Simple Offline Usb Package management?!?!?!

[elludium_q-36]

Keryx seems to have gone fully commercial but at the time of this posting the site is under construction without documentation or a working download link.

I have another idea but I'm no developer...

Simple Offline Usb Package management

Yeah, uh-kay... People are still pointing to Keryx, which was promising while it lasted but it's now fully commercial $$$ and the website is currently broken/under construction withOUT a download or support.

From what I saw of keryx_0.92.4.1, it seemed to work okay on the garden variety Windows XP box but was not quite so automagic on my wonky Kubuntu 8.04 box. Methinks a dependency, perhaps python.

==========================
Requirements
==========================

Windows: None

Linux: Python, wxPython

Ubuntu users need the following packages in order to have wxPython successfully
installed:

libwxbase2.8-0
libwxgtk2.8-0
python-wxversion
python-wxgtk2.8

wxPython is only required for using Keryx's interface. Project creation can be
done via command line parameters. See USAGE for more information.

About the commercialization, I wonder if Keryx should be bound by a GPL/LGPL, etc. Since it's, in part, based on GNU/Linux. It has components that run under Windows and Linux. Does charging a fee, instead of asking for donations violate the letter of the law of the GPL? It's sure against the spirit of "free and open" Software!!!

I also got referred to "Sushi, huh?" and "Huh" is just what I uttered. From the read-me file generated by the .deb package:

Read Carrefully!!!
==================

Hi, to all users and possibly devellopers of Sushi, huh?, I'm desired to stop working on Sushi, huh? because now I have no need to use it, I have not fun coding it(it becomes really boring now), and I can not retrieve monetary retribution from it. Also I want to start a new proyect and this is a waste of time...

Great, the developer finds it to be useless, boring and a waste of time; so what of an end user? Okay so it's only spelling but can we trust code from someone who doesn't spell-check? Engrish; do you speak it..?

I don't know, I may have copies of:

• keryx_0.92.4.1.tar.gz
• keryx_0.92.4.1.zip
• keryx_1.0-public21_all.deb

around but am not sure it they are of any help now. Maybe PM me about those

I have a few links that seem to be less than helpful, without further clarification:

• SynapticOffline
• Simple Way to Update Ubuntu Edgy With Slow/No Internet Connection
• Offline.debian.net (dead link)
• Synaptic/PackageDownloadScript
• AptGetOffline

Being mainly offline, when I do manage to get online, I'm concentrating on being a happy end user.

I've not had any luck with Synaptic Package Manager and a Download Script. It would be on a windows box, as are most public computers...

I'm sure in the current economic state of the world, there are many others in an "internet desert" or "Broadband Desert" who are relegated to "Sneakernet" / "Sneaker Net" with their desktops.

I had hoped that another developer, true to the free and open source nature of GNU/Linux, might take up the cause of a "Simple Offline Usb Package manager". Hot SOUP for the Chilly-Willy Penguins!!!

[woodsmoke]

Re: Simple Offline Usb Package management?!?!?!

SOUP.....beeeutiful soooouuuuuppppp.....



as to:

Great, the developer finds it to be useless, boring and a waste of time; so what of an end user?

I have made the same comment many times, and always received the same reply.

"Live with it or use Windows".

woodsmoke

[elludium_q-36]

Re: Simple Offline Usb Package management?!?!?!

I have made the same comment many times, and always received the same reply.

"Live with it or use Windows"

Great!!! You know, I now have a WM phone, (hope to flash to ‘droid) but all I need is a .cab file to install a windows app... With a .deb, sometimes you don’t know about dependencies until you try an installation. You keep jumping through hoops. It’s tough to keep going to the local library, firing up their windows box, to manually download each file.

I’m in 10.04 now and STILL I can’t manually add a .deb via synaptic.

Keryx seems dead. I saw on their website that they tried to go commercial for a while.
I never got the older version (.92 ?) to work on my 8.04 box, as far as installing packages.
I had to do it manually but it synced the flashdrive with repositories and downloaded with a windows box, to the flashdrive. The .exe seemed to do what it was supposed to do under windows but I had to run it under wine, just to get it to open.

The Keryx version 1 .deb only installs on the local hard disk and all I could do on the “portable” windows version was to extract it on the flash drive. the .py script was not recognized by several windows machines.

I put apt-offline on my 10.04 box but I couldn’t get the GUI to fire up, from the command line. It complained about missing a pyqt or apt-online gui dependency.

