Setting up new Arch repo with old package backup?

DeltaXFX · 2008-06-26 22:43:52

I love Arch and want to give something back. I can't program and don't have any luck finding questions on the forum that I know how to answer So I thought maybe I could set up an Arch repo. I looked around for a HOWTO on doing this but couldn't find anything. How do all the repo's get their packages from the main Arch repo?

As of late I have been working with dav7 to set up an old package repo. More like a place to download old packages at http://schlunix.org/arch-linux/i686/ he supplied all the packages. There are a lot of them there but obviously it is only as complete as the packages he uses.

So... 1, how would I got about setting up a repo? And 2, is there any kind of nifty script I could use to instead of deleting obsolete packages, just move them to an "old" folder so people could search it if they needed an old package?

Thanks!

Last edited by DeltaXFX (2008-06-26 22:45:36)

iphitus · 2008-06-26 22:53:59

To get a complete backup, you could rsync, but not delete anything.

Stythys · 2008-06-26 23:13:30

give the forum a search for pkgman...it's a really awesome bash script created by DonVla which automates the creation and maintenance of your own repo

Dusty · 2008-06-27 02:28:51

This link should help:

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Cus … repository

DeltaXFX · 2008-06-27 16:45:09

Ok, thanks all.
I'll have to read up more on rsync. If I can use it to make the mirror and not delete any packages that would probably be good enough... but would that work for people using pacman with my server then?
I want to have a package mirror that anyone can go to for updates.
I remember this post from when it first started http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=31113 about throttling the archlinux.org server. That is the server I would rsync from if I wanted to mirror the repo though, right? That would give me the most up to date, but is that allowed?
And I'm looking at the link Dusty posted, would I have to run this "repo-add" command after every time I rsynced?

brynjolf · 2008-06-27 19:27:23

A small suggestion would be to only keep the last package for smaller more obscure and somehow do a check for which files are download the most and then keep those packages with more "revisions". That is if you don't have the bandwidth and-or not the space, if you do, please keep a "real backup" mirror. It is indeed a great way to give back to the community, leaving me in envy

DeltaXFX · 2008-06-27 19:44:52

Thats what I'm trying to do, make and keep a real backup mirror for the benefit of all Archers. My hosting account has 550GB space (grows 2GB/week) and 6TB monthly bandwidth (grows 40GB per week). I don't know if that will be enough... but I would imagine that would hold quite a few packages.
I was checking out rsync, and when I do "rsync archlinux.org::" it does say that only authorized mirrors are allowed to access it. So right now I'm looking for another mirror that will let me use rsync. But in the meantime who would I talk to to find out if it would be possible/helpful to the community/worthwhile to become an official mirror vs just syncing off a mirror that syncs off of archlinux.org?
Also, assuming I get this all working, how do I update the packages.txt file? Would I just use the one that I would get by rsync'ing off of whatever server I end up using? Trying to figure out what the easiest way to keep all the old packages would be. If I do what iphitus suggested and just not delete the old packages but leave them in the same directories as the current packages will that cause any problems (as far as people being able to do a "pacman -Syu" to my server)?

DeltaXFX · 2008-06-27 23:35:46

Ok, I think I've got it!
I rsync'ed with unixheads.org. And was able to do a pacman -Syu then from my server. If anyone wants to give it a shot, the mirror list line would be:
Server = http://www.schlunix.org/archlinux/$repo/os/i686
or x86_64 of course.
Now I am going to try to never delete a package, ever! So if you need an older version, feel free to stop by.

RedShift · 2008-06-29 11:56:56

Instead of reverting to old packages, more people should run testing and test out unstable software + report bugs upstream. Because most "arch bugs" are upstream bugs.

DeltaXFX · 2008-07-01 16:43:09

I don't think I'm the only one, but I don't like to run testing on the computers I use all the time. My work laptop for example, I don't want to "risk" downtime with testing or unstable packages. Even just using core and extra sometimes I have to roll back a package just to get my system working again, then I check the forums and bug tracker to see if the problem has been reported.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-06-26 22:43:52

Setting up new Arch repo with old package backup?

#2 2008-06-26 22:53:59

Re: Setting up new Arch repo with old package backup?

#3 2008-06-26 23:13:30

Re: Setting up new Arch repo with old package backup?

#4 2008-06-27 02:28:51

Re: Setting up new Arch repo with old package backup?

#5 2008-06-27 16:45:09

Re: Setting up new Arch repo with old package backup?

#6 2008-06-27 19:27:23

Re: Setting up new Arch repo with old package backup?

#7 2008-06-27 19:44:52

Re: Setting up new Arch repo with old package backup?

#8 2008-06-27 23:35:46

Re: Setting up new Arch repo with old package backup?

#9 2008-06-29 11:56:56

Re: Setting up new Arch repo with old package backup?

#10 2008-07-01 16:43:09

Re: Setting up new Arch repo with old package backup?

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