How To: Make Your Own Ubuntu Repository DVDs

[BobSongs]

this is a wonderful tutorial.

Well, thanks. It is a patchwork of many different inputs. I just make it look pretty.

Q2: Why don't I skip this mess and download pre-made DVD ISOs?
A1. Pre-made DVD ISOs are fine for a single, never-to-be-repeated download (if time is an issue). Here's the difficulty: to get updates means downloading the ISOs again (sorta time consuming). If a single ISO download is right for you -- use this link: ftp://ftp.leg.uct.ac.za/pub/linux/ub...-packages-dvd/

btw im running jaunty, so where can i find a pre made DVD?

Actually, to be fair, the quote looks more like the following:

Q2: Why don't I skip this mess and download pre-made DVD ISOs?
Answer 1. Pre-made DVD ISOs are fine for a single, never-to-be-repeated download (if time is an issue). Here's the difficulty: to get updates means downloading the ISOs again (sorta time consuming). If a single ISO download is right for you -- use this link: ftp://ftp.leg.uct.ac.za/pub/linux/ub...-packages-dvd/

Answer 2. Modem connections make this tutorial impossible regardless the O/S. Consider purchasing inexpensive DVD ISOs from an online vendor. Examples are:

• On-Disk.com
• OSDisc.com

They will provide exactly what you need: Ubuntu ISOs with setup disks - perfect for that off-line PC. These companies will ship these discs right to your door for a small fee (no affiliation with the author).

In other words: it offers two answers. Rather than waste your time at an Internet Café, why not spend a few coins and get the DVDs pre-made and shipped? I don't get a penny's profit from these disks. These links and references were added to ensure this tutorial would be full and rewarding in some way to all who come. Try osdisc.com for older repositories.

and why can't Canonical release these type of official pre-made DVDs so that ppl with slow internet may benifit.

I'm not responsible for what Canonical does or does not do. This tutorial is provided as a service to assist non-Internet Ubuntu users. Canonical already supplies free copies of their O/S, a courtesy above and beyond the call of duty. Complaining here that Canonical does not provide ISO DVDs is unnecessary and beneficial to no-one.

[k3lt01]

Well it took me a year of Sundays, lol, but I finally have the entire (amd64,i386,powerpc) old-releases repository downloaded and have it replicated as Ubuntu has it in old-releases.ubuntu.com. It must be noted that Dapper is NOT yet available in old-releases yet, it is still very much alive in archive.ubuntu.com.

Because my download script is slightly different to the one in the OP, I have also had to made slight changes to the script in this section, this is mainly to keep all the repository materials within a known folder of my hdd.

4. Divide into DVD-sized portions
Part 1:

• Note: If you changed repositories in Step 3 then the following command will require editing:

debpartial --nosource --dirprefix=ubuntu --section=main,restricted,universe,multiverse --dist=hardy,hardy-security,hardy-updates,hardy-backports --size=DVD ~/UbuntuRepos ~/UbuntuDVDs

1. Replace the red hardy in the code above with your repository choice (i.e., gutsy, intrepid or jaunty).
2. If you plan on burning CDs instead of DVDs, then replace --size=DVD with --size=CD74 (for 650 megabyte CD-Rs), or --size=CD80 (for 700 megabyte CD-Rs)

Part 2:
How many CDs will we need to create? How do we find out? Paste this code in the Terminal and hit Enter:

ls -l ~/UbuntuDVDs

If the last folder is ubuntu3 you need to create 4 DVDs. If the last folder is ubuntu4 then it will be 5 DVDs, and if the last folder is ubuntu31, you'll need to create 32 CDs, and so on.

Having determined the number of physical discs you'll need, use the following as your pattern until all discs are complete (the only change from one to the next is the final number). These represent Hardy Heron's requirements:

ruby debcopy -l ~/UbuntuRepos ~/UbuntuDVDs/ubuntu0

ruby debcopy -l ~/UbuntuRepos ~/UbuntuDVDs/ubuntu1

ruby debcopy -l ~/UbuntuRepos ~/UbuntuDVDs/ubuntu2

ruby debcopy -l ~/UbuntuRepos ~/UbuntuDVDs/ubuntu3

ruby debcopy -l ~/UbuntuRepos ~/UbuntuDVDs/ubuntu4

I have successfully completed the 1st section of the above and later tonight will try to create the DVDs themselves for Warty-i386.

After I have done this I will burn a copy of all the old-releases for safe keeping and storage.

Now to the Canonical repositories for the classic releases. Canonical still lists a "Commercial" section. However, if anyone tries to download the "Commercial" section they will be disappointed because the process will fail and WIPE the relevant repo clean off your hard drive. Why? well it took me a week to figure it out but because there is nothing in the Commercial section anymore the process fails and automatically cleans the repo thinking it is clean. Let the downloader beware a simple change in the repository you are downloading can result in you losing what you already have IF your script is trying to download something that is not available. Please check the release and package files if you intend to take on such a mammoth task. If the relevant release and/or package file is empty or doesn't list anything that section may no longer be available or is being changed.

