Ubuntu Manpage: apt-offline - Offline APT Package manager

NAME

       apt-offline - Offline APT Package manager

SYNOPSIS

       apt-offline [ARGUMENTS] [OPTIONS]

DESCRIPTION

apt-offline brings offline package management functionality to Debian based system. It
can be used to download packages and its dependencies to be installed later on (or
required to update) a disconnected machine. Packages can be downloaded from a different
connected machine.

It can also fetch bug reports for the packages that are downloaded.

Unless the -h/-v or --help/--version options are given, one of the get, set or install
commands must be provided.

set FILENAME [-h] [--install-packages PKG...PKG_N] [--install-src-packages PKG...PKG_N] --src-
build-dep [--release release_name] [--update] [--upgrade] [--upgrade-type upgrade]
set generates a signature file with the data required to install on or update the
disconnected machine.

FILENAME {apt-offline.sig} is the signature file generated on the machine. This file will
contain all the information necessary for apt.

--install-packages [PKG...PKG_N]
Packages that need to be installed

--install-src-packages [PKG...PKG_N]
Source packages that need to be installed

--src-build-dep
Download Build Dependency packages for the source packages requested

--release release_name
Release target to install packages from

--update Generate APT Database signature for an update. This is the equivalent of using
apt-get update

--upgrade Generate APT Database signature for package upgrade. This is the equivalent of
using apt-get upgrade

--upgrade-type {upgrade_type}
Type of upgrade you would like to perform. Default is upgrade . Other valid
types are dist-upgrade and dselect-upgrade

get FILENAME [-h] [--socket-timeout ] [-d / --download-dir] [-s / --cache-dir] [--no-checksum]
[-t / --threads ] [--bundle] [--bug-reports] [--proxy-host] [--proxy-port]
get downloads APT data as per a signature file.

FILENAME {apt-offline.sig} is the signature file required for details about data to be
downloaded. This file should have been generated by the above set command.

-d, --download-dir DIR_NAME
Download data to the specified DIR_NAME folder. If no folder name is specified,
data is downloaded to a folder in the TEMPDIR path in the format apt-offline-
download-$PID

-s, --cache-dir DIR_NAME
Look for data in the cache before downloading it from the internet. If you are
on a Debian box, you would want to specify /var/cache/apt/archives here. If the
data is not available in the cache, the downloaded data is also copied to the
cache.

--no-checksum
Enabling this option will bypass the checksum verification of each downloaded
file thus losing integrity of the package. Usage of this option is highly
discouraged

-t, --threads NUM_OF_THREADS
Number of threads to spawn for downloads. Default is 1. Using too many threads
can overload the servers, hence it is advisable to keep the number low

--bundle FILENAME
Create an archive file FILENAME. The file is archived in zip format

--bug-reports
Download bug reports for packages that are being downloaded. Currently only the
Debian BTS is supported.

--proxy-host
Specify the Proxy Host to be used.

--proxy-port
Specify the Proxy port number to be used.

install FILE/FOLDER [-h] [--skip-bug-reports ] [--install-src-path PATH] [--allow-
unauthenticated]
install installs APT data to the APT package database and updates it.

FILE {archive_bundle_file} Install data from the archive (bundle) file.

FOLDER {/folder/path} Install data from the folder path.

Either FILE or FOLDER argument can be provided to the install command.

--skip-bug-reports
Skip listing of downloaded bug reports, if any.

--allow-unauthenticated
Don't verify GPG signatures for the data to be installed to APT. Usage of this
option is highly discouraged.

--install-src-path PATH
Path to filesystem where we want the source packages to be installed to. Default
will be a folder in your TEMPDIR.

GLOBAL OPTIONS

       -h, --help
              Show help message

       --verbose
              Run in verbose mode

       --test-windows
              Developer only. Used for testing on windows

       -v, --version
              Display the version of the program

EXAMPLES

       NOTE: argument/option handling
              apt-offline  relies on argparse for argument/option parsing. To explicitly instruct
              apt-offline about an argument, you can pass it with the -- delimiter.

              Ex. apt-offline set --update --upgrade --install-packages wm2 -- foo.sig

              By specifying the -- delimiter, we instruct apt-offline that foo.sig is an argument
              to the apt-offline command and not to the --install-packages option.

              Otherwise, you could also use it positionally next to the set command

              Ex. apt-offline set foo.sig --update --upgrade --install-packages wm2

       apt-offline set FILENAME
              This  command will generate a signature file FILENAME for APT Package Database.  To
              generate only the signature for updates, use the --update option.  To generate only
              the  signature  for  package  upgrades, use the --upgrade option.  Default behavior
              when no options are specified is to generate a signature for both the operations.

       apt-offline get FILENAME
              This command will fetch the data required for  APT  Package  Database  as  per  the
              signature file FILENAME generated by apt-offline get.  To download bug reports also
              use the --bug-reports option.  Currently supported bug tracker is Debian BTS  only.
              By  default,  if  neither  of  -d  or  --bundle  options are specified, apt-offline
              downloads data into a folder inside the TEMPDIR environment folder  in  the  format
              apt-offline-downloads-PID, where PID is the PID of the running apt-offline process.
              Example  on  a  linux  machine   would   be   something   like:   /tmp/apt-offline-
              downloads-23242/

       apt-offline install FILE|FOLDER
              This  command  will  sync the data downloaded by apt-offline get to the APT Package
              Database and update it.  Depending on where the data was downloaded  to  or  packed
              into, either the absolute FOLDER path or the archive FILE path can be specified.

       The  following sequence of commands will keep a machine up to date, with the package lists
       one step ahead of the upgrade:
              apt-offline set foo.sig --upgrade --update Requests the packages needed to  upgrade
              the  machine,  based  on  the current package lists. Also, requests the new package
              lists for the next update.

              apt-offline get foo.sig -d FOLDER Downloads the packages for upgrading the machine,
              along with the package lists for the next time apt-offline set --upgrade is run.

              apt-offline  install FOLDER/FILE Positions the packages for the upgrade, along with
              new the package lists.

              apt-get upgrade Upgrades to the state of the earlier package lists.

              NOTE: On a freshly installed box, that  was  installed  without  the  network,  the
              package database is null. In that case, you first need to run apt-offline with just
              the --update option to ensure you have a meaningful package database

AUTHOR

       apt-offline is written by Ritesh Raj Sarraf (rrs@researchut.com)

       If   you   wish   to   report   a   bug   in   apt-offline,   please    see    http://apt-
       offline.alioth.debian.org or send an email to me at rrs@researchut.com

DEDICATION

       This  software is dedicated to the memory of my father Santosh Kumar Sarraf. We miss you a
       lot.