doc/sources.list.5.yo

   1 mailto(apt@packages.debian.org)
   2 manpage(sources.list)(5)(5 Dec 1998)(apt)()
   3 manpagename(sources.list)(package resource list for APT)
   4
   5 manpagedescription()
   6 The package resource list is used to locate archives of the package
   7 distribution system in use on the system. At this time, this manual page
   8 documents only the packaging system used by the Debian GNU/Linux system.
   9
  10 The source list is designed to support any number of active sources and a
  11 variety of source media. The file lists one source per line, with the
  12 most preferred source listed first. The format of each line is:
  13 em(type uri args) The first item, em(type), determines the format for
  14 em(args). em(uri) is a Universal Resource Identifier (URI), which is a
  15 superset of the more specific and well-known Universal Resource Locator, or
  16 URL.
  17
  18 manpagesection(The deb and deb-src types)
  19 The bf(deb) type describes a typical two-level Debian archive,
  20 em(distribution/component). Typically, em(distribution) is one of
  21 em(stable), em(unstable), or em(frozen), while component is one of
  22 em(main), em(contrib), em(non-free), or em(non-us). The bf(deb-src) type
  23 describes a debian distribution's source code in the same form as the bf(deb)
  24 type. A bf(deb-src) line is required to fetch source indexes.
  25 The format for a bf(sources.list) entry using the em(deb) and em(deb-src)
  26 types are:
  27 verb(deb uri distribution [component1] [componenent2] [...])
  28 The URI for the em(deb) type must specify the base of the Debian distribution,
  29 from which bf(APT) will find the information it needs. em(distribution)
  30 can specify an exact path, in which case the em(component)s
  31 must be omitted and bf(distribution) must end with a slash (/). This is
  32 useful for when only a particular sub-section of the archive denoted by the
  33 URI is of interest. If bf(distribution) does not specify an exact path, at
  34 least one bf(component) must be present.
  35
  36 bf(distribution) may also contain a variable, bf($(ARCH)),
  37 which expands to the Debian architecture (i386, m68k, powerpc, ...)
  38 used on the system. This permits archiecture-independent
  39 bf(sources.list) files to be used. In general this is only of interest
  40 when specifying an exact path, bf(APT) will automatically generate a URI
  41 with the current architecture otherwise.
  42
  43 Since only one distribution can be specified per line it may be necessary
  44 to have multiple lines for the same URI, if a subset of all available
  45 distributions or components at that location is desired.
  46 bf(APT) will sort the URI list after it has generated a complete set
  47 internally, and will collapse multiple references to the same Internet host,
  48 for instance, into a single connection, so that it does not inefficiently
  49 establish an FTP connection, close it, do something else, and then
  50 re-establish a connection to that same host. This feature is useful
  51 for accessing busy FTP sites with limits on the number of simultaneous
  52 anonymous users. bf(APT) also parallizes connections to different hosts
  53 to more effectively deal with sites with low bandwidth.
  54
  55 It is important to list sources in order of preference, with the most
  56 preferred source listed first. Typically this will result in sorting
  57 by speed from fastest to slowest (CD-ROM followed by hosts on a local
  58 network, followed by distant Internet hosts, for example).
  59
  60 Some examples:
  61 verb(deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian stable main contrib non-free)
  62 verb(deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian dists/stable-updates)
  63
  64 manpagesection(URI specification)
  65 The currently recognized URI types are cdrom, file, http, and ftp.
  66
  67 startdit()
  68 dit(bf(file))
  69 The file scheme allows an arbitrary directory in the file system to be
  70 considered an archive. This is useful for NFS mounts and local mirrors or
  71 archives.
  72
  73 dit(bf(cdrom))
  74 The cdrom scheme allows bf(APT) to use a local CDROM drive with media
  75 swapping. Use the bf(apt-cdrom(8)) program to create cdrom entires in the
  76 source list.
  77
  78 dit(bf(http))
  79 The http scheme specifies an HTTP server for the archive. If an environment
  80 variable bf($http_proxy) is set with the format
  81 bf(http://server:port/), the proxy server specified in
  82 bf($http_proxy) will be used. Users of authenticated HTTP/1.1 proxies may
  83 use a string of the format bf(http://user:pass@server:port/)
  84 Note that this is an insecure method of authentication.
  85
  86 dit(bf(ftp))
  87 The ftp scheme specifies an FTP server for the archive. APT's FTP behavior
  88 is highly configurable; for more information see the
  89 bf(apt.conf(5)) manual page. Please note that a ftp proxy can be specified
  90 by using the ftp_proxy environment variable. It is possible to specify a http
  91 proxy (http proxy servers often understand ftp urls) using this method and
  92 ONLY this method. ftp proxies using http specified in the configuration
  93 file will be ignored.
  94
  95 dit(bf(copy))
  96 The copy scheme is identical to the file scheme except that packages are
  97 copied into the cache directory instead of used directly at their location.
  98 This is usefull for people using a zip disk to copy files around with APT.
  99
 100 enddit()
 101
 102 manpagesection(EXAMPLES)
 103 Uses the archive stored locally (or NFS mounted) at /home/jason/debian
 104 for stable/main, stable/contrib, and stable/non-free.
 105 quote("deb file:/home/jason/debian stable main contrib non-free")
 106
 107 As above, except this uses the unstable (development) distribution.
 108 quote("deb file:/home/jason/debian unstable main contrib non-free")
 109
 110 Source line for the above
 111 quote("deb-src file:/home/jason/debian unstable main contrib non-free")
 112
 113 Uses HTTP to access the archive at archive.debian.org, and uses only the
 114 hamm/main area.
 115 quote("deb http://archive.debian.org/debian-archive hamm main")
 116
 117 Uses FTP to access the archive at ftp.debian.org, under the debian
 118 directory, and uses only the stable/contrib area.
 119 quote("deb ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian stable contrib")
 120
 121 Uses FTP to access the archive at ftp.debian.org, under the debian
 122 directory, and uses only the unstable/contrib area. If this line appears as
 123 well as the one in the previous example in bf(sources.list),
 124 a single FTP session will be used for both resource lines.
 125 quote("deb ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian unstable contrib")
 126
 127 Uses HTTP to access the archive at nonus.debian.org, under the debian-non-US
 128 directory.
 129 quote("deb http://nonus.debian.org/debian-non-US stable/non-US main contrib non-free")
 130
 131 Uses HTTP to access the archive at nonus.debian.org, under the
 132 debian-non-US directory, and uses only files found under
 133 unstable/binary-i386 on i386 machines, unstable/binary-m68k on m68k, and so
 134 forth for other supported architectures. [Note this example only illistrates
 135 how to use the substitation variable non-us is no longer structured like this]
 136 quote("deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian-non-US unstable/binary-$(ARCH)/")
 137
 138 manpageseealso()
 139 apt-cache (8),
 140 apt.conf (5)
 141
 142 manpagebugs()
 143 See http://bugs.debian.org/apt.  If you wish to report a
 144 bug in bf(apt-get), please see bf(/usr/doc/debian/bug-reporting.txt)
 145 or the bf(bug(1)) command.
 146
 147 manpageauthor()
 148 apt-get was written by the APT team <apt@packages.debian.org>.