[emigrant]

by the way, it would be very great, if someonce can upload a finalized DVD.

[k3lt01]

by the way, it would be very great, if someonce can upload a finalized DVD.

There would be no use of doing that for any of the current releases as they can and do change weekly if not daily.

As for doing it for an old release considering they are stable you would be better off downloading it via this process. I personally don't have the bandwidth available to upload up to 15gb worth of repositories, on 3 dvds, for something like warty-i386 and each successive version is larger than the previous version.

[NorthernSuze]

Thank-you so much for your excellent instructions. I have the Hardy 8.04.1 DVD collection loaded to ~/ubuntu-repos. To the best of my knowledge I have it set things up as luvr explained in post #237; the dry run looked good.

Question #1 - is there a way of telling from the dry-run how big the initial update will be.

Question #2 - is there a way of limiting the initial debmirror run to match what is remaining on our bandwidth at the end of the month? (with the plan to resume when the month rolls over.)

I'm a little gun-shy after exceeding our bandwidth a month or five or six this year....

Suzanne

[luvr]

To the best of my knowledge I have it set things up as luvr explained in post #237; the dry run looked good.

That's great to hear!

Question #1 - is there a way of telling from the dry-run how big the initial update will be.

I cannot verify this at the moment, but doesn't the dry run tell you how much data it would have to download?
Otherwise, you could start up an update "for real," and interrupt it as soon as it works out the amount of data to download.

Question #2 - is there a way of limiting the initial debmirror run to match what is remaining on our bandwidth at the end of the month?

The only way that I know of to limit a debmirror run, is to specify the "--max-batch=number" parameter (where "number" represents the maximum number of files that you want to download). That doesn't take into account the sizes of the files, though.

[emigrant]

Well, thanks. It is a patchwork of many different inputs. I just make it look pretty.

Actually, to be fair, the quote looks more like the following:

In other words: it offers two answers. Rather than waste your time at an Internet Café, why not spend a few coins and get the DVDs pre-made and shipped? I don't get a penny's profit from these disks. These links and references were added to ensure this tutorial would be full and rewarding in some way to all who come. Try osdisc.com for older repositories.


I'm not responsible for what Canonical does or does not do. This tutorial is provided as a service to assist non-Internet Ubuntu users. Canonical already supplies free copies of their O/S, a courtesy above and beyond the call of duty. Complaining here that Canonical does not provide ISO DVDs is unnecessary and beneficial to no-one.

thank you very much for the tip

[NorthernSuze]

@luvr: Thank-you for your prompt reply. I apologize if I'm not quoting/replying correctly - Simple quotes represent the limits of my understanding

I cannot verify this at the moment, but doesn't the dry run tell you how much data it would have to download? Otherwise, you could start up an update "for real," and interrupt it as soon as it works out the amount of data to download.

Yes, the number is at the end of the command run, and I can't believe I missed it on both dry-runs.

The only way that I know of to limit a debmirror run, is to specify the "--max-batch=number" parameter (where "number" represents the maximum number of files that you want to download). That doesn't take into account the sizes of the files, though.

Thanks for adding to my knowledge. I'm discovering linux is a candy store with infinite possibilities - and slowly thanks to you, bobsongs, and all the linux gurus so generously sharing time and knowledge - making my own candy is a becoming a reality!

Suzanne

[BobSongs]

thank you very much for the tip

I'm assuming you'd like a set of Jaunty Jackalope's full DVD repositories?



I found them here

Ubuntu 9.04 Final Software Repository DVD Set

The price is reasonable.

[Sensiva]

Hello All, first of all I would like to thank everyone who contributed to this golden thread, it saved ALOT of time here at my side I tried it on every release of Ubuntu since feisty, and it worked flawlessly except Karmic.

Dolphin: can you download the repositories when using Karmic? Or are you just having difficulty following my tutorial? It would help to have some tutorial-specific issues and not "too many error".

Let me describe it in details. If I want to install a program that needs more than one package, and those packages are located on different DVDs, APT used to fetch then install then ask for the next disc. But with Karmic, after fetching it doesn't install, it prompts for the next discs... etc and then starts installation , the packages currently in the last disc in the drive are installed, then giving an error about the other packages which are located in the previous discs because they are not there. Its not a problem in the discs, I think its APT behavior itself that should be changed. Unfortunately I don't know how to adjust this way of APT in Karmic. but a workaround for this is pointing APT to the local repos already downloaded on the harddrive and not using the created DVDs. I have tested it and worked fine.

I hope I made it clear. I know my English is screwed

If I am right, please give a hint in the first post for Karmic users. If I am wrong let me know why

Providing a hint about how to fix this issue is appreciated

Luv Ya All!!

/Sensiva