I’ve seen other “tutorials” that don’t seem to work or seem to not translate well, from the writer’s native language.

There are plenty of people with slow/no/unreliable internet connections, even in tech saturated nations like the United States.

I have made the same comment many times, and always received the same reply.

"Live with it or use Windows"

Really?

[SteveRiley]

as to: Great, the developer finds it to be useless, boring and a waste of time; so what of an end user?

I have made the same comment many times, and always received the same reply: "Live with it or use Windows".

If one imagines that the proposed alternative is any less guilty, one must disabuse one's self. Enjoy.

* Features removed from IE9
* Features removed from Windows 8
* Features removed from WMP
* More on what's not in Windows 8

[jlittle]

The Microsoft developers themselves have no clue how an advanced user may be using their OS, while they carelessly delete functionality.

Where have I heard this sentiment before? Ah..., Unity, Gnome 3, maybe...

[SteveRiley]

I’m in 10.04 now and STILL I can’t manually add a .deb via synaptic.

I'm not sufficiently familiar with Synaptic to know whether that's a feature. But you might be interested in GDebi:

sudo apt-get install gdebi-kde

There are plenty of people with slow/no/unreliable internet connections, even in tech saturated nations like the United States. Really?

<opinion-section>

IIRC, some of the promises of telco deregulation were choice! competition! high speeds everywhere! the end of the digital divide! Obviously, the promises were in fact lies. ILECs mounted legal challenges to protect their turf ( = infrastructure), CLECs mostly failed for lack of access to said infrastructure, and the incentives for pervasive broadband evaporated. Meanwhile, cable companies continued to extend their city-by-city monopoly charters. Now the biggest telco and and the biggest cable provider are trying to form a non-compete agreement.

The solution to this is simple, but likely not palatable to free-enterprise-uber-alles types. The solution is: nationalize the infrastructure. Not the services, just the plumbing in the ground and on the utility poles. Congress should establish the National Digital Infrastructure Service, which would buy out all privately-owned fiber, copper, switching center, microwave tower, and string-plus-tin-can it can find. The cost to build physical infrastructures is phenomenal; this is why you see little competition in this space and zero interest in improving fly-over country. So we should eliminate private ownership of physical plants and instead turn it over to the people.

This would open up space and money for where true competition can happen: services. Comcast has little interest in upgrading the physical infrastructure in Seattle or offering greater service flexibility in Seattle because in Seattle I don't have anybody else to pick from! I am Comcast's bitch. But since I'm the one writing the monthly check, the relationship is backwards. If Comcast were able to shed themselves of the burden of maintaining all that fiber and coax, they could (1) more freely experiment with service innovation, because (2) other service providers now have the so-far elusive level playing field upon which to truly compete with Comcast. In this world, the service providers become my bitch, and they have to compete for my dollars.

And, it erases the non-incentive for service improvements in sparsely populated areas. The cost of delivering a pure service to me in Seattle would be same as the cost of delivering a pure service to someone in the draftiest of ghost towns. What's not to like about all this?

</opinion-section>

[Guest]

Realize this thread hasn't been active in a while, but what the original poster was asking about "simple offline package management" is exactly the kind of thing I'm interested in. I should mention I'm currently using Debian, not Ubuntu, but am willing to switch to Ubuntu if it has a better solution or I can recompile applications running on Ubuntu for my Debian system if necessary. I've been using this technique to install groups of packages:
http://crunchbanglinux.org/wiki/howt...chbang_statler
It works fine for installing new software if you're okay with keeping track of the dependencies yourself. What I'd like is a way to update the entire system (for instance, if a new release comes out). Is there a good way of doing that?

Is anyone else interested in sneakernet solutions at this time? Would anyone want to brainstorm some ideas for some alternate solutions (other than keryx)? I'd be willing to write some code to help automate the process if a workable technique for updating/upgrading via sneakernet could be found.

[elludium_q-36]

Know the code... Maybe try apt-offline and apt-offline-gui

If anyone wants to know what it's like, to live on sneakernet, snip your ethernet cord, or disable your WiFi!

There are people in the world who work on Long Range WiFi, or LongFi, links of over 100 Miles, just to get connected! Many people don't have that ability. Some are stuck offline. It's maddening to download a .deb, just to learn you need to go and get MORE debs, due to unsatisfied dependencies.

Maybe a step is to look at all the ideas that came close, and are abandonware.

If you're a coder, give it a shot!

