apt-medium

Manages an installation medium for installing/updating packages on multiple (possibly disconnected and/or remote) systems.

This application is in very early development. While the steps detailed below should function, some functionality is still missing (e.g. recovering from certain broken package states).

Requirements

Dependencies

apt-get
dpkg
python 2.7.x or 3.x
python-setuptools (needed to install AptMedium, not required to run)

Installation Medium

Must be writable
Must support Unix file permissions (at runtime only, when moving between systems it is not important that these permissions be maintained/restored)

Permissions

All apt-medium commands must be run as root

General Usage

Note: apt-medium must either be run with your installation medium directory as the working directory or with the '-m' option flag followed by the path to your installation medium directory.

You mount your apt-medium installation medium directory. (i.e. plug in your USB-disk etc.)
If not already done, on the system you wish to perform package actions on, run "apt-medium init"
Depending on how up-to-date the package lists on your target system/installation medium are, you may wish to run "apt-medium update" from a system with internet connectivity at this point
If you want to install something on the system you are currently on, run "apt-medium install [<package 2>...]". If the necessary packages are already on the installation medium they will get installed right away, otherwise you will be notified of the packages that need to be downloaded.
If you want to have something installed on another system use "apt-medium install --target [<package 2>...]", you will be notified whether any packages need to be downloaded.
If some packages are missing on the installation medium you are asked to add them to the download queue. You can then run "apt-medium download" to download any missing packages. You might want to do this at another system with a (faster) Internet connection.
After downloading, you just run "apt-medium install" on your target systems and the packages that have been fully downloaded and are marked for installation on that system will get installed.

Example

To install wireshark on an offline system:

Offline System (hostname:offline)              Internet Connected System
apt-medium init
                   ------------------------>
                                               apt-medium update
                                               apt-medium install --target offline wireshark
                                               apt-medium download
                   <------------------------
apt-medium install

Automated Testing Status

License

apt-medium is released under the GPL version 2 or (at your option) any later version.

haveagr8day / AptMedium