[TriLUG] Any debian folks using apt-cacher?

[Dane Miller]

Rick DeNatale wrote:
> I was perusing the available packages in Synaptic on one of my Ubuntu
> systems and ran across apt-cacher, it looks like it's a proxy apt
> repository which can be set up on a lan to cache deb files on a
> lan-wide basis.  It seems like it might be just the ticket for
> something I was thinking about yesterday as I was updating packages on
> my laptop and workstation at the same time.
> 
> Does anyone have any experience with this, or equivalent packages?


Yep.  I'm using it on Debian Sarge, caching .debs for 50 Ubuntu and
Debian boxes.  Overall, it works fine and is very easy to set up.  

A couple of things to watch out for:

(1) Beware using apt-cacher to serve multiple distros like I do.
Occasionally there are package filename collisions that cause trouble.
In these cases apt-cacher will serve up the file it cached from one
distro, the file's checksum will fail on a client from the other distro,
and the client will have no way to request that apt-cacher re-download
the proper version of the package.

Since I'm a one-man IT department, the fix on these occasions is simple
enough: ssh into the apt-cacher server and rm the offending package
from /var/cache/apt-cacher/packages.  However, this could be a PITA for
environments with different admins for the apt-cacher clients and
apt-cacher servers.

(2) Set 'MaxClients' in Apache2 to a number high enough to support all
your apt-cacher clients.  I use pkgsync on the clients, and as a result
they all contact the apt-cacher server at the same time.


Dane


-- 
Dane Miller
Technology Coordinator
Olney Friends School
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