doc/sources.list.5.xml

   1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
   2 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
   3   "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd" [
   4
   5 <!ENTITY % aptent SYSTEM "apt.ent">
   6 %aptent;
   7
   8 <!ENTITY % aptverbatiment SYSTEM "apt-verbatim.ent">
   9 %aptverbatiment;
  10
  11 <!ENTITY % aptvendor SYSTEM "apt-vendor.ent">
  12 %aptvendor;
  13 ]>
  14
  15 <refentry>
  16
  17  <refentryinfo>
  18    &apt-author.jgunthorpe;
  19    &apt-author.team;
  20    &apt-email;
  21    &apt-product;
  22    <!-- The last update date -->
  23    <date>2012-06-09T00:00:00Z</date>
  24  </refentryinfo>
  25
  26  <refmeta>
  27    <refentrytitle>sources.list</refentrytitle>
  28    <manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
  29    <refmiscinfo class="manual">APT</refmiscinfo>
  30  </refmeta>
  31
  32  <!-- Man page title -->
  33  <refnamediv>
  34     <refname>sources.list</refname>
  35     <refpurpose>List of configured APT data sources</refpurpose>
  36  </refnamediv>
  37
  38  <refsect1><title>Description</title>
  39    <para>
  40    The source list <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list</filename> is designed to support
  41    any number of active sources and a variety of source media. The file lists one
  42    source per line, with the most preferred source listed first. The information available
  43    from the configured sources is acquired by <command>apt-get update</command>
  44    (or by an equivalent command from another APT front-end).
  45    </para>
  46    <para>
  47    Each line specifying a source starts with type (e.g. <literal>deb-src</literal>)
  48    followed by options and arguments for this type.
  49    Individual entries cannot be continued onto a following line. Empty lines
  50    are ignored, and a <literal>#</literal> character anywhere on a line marks
  51    the remainder of that line as a comment.
  52    </para>
  53  </refsect1>
  54
  55  <refsect1><title>sources.list.d</title>
  56    <para>The <filename>/etc/apt/sources.list.d</filename> directory provides
  57    a way to add sources.list entries in separate files.
  58    The format is the same as for the regular <filename>sources.list</filename> file.
  59    File names need to end with
  60    <filename>.list</filename> and may only contain letters (a-z and A-Z),
  61    digits (0-9), underscore (_), hyphen (-) and period (.) characters.
  62    Otherwise APT will print a notice that it has ignored a file, unless that
  63    file matches a pattern in the <literal>Dir::Ignore-Files-Silently</literal>
  64    configuration list - in which case it will be silently ignored.</para>
  65  </refsect1>
  66
  67  <refsect1><title>The deb and deb-src types</title>
  68    <para>The <literal>deb</literal> type references a typical two-level Debian
  69    archive, <filename>distribution/component</filename>. The
  70    <literal>distribution</literal> is generally an archive name like
  71    <literal>stable</literal> or <literal>testing</literal> or a codename like
  72    <literal>&stable-codename;</literal> or <literal>&testing-codename;</literal>
  73    while component is one of <literal>main</literal>, <literal>contrib</literal> or
  74    <literal>non-free</literal>. The
  75    <literal>deb-src</literal> type references a Debian distribution's source
  76    code in the same form as the <literal>deb</literal> type.
  77    A <literal>deb-src</literal> line is required to fetch source indexes.</para>
  78
  79
  80    <para>The format for a <filename>sources.list</filename> entry using the
  81    <literal>deb</literal> and <literal>deb-src</literal> types is:</para>
  82
  83    <literallayout>deb [ options ] uri distribution [component1] [component2] [...]</literallayout>
  84
  85    <para>The URI for the <literal>deb</literal> type must specify the base of the
  86    Debian distribution, from which APT will find the information it needs.
  87    <literal>distribution</literal> can specify an exact path, in which case the
  88    components must be omitted and <literal>distribution</literal> must end with
  89    a slash (<literal>/</literal>). This is useful for the case when only a
  90    particular sub-section of the archive denoted by the URI is of interest.
