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apt-get: how to make it keep old archives locally when upgrading packages

rated 0 times [ 4] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 1477 / 3 Years ago, wed, june 30, 2021, 1:20:24

I know I can't install previous version without a local copy of the archive of needed version. But today I found out something surprising: I was sure that all previous archives are stored in cache. But after I upgraded firefox from v28 to v29 and checked available versions to install, result is unexpected for me:

$ apt-cache madison firefox

firefox | 29.0+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.2 | http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates/main i386 Packages

firefox | 29.0+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.2 | http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security/main i386 Packages

firefox | 11.0+build1-0ubuntu4 | http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main i386 Packages

There is no version 28. I checked /var/cache/apt/archives, and there is actually no archive of version 28. That is sad that it is removed.

How can I prevent it from removing old archives?

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1 Year ago

answered 3 Years ago singerrupt · Accepted Answer

The Apt cache is managed by a daily cron job. To modify the default settings, open (as root) /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20archive:

APT::Archives::MaxAge "30";

APT::Archives::MinAge "2";

APT::Archives::MaxSize "500";

To disable the automatic removal, set the three values to 0.

See the top of of /etc/cron.daily/apt for a brief documentation of these options.