[Solved] Keeping Arch updated with no network connection

Question

Hello all,
I'm very interested in using Arch and had a few queries that I couldn't quite find a clear answer to in my searchings. I have been computer-less for a year and now that I have a new one, I decided that I don't want to go through another Gentoo install if I can avoid it.
So here is my dilemma, the computer I want to install Arch on does not have a network connection and is unlikely to get one in the near future. I'm also not keen on moving computers around each time I want to update the GIMP. A second computer in the house (running windows xp) does have a network connection. While using gentoo, I would do
emerge -pretend -verbose <package name>
Then I would write down all the packages, download them from the windows computer-->USB drive-->copy to gentoo computer, then install the packages. A little time consuming, but it was less hassle than moving computers around. This also enabled me to get a copy of the latest portage tree as the entire tree can be downloaded in tarballed form (instead of doing an emerge -sync).
So my question would be, is it possible to do something similar on Arch? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Last edited by Fade (2008-06-27 21:25:39)

Answer 1

I used the custom repo option a week ago to install programs on a pc that did not have net access. It was a bit tedious, but it worked. Here are the steps I did:
1. Download core.db.tar.gz and extra.db.tar.gz from the mirror you use.
2. Transfer to the linux machine and extract in /var/lib/pacman/sync/{core,extra}
3. Run 'pacman -Sp package > pkgs.list'. This will place the urls for the package and all of its dependencies in a text file.
4. Transfer the list to the windows machine and run 'wget -i pkgs.list'. This will download all the packages. You will need to download wget for windows.
5. Transfer everything back to the linux machine, run 'repo-add custom.db.tar.gz *.pkg.tar.gz' to create the repo.
6. Add to pacman.conf, changing the path:
[custom]
Server = file:///media/usb/pkgs/
7. pacman -Sy package
I have not tried it, but you can probably skip steps 5 and 6 if you use --cachedir like lilsirecho says.
pacman --cachedir /media/usb/pkgs/ -Sy package