  91    If <literal>distribution</literal> does not specify an exact path, at least
  92    one <literal>component</literal> must be present.</para>
  93
  94    <para><literal>distribution</literal> may also contain a variable,
  95    <literal>$(ARCH)</literal>
  96    which expands to the Debian architecture (such as <literal>amd64</literal> or
  97    <literal>armel</literal>) used on the system. This permits architecture-independent
  98    <filename>sources.list</filename> files to be used. In general this is only
  99    of interest when specifying an exact path, <literal>APT</literal> will
 100    automatically generate a URI with the current architecture otherwise.</para>
 101
 102    <para>Since only one distribution can be specified per line it may be necessary
 103    to have multiple lines for the same URI, if a subset of all available
 104    distributions or components at that location is desired.
 105    APT will sort the URI list after it has generated a complete set
 106    internally, and will collapse multiple references to the same Internet
 107    host, for instance, into a single connection, so that it does not
 108    inefficiently establish an FTP connection, close it, do something else,
 109    and then re-establish a connection to that same host. This feature is
 110    useful for accessing busy FTP sites with limits on the number of
 111    simultaneous anonymous users. APT also parallelizes connections to
 112    different hosts to more effectively deal with sites with low bandwidth.</para>
 113
 114    <para><literal>options</literal> is always optional and needs to be surrounded by
 115    square brackets. It can consist of multiple settings in the form
 116    <literal><replaceable>setting</replaceable>=<replaceable>value</replaceable></literal>.
 117    Multiple settings are separated by spaces. The following settings are supported by APT
 118    (note however that unsupported settings will be ignored silently):
 119    <itemizedlist>
 120    <listitem><para><literal>arch=<replaceable>arch1</replaceable>,<replaceable>arch2</replaceable>,…</literal>
 121    can be used to specify for which architectures information should
 122    be downloaded. If this option is not set all architectures defined by the
 123    <literal>APT::Architectures</literal> option will be downloaded.</para></listitem>
 124    <listitem><para><literal>arch+=<replaceable>arch1</replaceable>,<replaceable>arch2</replaceable>,…</literal>
 125    and <literal>arch-=<replaceable>arch1</replaceable>,<replaceable>arch2</replaceable>,…</literal>
 126    which can be used to add/remove architectures from the set which will be downloaded.</para></listitem>
 127    <listitem><para><literal>trusted=yes</literal> can be set to indicate that packages
 128    from this source are always authenticated even if the <filename>Release</filename> file
 129    is not signed or the signature can't be checked. This disables parts of &apt-secure;
 130    and should therefore only be used in a local and trusted context. <literal>trusted=no</literal>
 131    is the opposite which handles even correctly authenticated sources as not authenticated.</para></listitem>
 132    </itemizedlist></para>
 133
 134    <para>It is important to list sources in order of preference, with the most
 135    preferred source listed first. Typically this will result in sorting
 136    by speed from fastest to slowest (CD-ROM followed by hosts on a local
 137    network, followed by distant Internet hosts, for example).</para>
 138
 139    <para>Some examples:</para>
 140    <literallayout>
 141 deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian &stable-codename; main contrib non-free
 142 deb http://security.debian.org/ &stable-codename;/updates main contrib non-free
 143    </literallayout>
 144
 145  </refsect1>
 146
 147  <refsect1><title>URI specification</title>
 148
 149     <para>The currently recognized URI types are:
 150    <variablelist>
 151     <varlistentry><term><command>file</command></term>
 152     <listitem><para>
 153     The file scheme allows an arbitrary directory in the file system to be
 154     considered an archive. This is useful for NFS mounts and local mirrors or
 155     archives.</para></listitem>
 156     </varlistentry>
 157
 158     <varlistentry><term><command>cdrom</command></term>
 159     <listitem><para>
 160     The cdrom scheme allows APT to use a local CD-ROM drive with media
 161     swapping. Use the &apt-cdrom; program to create cdrom entries in the
 162     source list.</para></listitem>
 163     </varlistentry>
 164
 165     <varlistentry><term><command>http</command></term>
 166     <listitem><para>
 167     The http scheme specifies an HTTP server for the archive. If an environment
 168     variable <envar>http_proxy</envar> is set with the format
 169     http://server:port/, the proxy server specified in
 170     <envar>http_proxy</envar> will be used. Users of authenticated
 171     HTTP/1.1 proxies may use a string of the format
 172     http://user:pass@server:port/.
