.\"     Title: sources.list
.\"    Author: Jason Gunthorpe
.\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets v1.71.0 <http://docbook.sf.net/>
.\"      Date: 29 February 2004
.\"    Manual: 
.\"    Source: Linux
.\"
.TH "SOURCES.LIST" "5" "29 February 2004" "Linux" ""
.\" disable hyphenation
.nh
.\" disable justification (adjust text to left margin only)
.ad l
.SH "NAME"
sources.list \- Package resource list for APT
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
.PP
The package resource list is used to locate archives of the package distribution system in use on the system. At this time, this manual page documents only the packaging system used by the Debian GNU/Linux system. This control file is located in
\fI/etc/apt/sources.list\fR
.PP
The source list is designed to support any number of active sources and a variety of source media. The file lists one source per line, with the most preferred source listed first. The format of each line is:
type uri args
The first item,
type
determines the format for
args
uri
is a Universal Resource Identifier (URI), which is a superset of the more specific and well\-known Universal Resource Locator, or URL. The rest of the line can be marked as a comment by using a #.
.SH "SOURCES.LIST.D"
.PP
The
\fI/etc/apt/sources.list.d\fR
directory provides a way to add sources.list entries in seperate files that end with
.list. The format is the same as for the regular
\fIsources.list\fR
file.
.SH "THE DEB AND DEB\-SRC TYPES"
.PP
The
deb
type describes a typical two\-level Debian archive,
\fIdistribution/component\fR. Typically,
distribution
is generally one of
stable
unstable
or
testing
while component is one of
main
contrib
non\-free
or
non\-us
The
deb\-src
type describes a debian distribution's source code in the same form as the
deb
type. A
deb\-src
line is required to fetch source indexes.
.PP
The format for a
\fIsources.list\fR
entry using the
deb
and
deb\-src
types are:
.sp
.RS 3n
.nf
deb uri distribution [component1] [component2] [...]
.fi
.RE
.PP
The URI for the
deb
type must specify the base of the Debian distribution, from which APT will find the information it needs.
distribution
can specify an exact path, in which case the components must be omitted and
distribution
must end with a slash (/). This is useful for when only a particular sub\-section of the archive denoted by the URI is of interest. If
distribution
does not specify an exact path, at least one
component
must be present.
.PP
distribution
may also contain a variable,
$(ARCH)
which expands to the Debian architecture (i386, m68k, powerpc, ...) used on the system. This permits architecture\-independent
\fIsources.list\fR
files to be used. In general this is only of interest when specifying an exact path,
APT
will automatically generate a URI with the current architecture otherwise.
.PP
Since only one distribution can be specified per line it may be necessary to have multiple lines for the same URI, if a subset of all available distributions or components at that location is desired. APT will sort the URI list after it has generated a complete set internally, and will collapse multiple references to the same Internet host, for instance, into a single connection, so that it does not inefficiently establish an FTP connection, close it, do something else, and then re\-establish a connection to that same host. This feature is useful for accessing busy FTP sites with limits on the number of simultaneous anonymous users. APT also parallelizes connections to different hosts to more effectively deal with sites with low bandwidth.
.PP
It is important to list sources in order of preference, with the most preferred source listed first. Typically this will result in sorting by speed from fastest to slowest (CD\-ROM followed by hosts on a local network, followed by distant Internet hosts, for example).
.PP
Some examples:
.sp
.RS 3n
.nf
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian stable main contrib non\-free
deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian dists/stable\-updates/
   
.fi
.RE
.SH "URI SPECIFICATION"
.PP
The currently recognized URI types are cdrom, file, http, and ftp.
.PP
file
.RS 3n
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.
.RE
.PP
cdrom
.RS 3n
The cdrom scheme allows APT to use a local CDROM drive with media swapping. Use the
\fBapt\-cdrom\fR(8)
program to create cdrom entries in the source list.
