On Fri 03 Jan 2020 at 14:22:46 (-0600), Richard Owlett wrote: > On 01/03/2020 10:51 AM, David Wright wrote: > > On Fri 03 Jan 2020 at 10:30:24 (-0600), Richard Owlett wrote: > > > I have a large hard disk but a low data cap on my internet connection. > > > > > > I have all the distribution DVDs stored as *.ISO files in a single > > > directory on my hard disk. > > > > > > It would *SEEM* to be logical to use the "file option" of sources.list . > > > HOWEVER, all I've ever seen is the kludge of individually loop > > > mounting all the ISO files. > > > > > > Is that my only option? > > > TIA > > > > Is this a rerun of the thread > > https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2019/05/msg01463.html > > https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2019/06/msg00040.html > > https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2019/06/msg00042.html > > > > Overly simplistic answer: No > Better answer: > No. That thread had a different starting point and a different goal. > However, when viewed as multidimensional surfaces, they intersect.
Well the starting point appears to be ISOs stored on hard drives rather than on the original DVDs, and the goal appears to be installing packages, and perhaps systems, from them using the usual Debian tools like apt and synaptic. Perhaps you could point out the differences. My suggestion obviously remains the same, which is to feed the debs to apt-cacher-ng for it to sort out into a repository, and install packages from there. For installing packages, the client and server can be the same machine, but obviously not when you're installing systems, which, on past form, you intend to do. apt-cacher-ng should be able to meld not only multiple DVDs from the same Debian release, but also cope with a number of releases, though I would always recommend that apt-cacher-ng be run on a release no older than those it's caching for. It usually works (my wheezy one served wheezy, jessie and stretch systems), but can get tripped up occasionally by things like new compression formats. Despite the many threads in this place that concern how you might connect two of your machines to form a network, I have no idea whether you ever achieved this feat, but it would be required for performing installing systems. > Brian pointed to https://wiki.debian.org/ManipulatingISOs . > Section 4. "Loopmount an ISO Without Administrative Privileges" may > hint at a solution to my *current* problem. > > I'll have to re-read some posts in thread you referenced. I was under the impression that the appropriate line in sources.list had been revealed by Brian during a series of soliloquies in the thread referred to above. But again, that might work with installing packages rather than systems. (Both threads only said "*using* ISO images as repositories".) > Part of the problem revolves around how Linux is documented. Although > I've flunked a number of college composition courses over last > decades, I do recall a dictum "Who is your audience?" I presume that's some sort of veiled criticism of the fact that the Debian and linux documentation doesn't in general address your specific and unusual problems. There do exist *books*, and I've previously posted links for free downloads of older editions of some of them. Cheers, David.
