FS#6554 - installer should create package cache

Attached to Project: Arch Linux
Opened by Roman Kyrylych (Romashka) - Thursday, 08 March 2007, 14:15 GMT
Last edited by Tobias Powalowski (tpowa) - Sunday, 06 May 2007, 08:12 GMT
Task Type Feature Request
Category Installation
Status Closed
Assigned To Tobias Powalowski (tpowa)
Architecture not specified
Severity Low
Priority Normal
Reported Version 0.7.2 Gimmick
Due in Version Undecided
Due Date Undecided
Percent Complete 100%
Votes 0
Private No

Details

Newly installed system has an empty package cache.
IMO it would be better to tell pacman to place all installed packages in package cache.
This can be done by setting package cache path to /mnt/var/cache/pacman/pkg in installer's pacman.conf.

Having all installed packages in package cache is useful for some situations (downgrading, using package cache to create custom install CDs etc.) and I don't see the reason why package cache shouldn't be populated during install process too (not only during usual upgrades).
This task depends upon

This task blocks these from closing
 FS#6767 - Post 0.8 Installation ISO bugs and feature requests 
Closed by  Tobias Powalowski (tpowa)
Sunday, 06 May 2007, 08:12 GMT
Reason for closing:  Fixed
Comment by Łukasz Fibinger (lucke) - Thursday, 08 March 2007, 15:38 GMT
Space could be a constraint.
Comment by Roman Kyrylych (Romashka) - Thursday, 08 March 2007, 16:10 GMT
lucke, how is this different from doing regular pacman -S? In both cases pacman caches packages, and in both cases -Scc could be used to clean cache.

My point is that installing packages by installer shouldn't differ from regular package installing in terms of package caching.

Hm, I just noticed that pacman doesn't have any option to set the path to package cache, but it acn be easily workarounded by creating a symlink from /var/cache/pacman/pkg to /mnt/var/cache/pacman/pkg.
Comment by Łukasz Fibinger (lucke) - Thursday, 08 March 2007, 17:23 GMT
You're right indeed, but there's a (quite unlikely) case to consider when someone installs to a very small root partition. If you try to set up a basic server on an archaic 1GB drive, those ~140 MB of base packages could put you in trouble.

It doesn't mean that I don't support your idea ;-) Just came to my mind when I read this request.
Comment by Roman Kyrylych (Romashka) - Thursday, 08 March 2007, 17:36 GMT
Depending on how it will be implemented either removing the symling or answering No to installer's question should help. :-P
I'll try to cook a patch to see how this all will work.
Comment by Tobias Powalowski (tpowa) - Sunday, 06 May 2007, 08:12 GMT
added new dialog to setup, which defaults to NO not use package cache

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