Remote apt package managment

This is a command-line utility for remote package management of offline Debian-based systems. It enables the creation an image of the desired packages and their dependencies (repository lists) of an offline machine, downloading packages (repository lists) on an online machine, and installing packages (update apt package metadata), all via SSH. Dependency resolution and installation order are handled by apt-get on the offline system.

Installation

Debian/Ubuntu & macOS

The latest debian & macOS release can be installed with this bash script:

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/benca137/apt-remote/main/install.sh | bash

Windows

Windows users can download the latest .msi installer directly from the GitHub Releases page and run it manually.

Build from source (requires Rust Toolchain):

git clone https://github.com/benca137/apt-remote.git
cd apt-remote
cargo build --release

Usage

apt-remote is structured around subcommands:

set: generate a uri.toml image file

# Specific packages
apt-remote set <NAME> --target user@host --install pkg1 pkg2 ...

# Up-to-date package metadata (like `apt-get update`)
apt-remote set <NAME> --target user@host --update

# Upgradable packages
apt-remote set <NAME> --target user@host --upgrade

# Packages needed to fix broken dependencies
apt-remote set <NAME> --target user@host --fix

Only one uri.toml file will exist for a given image name. Running set with a different flag will overwrite any existing uri's. The --install, --upgrade, and --fix flags will populate the uri.toml with metadata needed to download .deb packages, while the --update flag will populate it with repository source list metadata.

get: download packages/sources from uri.toml

apt-remote get <NAME>

When you run apt-remote get <NAME>, the packages or source lists described in uri.toml will be downloaded to local cache depending on the operating system. On Linux, the uri.toml file and any downloaded data are located at $HOME/.cache/apt-remote/<NAME>.

install: dpkg -i packages on remote target

apt-remote install <NAME> --target user@host

The install subcommand is intended for when uri.toml describes .deb packages. When you run apt-remote install, all downloaded packages are copied to user@host:/tmp/apt-remote/<NAME>, the checksums are verified on the offline system and are installed in the order determined by apt-get on the offline system.

update: copy package lists to target and generate package cache

apt-remote update <NAME> --target user@host

The update subcommand is intended for when uri.toml describes repository source lists. When you run apt-remote update, all downloaded package metadata is copied to user@host:/var/lib/apt/lists and the pkgcache.bin and srcpkgcache.bin cache files are regenerated. The old list files are moved to /var/lib/apt/lists.old but it still may be recommended to backup these files before updating

clear: local package cache

apt-remote clear

When you run apt-remote clear, all local cache files are removed.

SSH Requirements

• Password-based or key-based SSH access to the remote machine
• sudo privileges on the remote machine