Question

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Where are apt-get files stored?

rated 0 times [ 17] [ 0] / answers: 1 / hits: 88422 / 1 Year ago, tue, may 16, 2023, 4:29:49

There are multiple virtual machines running Ubuntu and they are all updated by the following command:

apt-get update

apt-get upgrade

But updating each VM separately takes a lot of time to download the required packages and also uses massive amount of bandwidth (which I'm running out of). Is it possible to transfer the updated files by apt-get directly into VMs?

I know the packages are stored in /var/cache/apt/archives but I need the apt-get database files (list of mirrors, indexes, available packages on mirrors, ...)

Update: There are many solutions

apt-cacher-ng as mentioned in the answers.

Docker images built for caching apt files (they run squid actually)

Simply using squid

Also, as mentioned in the answers, see Best way to cache apt downloads on a LAN?

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2 Years ago

answered 1 Year ago cretanol · Accepted Answer

Not an explicit answer to your question, but have you considered setting up an apt proxy? I use apt-cacher-ng (apt-get install apt-cacher-ng). Prehaps set this up on the VM host, and tell the VMs (and the host) to use this as their proxy (as simple as adding a file (eg 02proxy) to /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/
containing

Acquire::http { Proxy "http://vm host ip:3142"; };

That way you can just do apt-get upgrade without having to manually copy file around. When one computer downloads the debs they will be stored on the proxy for the next computer that requests it. Can handle multiple releases and different architectures, etc