NAME¶

approx - proxy server for Debian archive files

SYNOPSIS¶

approx [OPTION]...

DESCRIPTION¶

approx responds to HTTP requests made by apt-get(8). It maintains a cache of Debian archive files that have been previously downloaded, so that it can respond with a local copy when possible. If a file not in the cache is requested, approx will download it from a remote Debian repository and deliver the contents to the client, simultaneously caching it for future use.

OPTIONS¶

-c file, --config file

Specify an additional configuration file. May be used multiple times.

USAGE¶

approx is invoked by inetd(8).

EXAMPLES¶

Suppose that a client machine's /etc/apt/sources.list file contains the following lines:

deb http://apt:9999/debian testing main
deb http://apt:9999/security testing/updates main
deb-src http://apt:9999/debian unstable main

In this example, apt is the hostname of the approx server machine on the local network. Each distribution, such as "debian" or "security", is mapped to a remote repository in the approx server's configuration file.

For example, the approx.conf file on the approx server might contain the lines

debian http://ftp.debian.org/debian
security http://security.debian.org

The mapping scheme is very simple. If the approx.conf file contains the line

repository http://remote-host/initial/path

then any request to the approx server of the form

http://approx-server/repository/rest/of/URL

is rewritten to

http://remote-host/initial/path/rest/of/URL

when there is a "cache miss", and that file is cached as

/var/cache/approx/repository/rest/of/URL

(Note that the repository name on the left-hand side is not included in the rewritten URL unless it is explicitly mentioned in the right-hand side's initial path.)

FILES¶

/etc/approx/approx.conf

Configuration file for approx and related programs.

/var/cache/approx

Default cache directory for archive files.

SEE ALSO¶

approx.conf(5), inetd(8), approx-import(8), apt-get(8), sources.list(5)

AUTHOR¶

Eric Cooper <ecc@cmu.edu>