On 2017-03-24, David Wright <deb...@lionunicorn.co.uk> wrote: > > Good point. I noticed that the two .bin files in /var/cache/apt/ that > https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2017/03/msg00722.html > mentioned, come and go with apt-get update and clean respectively. > I had overlooked how ephemeral they are. They're built from scratch at > the "Reading package lists... Done" line after the Fetched line.
> If your only sources are the DVDs then I can't see a problem with just > adding those files (or whatever the names are of any files that > appear—they could differ with apt-cdrom) to your list of files you > (OP) share between systems. It's tricky to check what's actually > in them as they're binary databases (what I called "hidden" > information previously). > Actually, srcpkgcache.bin includes the information contained in the files in /var/lib/apt/lists; that is, all the info you obtain from the internet via your deb and deb-src lines -- this information changes only on apt-get update. pkgcache.bin caches the information in srcpkgcache.bin + the information extracted from the apt and dpkg status files. This info changes on every install/remove done by apt or directly by dpkg. The above scandalously pilfered from David Kalnischkies here: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=566275 You can run 'strings' on pkgcache.bin BTW. curty@einstein:/var/cache/apt$ strings pkgcache.bin | less Standard .deb amd64 /var/lib/apt/lists/httpredir.debian.org_debian_dists_wheezy_main_binary-amd64_Packages httpredir.debian.org Debian Package Index 0~r11863-2 games 0ad-data 0~r11863 0~r11863-2 gamin libboost-signals1.49.0 1.49.0-1 libc6 2.11 libcurl3-gnutls <etc> It doesn't appear that tricky.
