Urgent : Offline installation problem

[CadCrazy]

I have install Ubuntu 7.10 on my friend's system. There is some problem with his network card so can't connect to net. I have all the packages in my pen drive. I copied all of them in /var/cache/apt/archives folder but these are not available to install either through apt or synaptic even refresh/ update.

Plz guys help me its very urgent

[praka123]

^this means ur apt is saying that there are updates available.select the package in synaptic and press CTRL+E for available version.

[CadCrazy]

i want to install vlc, gstreamer, gxine, k3b etc. But these are not listed in synaptic how can i think of pressing CTRL+e

[praka123]

my sugg is u backup /etc/apt/sources.list and then edit it to contain only the orginal cd/dvd line,remove all repositories lines or comment thim with a "#".then run "sudo apt-get update".if done,without errors,u may be able to install ur packages.

else, the only way i can think now is u installing these softwares manually
ie.,
"sudo dpkg -i /var/cache/apt/archives/urpackagename111_23.deb"
^if the install errors,try installing its dependencies.

and BTW,if ethernet card having no h/w problems,linux can work with most cards.just post the o/p of "lspci -v" from a terminal.

[CadCrazy]

thanks will give it try. I wonder why ubuntu community discourge offline installtion by every possible way

[praka123]

what abt ur lan card?is it having a h/w trouble? as u said it is not working

[iMav]

^^ does this mean that aptoncd is useless

[The_Devil_Himself]

^^of course not I have tried it myself.I dunno whats the problem with cadcrazy.

[CadCrazy]

network card has hardware problem.

[iMav]

what im asking is what i had earlier ...

make a copy with aptoncd but u wont be able to install if u dont have a net connection pretty much in line with what cad is facing (try it on a different machine devil)

[praka123]

^not exactly.it means if the system was ever connected to internet,apt will store latest update details in /var/lib/dpkg/info/ directory.so,apt will not be able to detest the aptoncd packages.another problem is different versions of critical glibc libray.

[CadCrazy]

Its working on my system but dunno why not working on my friends system

is there any way to add pendrive as apt source list

[The_Devil_Himself]

@iMav:tried on a different machine mavvy,dint face any problem at all(friend's mc has no internet at all).But I usually prefer copying all the deb files to archives folder.

[CadCrazy]

yes copying to archives folder is the best option for me till now

[iMav]

^^ hey cad once successful plz post a step by step method of how u got all packages from aptoncd working on ur frenz pc

[NucleusKore]

Yes +1@iMav

[FilledVoid]

I have all the packages in my pen drive. I copied all of them in /var/cache/apt/archives folder but these are not available to install either through apt or synaptic even refresh/ update.

You don't need aptoncd. As I said earlier its just a convenience if I'm correct.

The first step you want to do is backup your sources.list file. Then you need to add the folder to the sources. To do so read on. If you need an AptOnCd guide Ill be more than happy to post it from my little guide I'm building. Although I don't see why you would need it since your friend hasn't downloaded the AptOnCd package already.

man sources.list

Doing this would should you the man entry for the file. If you scroll down you will see this line.

        file
           The file scheme allows an arbitrary directory in the file system to
           be considered an archive. This is useful for NFS mounts and local
           mirrors or archives.

Check out the examples listed int he man page to help you out further. One of the examples I will post.

       Uses the archive stored locally (or NFS mounted) at /home/jason/debian
       for stable/main, stable/contrib, and stable/non-free.

           deb file:/home/jason/debian stable main contrib non-free

I believe you should see what you have to do at this point. Please let me know if the above does not work.

[CadCrazy]

Thanks. But there's no entry like
deb file:/var/cache/apt/cache in my computer's sources.list but still i am able to install packages through apt or synaptic after copying them there but this method is not working for my friend.The only diff between my and his computer is that my computer once connected to net but his computer never.So i think setting for this thing lies somewhere else which we are not able to hit yet.

[FilledVoid]

Thanks. But there's no entry like
deb file:/var/cache/apt/cache in my computer's sources.list but still i am able to install packages through apt or synaptic after copying them there but this method is not working for my friend.The only diff between my and his computer is that my computer once connected to net but his computer never.So i think setting for this thing lies somewhere else which we are not able to hit yet.

I dont have this entry deb file:/var/cache/apt/cache in my sources list. Just out of curiosity but your friend does see the packages in Synaptic correct? That is the name of the packages are in there yes or no? Cause if they arent most likely you dont have Universe, Multiverse etc selected from the Sources List dialog. Once you do select them to get an updated list you need a net connection though. I might be wrong here so you might want to wait and confirm

[CadCrazy]

And finally i got it working.I can't believe its damn easy. No apt-get no synaptic just single command to install all of your software packages. Here s how.

Just copy all your packages to a folder say "software" on desktop or anywhere you find it suitable. now navigate to that folder through command prompt.
Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal
in terminal type

cd /home/cadcrazy/Desktop/software
sudo dpkg -i *.deb

This method will install all the deb packages whether or not all the dependencies are satisfied . So as a result you may get some broken packages chances of which are rare if you back up all your packages in single folder. I got this problem of broken package while installing vlc player. This happened because i backed up packages in different folder on my computer and install from it on my friend's computer and changed the install sequence.
To fix the broken packages type

sudo apt-get install -f

this command will remove the broken packge(s) if any and show you the name of removed package. Now to check the missing package i clicked on vlc package to install it and the packge manager did show me the missing lib which i found in another folder ( in mplayer package folder which i installed before vlc on my computer).Installed both of them and everything worked for me finally.

[adi007]

^^Thanks CadCrazy
will try this....

[CadCrazy]

Welcome buddy