apt repo stopped working :-(

[jnojr]

Debian 8 Jessie. I copied all of the .deb files from the DVDs to /mnt/repo/dists/jessie/main/binary-amd64/ Got apache working, and in sources.list:

deb http://127.0.0.1/ jessie main

This worked fine last week. Today, I tried to install a package and got

W: Conflicting distribution: http://127.0.0.1 jessie Release (expected jessie but got )

I'm new to debian and apt and have no idea what this means. Google isn't helping, tons of people get this and say ignore it, or I uninstalled some package, or ???

[bigrigdriver]

Have you run apt-get update since you copied the .debs from the DVDs? If yes, then I suspect that your local repository is now out of synch with the main Debian repository. Packages there have been updated, but the packages you have in your local repo have not been updated. Your local package list doesn't match the current package list (which would include information on the upgrade status of packages, including their respective new md5sums).

Here is a link to the Debian Wiki on how to mirror the Debian repo and keep it current.
https://wiki.debian.org/HowToSetupADebianRepository

[jnojr]

Have you run apt-get update since you copied the .debs from the DVDs?

Yes. It worked the previous week, something apparently changed since then, and it doesn't work now.

If yes, then I suspect that your local repository is now out of synch with the main Debian repository

This machine has no access to the Internet, and so could not possibly know if anything had changed.

Here is a link to the Debian Wiki on how to mirror the Debian repo and keep it current.
https://wiki.debian.org/HowToSetupADebianRepository

Thanks, but that page doesn't really help. Listing a bunch of different tools that require databases and different languages and more packages is probably useful for someone who knows about this stuff and wants to do something really neat, but all I want is a very simple repo with the contents of the DVDs. That's it. And I had it for a little while.

Right now, all I want is what's the simplest possible solution. That error message doesn't tell me what's wrong. I don't know enough about Debian or apt to know how to figure out what it's unhappy about, or why this worked fine last week and then stopped working with no input from me.

[GarryRicketson]

jnojr: I don't know enough about Debian or apt to know how to figure out what it's unhappy about, or why this worked fine last week and then stopped working with no input from me.

Sounds like this would be a good time to start learning.
https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debi ... 01.en.html
Your system logs is where to look, to see what changed, look through them.

I copied all of the .deb files from the DVDs to /mnt/repo/dists/jessie/main/binary-amd64/

Here you say, you copied the .deb files to: /mnt/repo/dists/jessie/main/binary-amd64/
But here you show,

Code: Select all

deb http://127.0.0.1/ jessie main 

As being the url and path your sources.list is looking for, ? Exactly, where are the .deb files you are trying to use, ? If you want to do it that way, and using a "local host", then they need to be in the /www/ dir, or somewhere where they can be found,
using the local host.

es. It worked the previous week, something apparently changed since then, and it doesn't work now.

I don't "buy" "the something changed by itself" line, either there is something
you are not telling us, or you did something, you may not be aware of what you did, but anyway,
that is what the system logs are for, they will show you what changes were made, and when.
Are you sure you "localhost" is even working ? Using your browser, type in; localhost ,hit enter does it connect ? What does it say ?

[GarryRicketson]

This might help you
http://www.linuxwave.info/2009/04/addin ... o-apt.html
It is hard for me to explain, but to start, there is no reason to be using a "localhost" , apache server, and all that.
Based on the very little info you have shared, your sources.list should have something like
this in it.

Code: Select all

deb file:///mnt/repo/dists/jessie/main/binary-amd64/foofilename 

It would simplify things, if you just put the packages in a sub-directory in your /home/
Example:

Code: Select all

deb file:///home/foo/debs / 

It doesn't matter, just make sure the packages are in the same /dir/path/files that you point the
apt-get application too, from the sources.list file,IE: deb file:///dir/path/files
It really is so simple, but trying to explain , makes it seem complicated.

[millpond]

As far as I know, updating a mirror does not affect Packages.gz

dpkg-scanpackages will probably need to be run at each update, or added to an update script.
(At least this true with debpartial-mirror)

APT is incapable of knowing of any changed files. It pulls all info from the ,gz file and will hiccup badly if those files do not match what is on the drive.