saving downloaded packages?

[acampbell]

Originally Posted by J65nko

To handle this kind of situation I first do a test install in a Virtual Machine, or on another non-critical machine. I set the PKG_CACHE variable, so the packages are also saved.

Only if that install is successful, then I dare to install that new snapshot on my desktop.

Even using this method I have to use an installation method that does not use a "live" public ftp mirror, because there is not any guarantee that the contents of a ftp mirror has not changed or will change half-way during the second install

I know I'm reviving an old thread but this is an idea that makes sense to me and which I've used at times. But I don't understand what you mean by not using a "live" public ftp mirror. So what do you use - perhaps have the same bsd.rd on both machines? Could you enlarge on this please?

[ocicat]

Originally Posted by acampbell

...I don't understand what you mean by not using a "live" public ftp mirror.

What J65nko describes is staging a new installation on an intermediate machine first. If, after installation, he is satisfied with all parts of installation, he then installs the kernels, filesets, & saved packages (saved through use of the PKG_CACHE variable...).

The installation on the second computer is all done locally.

• Installation of the base installation filesets is done from a mounted disk. I also live on -current, & the filesets I keep are either on a USB drive or burned to CD.
• Packages can be installed locally too. Packages in their original *.tgz form can also be saved to a USB drive or burned CD or DVD too. When I install packages I have saved, I don't bother with setting PKG_PATH on the second machine. It is not needed. I install packages from a mounted drive.

Why save the packages' *.tgz files downloaded from a mirror? Because bulk builds are done often enough that anything I install last week may be overwritten by newer packages which were built with newer incompatible libraries found in newer snapshots. The landscape of -current is always changing.

So what do you use - perhaps have the same bsd.rd on both machines? Could you enlarge on this please?

Your assumption here is that the configuration of what mirror is used is saved in the kernel. This is incorrect. PKG_PATH is simply an environment variable. Many have it set to a fixed value in their ~/.profile such that it is constantly set to the same value during every session. The purpose of PKG_PATH is to simplify what parameters need to be manually supplied to pkg_add such that it will retrieve the desired files from a remote server. When installing locally, this convenience is not required.

[acampbell]

If I'm understanding this correctly, before starting the upgrade on the first (test) machine I should first download the relevant base system files so as to be able to copy them later to the second machine. Is that right?

As for saving the package *.tgz files, I pointed PKG_CACHE to /home/ac/packages but nothing was saved, either for upgraded packages or newly installed ones. I don't understand why this didn't work.

[ocicat]

This thread is being separated from its parent:

http://daemonforums.org/showthread.php?p=59217

...as the focus there was on mismatched libraries. This thread targets fetching packages from mirrors for later use.

We ask members to view the initial message in a thread as what defines conversation. We welcome side discussions, but please do so in new threads. Many of our members do not have English as their primary language, & technical understanding goes throughout the gamut. In order to help understanding, we ask members to keep threads on a single topic.

[ocicat]

Originally Posted by acampbell

...before starting the upgrade on the first (test) machine I should first download the relevant base system files so as to be able to copy them later to the second machine. Is that right?

Yes.

As for saving the package *.tgz files, I pointed PKG_CACHE to /home/ac/packages but nothing was saved, either for upgraded packages or newly installed ones. I don't understand why this didn't work.

Did you specify pkg_add(1)'s -n switch? What command are you actually using which will download packages?

[acampbell]

Originally Posted by ocicat

Yes.

Did you specify pkg_add(1)'s -n switch? What command are you actually using which will download packages?

Thanks for your reply. I found the problem: I was using doas as a different user (admin) as suggested in http://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq10.html#doas. This user does not have PKG_CACHE set. Running from my ordinary account works correctly.