When the Amish come together, they all raise a barn, for each other.
With linux, even the unskilled end user contributes, as a beta tester.
I've got news for you: We're ALL beta testers.
Even with software in an attractive glossy retail box, it's been rushed to market...

****

I wrote an e-mail to the developer of package apt-offline;
http://packages.ubuntu.com/lucid/apt-offline
The page mentions that it is possible to run that on a Windows machine.
There's even a GUI:
http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?ke...pt-offline-gui
Here's the developer's page, on the package:
http://www.researchut.com/site/taxonomy/term/16

Unfortunately, in my case, the GUI is only out in the repos,
for Oneric and later. Due to ancient hardware, I'm running 10.04 "Lucid Lynx",
and really need to migrate to a lightweight linux, such as Lubuntu,
until I am able to upgrade hardware.

I've added packages from the Debian repositories, and .deb files from newer versions,
but, in doing so, I've broken systems. I found apt-offline in the 10.04 repos.

If you have success with apt-offline & apt-offline-gui,
or something else, please let me know.

A lot of people in the world are still offline, or have slow/unreliable internet.
People think of "third world" countries, but it can be the case anywhere.

[elludium_q-36]

Believe it or not... Broadband Desert!

Quote Originally Posted by elludium_q-36 View Post
There are plenty of people with slow/no/unreliable internet connections, even in tech saturated nations like the United States.

Many people have not heard of a "Broadband Desert".
http://www.google.com/search?q="broadband+desert"

[Guest]

If you're a coder, give it a shot!
...
I wrote an e-mail to the developer of package apt-offline;
http://packages.ubuntu.com/lucid/apt-offline
...
Unfortunately, in my case, the GUI is only out in the repos,
for Oneric and later. Due to ancient hardware, I'm running 10.04 "Lucid Lynx",
and really need to migrate to a lightweight linux, such as Lubuntu,
until I am able to upgrade hardware.

If I can come up with a technique that works, will certainly try to automate the process. One thing I wasn't thrilled with about keryx and apt-offline seems to have the same issue, they require python as a prerequisite. I want something with very simple dependencies. It could be written in C/C++ or maybe just using bash. (There are some versions of bash available on Windows as well.) Another option might be bash and JavaScript support. JavaScript/htas will run on Windows and bash will work on POSIX machines.

I'd be curious how hard it would be for users to do a make to build the software from scratch rather than have it run as an interpreted language. It would probably run faster as a compiled language. If there aren't a lot of dependencies and a user could build from source, shouldn't be a lot of issues with trying to install it.

Saw some examples that use apt-get update --print-uris -qq to get a list of packages to update on a system. However, doesn't look like it works well unless you have the addresses where you want to update from in your sources.list. At the moment, my sources.list just has my offline repository. So, when I update, there's nothing new to update. Still researching it. Any other pointers to how others are doing something like this or discussions on how it might be done would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[dmeyer]

If I can come up with a technique that works, will certainly try to automate the process. One thing I wasn't thrilled with about keryx and apt-offline seems to have the same issue, they require python as a prerequisite. I want something with very simple dependencies. It could be written in C/C++ or maybe just using bash. (There are some versions of bash available on Windows as well.) Another option might be bash and JavaScript support. JavaScript/htas will run on Windows and bash will work on POSIX machines.

I'd be curious how hard it would be for users to do a make to build the software from scratch rather than have it run as an interpreted language. It would probably run faster as a compiled language. If there aren't a lot of dependencies and a user could build from source, shouldn't be a lot of issues with trying to install it.

Saw some examples that use apt-get update --print-uris -qq to get a list of packages to update on a system. However, doesn't look like it works well unless you have the addresses where you want to update from in your sources.list. At the moment, my sources.list just has my offline repository. So, when I update, there's nothing new to update. Still researching it. Any other pointers to how others are doing something like this or discussions on how it might be done would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Python is a really powerful language for tasks like package management. Heck, I think most package management tools have python bindings and use python extensively. Bash would work, but bash is clumsy and difficult when you increase complexity and add features.

The easiest way to do offline package management is to rsync the repos onto a hard drive then set it up on a local server and set all the machines to pull packages from there (much easier than it sounds). Or just use QApt and search for packages as you need them although dependency handling would be by hand (even easier but really pointless.)

The only "everything included" package management I can think of is SuperDeb and Slax Modules. When going to the BSD side of things then you get more options. SuperDeb is based on Ubuntu and is still active so that might be the best route for that ".cab" effect whereas Slax Modules are great and all but are not Ubuntu based.