 173     Note that this is an insecure method of authentication.</para></listitem>
 174     </varlistentry>
 175
 176     <varlistentry><term><command>ftp</command></term>
 177     <listitem><para>
 178     The ftp scheme specifies an FTP server for the archive. APT's FTP behavior
 179     is highly configurable; for more information see the
 180     &apt-conf; manual page. Please note that an FTP proxy can be specified
 181     by using the <envar>ftp_proxy</envar> environment variable. It is possible
 182     to specify an HTTP proxy (HTTP proxy servers often understand FTP URLs)
 183     using this environment variable and <emphasis>only</emphasis> this
 184     environment variable. Proxies using HTTP specified in
 185     the configuration file will be ignored.</para></listitem>
 186     </varlistentry>
 187
 188     <varlistentry><term><command>copy</command></term>
 189     <listitem><para>
 190     The copy scheme is identical to the file scheme except that packages are
 191     copied into the cache directory instead of used directly at their location.
 192     This is useful for people using removable media to copy files around with APT.</para></listitem>
 193     </varlistentry>
 194
 195     <varlistentry><term><command>rsh</command></term><term><command>ssh</command></term>
 196     <listitem><para>
 197     The rsh/ssh method invokes RSH/SSH to connect to a remote host and
 198     access the files as a given user. Prior configuration of rhosts or RSA keys
 199     is recommended. The standard <command>find</command> and <command>dd</command>
 200     commands are used to perform the file transfers from the remote host.
 201     </para></listitem>
 202     </varlistentry>
 203
 204     <varlistentry><term>adding more recognizable URI types</term>
 205     <listitem><para>
 206     APT can be extended with more methods shipped in other optional packages, which should
 207     follow the naming scheme <package>apt-transport-<replaceable>method</replaceable></package>.
 208     For instance, the APT team also maintains the package <package>apt-transport-https</package>,
 209     which provides access methods for HTTPS URIs with features similar to the http method.
 210     Methods for using e.g. debtorrent are also available - see &apt-transport-debtorrent;.
 211     </para></listitem>
 212     </varlistentry>
 213   </variablelist>
 214  </para>
 215  </refsect1>
 216
 217  <refsect1><title>Examples</title>
 218    <para>Uses the archive stored locally (or NFS mounted) at /home/jason/debian
 219    for stable/main, stable/contrib, and stable/non-free.</para>
 220    <literallayout>deb file:/home/jason/debian stable main contrib non-free</literallayout>
 221
 222    <para>As above, except this uses the unstable (development) distribution.</para>
 223    <literallayout>deb file:/home/jason/debian unstable main contrib non-free</literallayout>
 224
 225    <para>Source line for the above</para>
 226    <literallayout>deb-src file:/home/jason/debian unstable main contrib non-free</literallayout>
 227
 228    <para>The first line gets package information for the architectures in <literal>APT::Architectures</literal>
 229    while the second always retrieves <literal>amd64</literal> and <literal>armel</literal>.</para>
 230    <literallayout>deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian &stable-codename; main
 231 deb [ arch=amd64,armel ] http://ftp.debian.org/debian &stable-codename; main</literallayout>
 232
 233    <para>Uses HTTP to access the archive at archive.debian.org, and uses only
 234    the hamm/main area.</para>
 235    <literallayout>deb http://archive.debian.org/debian-archive hamm main</literallayout>
 236
 237    <para>Uses FTP to access the archive at ftp.debian.org, under the debian
 238    directory, and uses only the &stable-codename;/contrib area.</para>
 239    <literallayout>deb ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian &stable-codename; contrib</literallayout>
 240
 241    <para>Uses FTP to access the archive at ftp.debian.org, under the debian
 242    directory, and uses only the unstable/contrib area. If this line appears as
 243    well as the one in the previous example in <filename>sources.list</filename>
 244    a single FTP session will be used for both resource lines.</para>
 245    <literallayout>deb ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian unstable contrib</literallayout>
 246
 247    <para>Uses HTTP to access the archive at ftp.tlh.debian.org, under the
 248    universe directory, and uses only files found under
 249    <filename>unstable/binary-i386</filename> on i386 machines,
 250    <filename>unstable/binary-amd64</filename> on amd64, and so
 251    forth for other supported architectures. [Note this example only
 252    illustrates how to use the substitution variable; official debian
 253    archives are not structured like this]
 254    <literallayout>deb http://ftp.tlh.debian.org/universe unstable/binary-$(ARCH)/</literallayout>
 255    </para>
 256  </refsect1>
 257
 258  <refsect1><title>See Also</title>
 259    <para>&apt-cache; &apt-conf;
 260    </para>
 261  </refsect1>
 262
 263  &manbugs;
 264
 265 </refentry>
 266