Date: Fri, 25 Apr 1997 23:32:37 -0400
Message-Id: <199704260332.XAA03416@localhost.bu.edu>
From: <swift@bu.edu>
Subject: dpkg-ftp: downloaded hierarchy should mirror ftp hierarchy
To: submit@bugs.debian.org
Reply-to: swift@alum.mit.edu

Package: dpkg-ftp
Version: 1.4.8

If the downloaded hierarchy in /var/lib/dpkg/methods/ftp (or ../debian)
mirrored the ftp hierarchy, then the downloaded hierarchy could serve as the
source hierarchy for dpkg on another machine.  It's ALMOST this way now, a few
changes that seem trivial and it would work.

Scenario: I downloaded much of Debian 1.3 for my desktop via dpkg-ftp.  I kept
the files around, knowing I would soon install a subset of these packages on my
laptop.  I connect my laptop via a cable to my desktop.  If my suggestion were
followed, I could then run dpkg on my laptop using my desktop as the source via
an nfs or ftp method.  With a bigger LAN this is a bigger win.  dpkg-ftp is a
very convenient way to selectively mirror the Debian ftp site, but it isn't
quite mirroring it. 

A further suggestion would be to make the .deb-file integrity checks more
efficient by not repeating them unnecesarily, perhaps by keeping track of
md5-sums or timestamps so that if you decide to keep a lot of packages around
you don't have to check their integrity every time you run dselect.


-- System Information
Debian Release: 1.3
Kernel Version: Linux localhost 2.0.30 #1 Thu Apr 24 13:34:49 EDT 1997 i586 unknown

Versions of the packages dpkg-ftp depends on:
perl	Version: 5.003.07-10
dpkg	Version: 1.4.0.8
libnet	Version: 1.01-3