How to Upgrade or Install Packages on Boxes without a Fast Internet Connection September 22, 2005
Posted by Carthik in administration, applications, guides, ubuntu.trackback
This will be of interest to those of you who want to upgrade, or install new packages on systems which are not connected to a fast enough internet connection, using another machine, which is connected to the internet through a better connection.
In other words – imagine you have:
- a computer running Ubuntu, but which is not connected to the internet, or is connected to the internet using a dial-up connection.
- access to a Ubuntu system that is connected to the internet using a high speed connection, say a machine on a lan at work
- a removable storage medium, like a zip drive, or a high-capacity usb drive
You can then upgrade the computer with the slow internet connection using apt-zip :
Update a non-networked computer using apt and removable media
These scripts simplify the process of using dselect and apt on a non-networked Debian box, using removable media like ZIP floppies. One generates a `fetch’ script (supporting backends such as wget and lftp, in a modular, extensible way) to be run on a host with better connectivity, check space constraints of your removable media, and then install the package on your Debian box.
Note on current version: space-checking is not done and spanning multiple disks is not yet supported.
More detailed instructions are available at this apt-zip howto.
Ubuntu Blog 
hi,
If the computer connected to the Internet is a Windows XP machine, will this work? Is there a program in XP (like FileZilla) that can download the required packages?
Can the thumb drive be FAT filesystem?
Yes, as long as the drive is mountable you can use VFAT (so obviously compile it in).
It would be possible to run wget in cygwin (sort of) but it may be easier to just download the files manually and dump them in a tarball, or to run the script from a livecd (eg Knoppix).
[…] Earlier, I had written about using apt-zip to upgrade computers on slow internet connections by using a faster machine to do the downloads. However, since that involves understanding how apt-zip works, and a small learning curve, here is a hack that should work pretty well, in spite of it’s hackish nature. […]
[…] Earlier, I had written about using apt-zip to upgrade computers on slow internet connections by using a faster machine to do the downloads. However, since that involves understanding how apt-zip works, and a small learning curve, here is a hack that should work pretty well, in spite of it’s hackish nature. […]
Or a different approach would be to copy the /apt/var/cache from the net enabled computer to the computer which requires the programs, considering that the programs have been installed in the net enabled one.
Let apt-medium handle your offline update/install medium.
http://wiki.debian.org/AptMedium
If you want to install xxx_version_arch.deb on a machine(A) with slow connection :
on A do this:
apt-get –print-uris -y install xxx | grep “^'” | gawk ‘{ print $1 }’ | sed “s/’//g” > packages.lst
take text file packages.lst to machine with fast connection and run:
wget -i packages.lst [ -P DIRECTORY_TO_SAVE_FILES ]
thers is one wget.exe file for windows wich can be find in Internet.
Now you have all the files you need.
On a machine A copy these files to /var/cache/apt/archives/ and run apt-get install xxx
To upgrade the whole system, apt-get –print-uris -y dist-upgrade | grep “^'” | gawk ‘{ print $1 }’ | sed “s/’//g” > packages.lst
I have winxp in my computer that connected to a fast internet conection. can I download all updates in a package?
How update the packages database in offline mode
# “aptitude update” (offline repositories update):
Go to the computer without internet connection:
cat /etc/apt/sources.list
We can view here:
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper main restricted
Go to the computer with internet connection and download:
mkdir -p dapper/main
mkdir -p dapper/restricted
cd dapper/main
wget -c http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/dapper/main/binary-i386/Packages.bz2
bunzip Packages.bz2
cd ../..
cd dapper/restricted
wget -c http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/dapper/restricted/binary-i386/Packages.bz2
bunzip Packages.bz2
cd ../..
mv dapper/main/Packages archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_dapper_main_binary-i386_Packages
mv dapper/restricted/Packages archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_dapper_restricted_binary-i386_Packages
#Go back to the computer without internet connection:
mv *Packages /var/lib/apt/lists/
#Ok, now we have two file with databases of repositories.
/var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_dapper_main_binary-i386_Packages
/var/lib/apt/lists/archive.ubuntu.com_ubuntu_dists_dapper_restricted_binary-i386_Packages
You maked “aptitude update” in offline mode.
does anybody knows how to make this on Debian 4 “etch” ?
I think is the same method make all offline:
You need
1) configure /etc/apt/sources.list ,
2) make “aptitude update” offline for update packages databases.
3) With apt-get –print-uris -y install xxx see what packages you need to download.
4) download packages with wget
5) Copy and install these downloaded packages.
How can i connect like 6 pcs in to mi w. router with a slow internet connection and few packages sent? Is there any hack to allow friends to be conected to the internet all at once and not having to disconect because the agency doesnt allow more than 2 pcs?
Learn to speak English and someone just might tell you.
If you are running Windows XP on the internet enabled computer, try wubdepends, it’s a portable .exe file that can be found on sourceforge. It even resolves dependencies for you!
Thats a good point Mitchell wubdepends works well and should solve any other problems.
Chk out these ideaz here…
Installing packages without an internet connection:
http://fasterthanlight.wordpress.com/2009/01/05/packgs-without-internet/
And installing packages using Live CD:
http://fasterthanlight.wordpress.com/2008/07/02/install-applications-from-live-cd/
hi,
If the computer connected to the Internet is a Windows XP machine, will this work? Is there a program in XP (like FileZilla) that can download the required packages?
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