written by the OP in https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2017/02/msg00518.html I reminded the OP of the mention of /var/lib/apt/cdroms.list quoted in that email, acknowledged on 12 Feb in https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2017/02/msg00537.html but the question has been raised again. Whether synaptic does something itself that goes beyond what is done by apt-cdrom, I do not know; nor where to find that out. Hence the suggestion to carry out experiments, which the OP might enjoy for the experience. Obviously the OP wants to be able to find a set of files on one system which, when transferred to another system, will tell the latter everything that the former knows about a set of CDs, in order that they don't have to be rescanned on the latter system. I don't think your demonstration here has shown that those files _are_ sufficient, even if you were correct in thinking they are. Cheers, David.
