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.
Over time, the
approx server cache will grow to contain multiple,
unneeded versions of Debian packages. The
approx-gc(8) program removes
these from the cache.
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),
approx-gc(8),
apt-get(8),
sources.list(5)
AUTHOR¶
Eric Cooper <ecc@cmu.edu>
