Skip downloading things twice?

[Cityscape]

If I have 2 computers both running Linux Mint 14 (or even if both ran Lubuntu or something) how could I avoid download updates or new software twice? I have a limited bandwidth connection, meaning I pay for how much data I use. So if I download 0 AD (roughly 300 MB game) on the one computer I'd like to not have to redownload it for the other. Same thing for system updates.

I read a few years ago how to do this... and it involved copying over files from a certain folder but I don't remember what folder that even was anymore.

[passerby]

You could mount /var/cache (or, more specifically, /var/cache/apt) on a separate partition.
When you download updates, they stay in /var/cache/apt/archives until you remove them.
If you have both installations mounting the same /var/cache partition, you'll only need to download updates once, then apply them separately on each.

[Cityscape]

You could mount /var/cache (or, more specifically, /var/cache/apt) on a separate partition.
When you download updates, they stay in /var/cache/apt/archives until you remove them.
If you have both installations mounting the same /var/cache partition, you'll only need to download updates once, then apply them separately on each.

I actually have several different computers, not several distributions on the same PC.

But so if I downloaded the updates on 1 computer I could just copy the contents of /var/cache/apt/archives onto my other computer and install updates without downloading, right?

Where do the install files for programs download to when I install them?

[passerby]

That should work, yes.
If you want to install the programs via synaptic or another such tool, copy the program's packages into /var/cache/apt/archives along with the "update" files.
Otherwise you can single out the installation file and install the .deb file manually.

[Cityscape]

That should work, yes.
If you want to install the programs via synaptic or another such tool, copy the program's packages into /var/cache/apt/archives along with the "update" files.
Otherwise you can single out the installation file and install the .deb file manually.

If I install a program on one computer via Synaptic, mintinstall etc, where does it download the installation packages to? Is that also /var/cache/apt/archives?

[eanfrid]

Yes. All package managers (apt, aptitude, synaptic, mintinstal, etc) are only text or GUI frontends.

Regarding what you want to do, have a look to the packages "apt-cacher" or "apt-cacher-ng", made to manage a single local apt cache/proxy for multiple computers on your LAN.

[Cityscape]

Okay, so do the files for software installs AND system updates both get downloaded into /var/cache/apt/archives?

I'll take a look at apt-cacher too.

[eanfrid]

All packages downloaded by any deb package manager are stored "by-design" in /var/cache/apt/archives. If you want them to be stored elsewhere, you have to modify the apt-config "Dir::Cache" variables tree or create according symlinks. Check with

Code: Select all

apt-config dump | less

[Cityscape]

All packages downloaded by any deb package manager...

Does that include the update manager?

[eanfrid]

All package managers

All packages downloaded

What is more than "all" ?