Gentoo and Portage

[farkenhell]

I have two gentoo systems and don't want to download packages twice. Is it possible to either set one machine as a small package mirror or to copy the package files to the other system and use portage to install them? If so, how?

I've done some googling on this, but didn't find anything

Thanks

[Quadbox]

Originally posted by farkenhell
I have two gentoo systems and don't want to download packages twice. Is it possible to either set one machine as a small package mirror or to copy the package files to the other system and use portage to install them? If so, how?

I've done some googling on this, but didn't find anything

Thanks

Set up one of the machines as an nfs (or samba) server, sharing the /usr/portage/distfiles directory.

Mount this share on the other machine as /usr/portage/distfiles. Done.

Alternatively, mount it as another directory, and 'export DISTDIR="/path/to/share"' <-- Add this to your profile. (I think that is the env variable. Check the portage manual, to be sure).

Either of those methods should work fine. Thus, after either of the computers emerges the package, it will be in the common portage cache, and the next computer won't download it again.

[Jacaranda]

look on the gentoo forums

all the packages (unless you've deleted them) are stored on your hardrive, you can point you other installation at this directory. distfiles or somewhere near there.

You can of course simply copy them accross as well, there are a couple other things you need to do. But I don't remember of hand, see first comment.

[farkenhell]

Ah, many thanks for your answers.

[Somefella]

Originally posted by Quadbox


Set up one of the machines as an nfs (or samba) server, sharing the /usr/portage/distfiles directory.

Mount this share on the other machine as /usr/portage/distfiles. Done.

Alternatively, mount it as another directory, and 'export DISTDIR="/path/to/share"' <-- Add this to your profile. (I think that is the env variable. Check the portage manual, to be sure).

Either of those methods should work fine. Thus, after either of the computers emerges the package, it will be in the common portage cache, and the next computer won't download it again.

Just another reason why portage\gentoo rocks your world.

[Quadbox]

Originally posted by Somefella


Just another reason why portage\gentoo rocks your world.

The cache is a very handy feature. Tip #2:

When doing a clean install, burn all your distfiles directory to a couple of cd's. In the installation, just before chrooting to /mnt/gentoo, mount the cd's in turn, and copy all the files to /mnt/gentoo/usr/portage/distfiles.

Net result: The installation downloads precisely zip. (excluding the rsync step, obviously).