Arch Linux

quizzelsnatch

Member

Registered: 2008-10-26

Posts: 5

manually download packages

I have a computer without access to the internet with arch linux installed, I would like to install some packages on it to watch DVDs, I know what packages I need, i just do not know how to download them. This must be really easy and I am searching for the wrong thing. Please help!

Ghost1227

Forum Fellow

From: Omaha, NE, USA

Registered: 2008-04-21

Posts: 1,422

Website

Re: manually download packages

check the PKGBUILD for the program you want to download. the source= tag should have the link you are looking for.

---

.:[My Blog] || [My GitHub]:.

finferflu

Forum Fellow

From: Manchester, UK

Registered: 2007-06-21

Posts: 1,899

Website

Re: manually download packages

I think this is what you are looking for.

---

Have you Syued today?
Free music for free people! | Earthlings

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." -- A. de Saint-Exupery

string

Member

Registered: 2008-11-03

Posts: 286

Re: manually download packages

[I'm too slow - What finferflu said ]

Last edited by string (2008-11-08 01:07:32)

Procyon

Member

Registered: 2008-05-07

Posts: 1,819

Re: manually download packages

If you already have a list maybe it's easier to visit your favorite mirror, download all the .pkg.tar.gz and pacman -U them.

Xyne

Administrator/PM

Registered: 2008-08-03

Posts: 6,965

Website

Re: manually download packages

@Ghost1227
That wouldn't resolve dependencies.

@quizzelsnatch
You can add "--print-uris" or "-p" when calling pacman to get it to print the URIs for a sync operation. You could then just copy them and download them manually on another computer. Examples:
Get the URIs for a full system upgrade:

pacman -Sup

Get the URIs for pkg_a and pkg_b:

pacman -Sp pkg_a pkg_b

Keep in mind that you need to sync the database though to get the latest packages.

If you're downloading on another Arch computer, you can use the "--downloadonly" / "-w" and "--cachedir" options to download packages on that computer onto some external storage device:

pacman -Sw --cachedir /path/to/device pkg_a pkg_b

Once you have the packages, you can install them on the target computer with the "-upgrade"/"-U":

pacman -U /path/to/pkg_a_tarball /path/to/pkg_b_tarball

The tarball will be named pkg_a-ver-rel[.architecture].pkg.tar.gz

Keep in mind that you might run into problems with dependencies and compatibility if you're not keeping the target system up-to-date. There are ways to download the database on another computer and transfer it, but my post is long enough as is.

Finally, if you're going to be downloading lots of files, take a look at powerpill. You can use it to generate a metalink of all the downloads that you can use on another computer. Aside from being significantly faster for downloading, it also avoids problems if your main mirror fails (because the --print-uris option only spits out links for the top mirror in your list).

---

My Arch Linux Stuff • Forum Etiquette • Community Ethos - Arch is not for everyone