.RE
.PP
http
.RS 3n
The http scheme specifies an HTTP server for the archive. If an environment variable
\fBhttp_proxy\fR
is set with the format http://server:port/, the proxy server specified in
\fBhttp_proxy\fR
will be used. Users of authenticated HTTP/1.1 proxies may use a string of the format http://user:pass@server:port/ Note that this is an insecure method of authentication.
.RE
.PP
ftp
.RS 3n
The ftp scheme specifies an FTP server for the archive. APT's FTP behavior is highly configurable; for more information see the
\fBapt.conf\fR(5)
manual page. Please note that a ftp proxy can be specified by using the
\fBftp_proxy\fR
environment variable. It is possible to specify a http proxy (http proxy servers often understand ftp urls) using this method and ONLY this method. ftp proxies using http specified in the configuration file will be ignored.
.RE
.PP
copy
.RS 3n
The copy scheme is identical to the file scheme except that packages are copied into the cache directory instead of used directly at their location. This is useful for people using a zip disk to copy files around with APT.
.RE
.PP
rsh, ssh
.RS 3n
The rsh/ssh method invokes rsh/ssh to connect to a remote host as a given user and access the files. No password authentication is possible, prior arrangements with RSA keys or rhosts must have been made. Access to files on the remote uses standard
\fBfind\fR
and
\fBdd\fR
commands to perform the file transfers from the remote.
.RE
.SH "EXAMPLES"
.PP
Uses the archive stored locally (or NFS mounted) at /home/jason/debian for stable/main, stable/contrib, and stable/non\-free.
.sp
.RS 3n
.nf
deb file:/home/jason/debian stable main contrib non\-free
.fi
.RE
.PP
As above, except this uses the unstable (development) distribution.
.sp
.RS 3n
.nf
deb file:/home/jason/debian unstable main contrib non\-free
.fi
.RE
.PP
Source line for the above
.sp
.RS 3n
.nf
deb\-src file:/home/jason/debian unstable main contrib non\-free
.fi
.RE
.PP
Uses HTTP to access the archive at archive.debian.org, and uses only the hamm/main area.
.sp
.RS 3n
.nf
deb http://archive.debian.org/debian\-archive hamm main
.fi
.RE
.PP
Uses FTP to access the archive at ftp.debian.org, under the debian directory, and uses only the stable/contrib area.
.sp
.RS 3n
.nf
deb ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian stable contrib
.fi
.RE
.PP
Uses FTP to access the archive at ftp.debian.org, under the debian directory, and uses only the unstable/contrib area. If this line appears as well as the one in the previous example in
\fIsources.list\fR. a single FTP session will be used for both resource lines.
.sp
.RS 3n
.nf
deb ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian unstable contrib
.fi
.RE
.PP
Uses HTTP to access the archive at nonus.debian.org, under the debian\-non\-US directory.
.sp
.RS 3n
.nf
deb http://nonus.debian.org/debian\-non\-US stable/non\-US main contrib non\-free
.fi
.RE
.PP
Uses HTTP to access the archive at nonus.debian.org, under the debian\-non\-US directory, and uses only files found under
\fIunstable/binary\-i386\fR
on i386 machines,
\fIunstable/binary\-m68k\fR
on m68k, and so forth for other supported architectures. [Note this example only illustrates how to use the substitution variable; non\-us is no longer structured like this]
.sp
.RS 3n
.nf
deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian\-non\-US unstable/binary\-$(ARCH)/
.fi
.RE
.sp
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.PP
\fBapt\-cache\fR(8)
\fBapt.conf\fR(5)
.SH "BUGS"
.PP
[1]\&\fIAPT bug page\fR. If you wish to report a bug in APT, please see
\fI/usr/share/doc/debian/bug\-reporting.txt\fR
or the
\fBreportbug\fR(1)
command.
.SH "AUTHORS"
.PP
\fBJason Gunthorpe\fR
.sp -1n
.IP "" 3n
Author.
.PP
\fBAPT team\fR
.sp -1n
.IP "" 3n
Author.
.SH "REFERENCES"
.TP 3
1.\ APT bug page
\%http://bugs.debian.org/src:apt