how to install packages from the filesystem

[eggmatters]

Hi all,
I'm trying to get a wireless pcmia card setup on my desktop and in order to do so, I need to install certain packages, driver, kernel updates etc. As of now, I'm having some difficulty getting new packages installed on my system. I don't have internet access so, I'm trying to install the software to establish this.

Since I have to manually transfer the packages to my filesystem, I can't get apt-get update to actually find the packages. I've updated my etc/apt/sources.list for this. I'e also tried to use dpkg-deb, dpkg, aptitude, and dselect to no avail. Basically what happens is this:

I've downloaded the driver for my card, which is based on the Ralink R61 chipset. The package is:

RT_61_Linux_STA_DRV1[1].0.4.0.tar.gz (which isn't a package, I know but more on that later.)

In order to recompile the kernel, I need the kernel-source package which is:

kernel-source-2.6.8_2.6.8-16Sarge5_all.deb (which is a package)

and in order to use ifconfig and iwconfig i need:

wirless_tools.28.tar

I am running a 2.6.8-2-386 kernel from an installation disk titled Debian Gnu/Linux 3.1 r2 "Sarge" -official i386 Binary -1 on a 333mhz Celeron processor with most of the bus comprised of Silicon Integrated Systems (USB, pcmia bridge etc.)

So I have two questions / problems. After reading the accompanying installation manual and doing some research etc. I understand that I need to add the following to etc/apt/sources.list:

deb file:/home/eggmatters/Debian stable main and
deb-source file:/home/eggmatters/Debian stable main.

(As well as unstable, contrib etc.)

I have made a folder "Debian" as a package repository in /home/eggmatters.

So when I run apt-get-update, I get the following output:
-----------------------------------------------------------

eggmatters@eggsmachine:/etc/apt$ sudo apt-get update
Err file: stable/main Packages
File not found
Ign file: stable/main Release
Failed to fetch file:/home/eggmatters/Debian/dists/stable/main/binary-i386/Packages.gz File not found

Reading Package Lists... Done

W: Couldn't stat source package list file: stable/main Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/_home_eggmatters_Debian_dists_stable_main_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)

W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems

E: Some index files failed to download, they have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

So, It appeared that it was looking for the file tree:
/home/eggmatters/Debian/dists/stable/main/binary-i386/
So i created that tree from the /home/eggmatters/Debian and put the package into the binary-i386 folder and ran it again but got the same response. I have no idea what or where packages.gz is, (except a gunzipped file, that is) but no documentation covers it. Nor can I find any information on what the problem is with the following:

W: Couldn't stat source package list file: stable/main Packages (/var/lib/apt/lists/_home_eggmatters_Debian_dists_stable_main_binary-i386_Packages) - stat (2 No such file or directory)

After investigating /var/lib/apt/lists, I have no idea what I'm supposed to do.

Trying some other packages with the same process yielded the same results. Even after running apt-setup and selecting filesystem. (It didn't even update my sources.list file after supplying a /home/eggmatters/Debian path.)

My other burning question concerns the tar files. Where do I unzip them, or specifically, where do I find documentation about where they should be placed in the filesystem. So, any insights would be apreciated. I apologise for the verbosity of this, but I realize that you folks want specific information and a question, "How do I install packages from the filesystem?" Would yield replies to avenues already explored (edit sources.list, apt-setup etc.)

Thank you for your time with this,

eggmatters

[iwanabeguru]

hi
for create your own repository , read the apt howto ,you can dowload from the home page of debian.

install kernell source
i think you installed debian from cd , add your cds to the apt/sources list with apt-cdrom (read : man apt-cdrom) and
apt-get install kernel-source-2.6.8
dpkg -i kernel-source-2.6.8_2.6.8-16Sarge5_all.deb

install the driver
tar xfz RT_61_Linux_STA_DRV1[1].0.4.0.tar.gz
cd to the directoy which unpacked from the .tar.gz
./configure
make
make install //only root can do that

install wireless-tools
if you can ,download the wireless-tools package from debian.org (google is a good friend) , and dpkg -i wireless-tools*.deb

or from the source
i saw its only a tar archive without compression
tar xf wireless-tools.tar
cd to the directory
./configure
make
make install

[jonantice]

If you can just download packages and install them with no problems then that's great but you might fall into "dependency hell". I've been in dependency hell many times and fought myself out the hard way: downloading packages and all their dependencies one at a time.
This might help although I've never used it myself http://debian.pffa.de/ger/howto/apt-zip.html

[eggmatters]

I don't understand jonantice comment, "If you can just download packages and install them with no problems then that's great" how else are you supposed to install packages? Besides, I cant download packages because I can't recompile the kernel because I need to install package-source***.deb. I'm not sure what it's dependencies are because its kernel source code.

As far as iwanabe a guru's reply is concerned. I provided detailed explanations of what my problems were and also explicitly stated that I had read all of the documentation. I understand that it's a kneejerk reaction to just tell somebody to read the man pages but, if you look carefully at the problem I'm having, your solution is not effective

Thanks for your help and replies though.

[bigtomrodney]

If you have downloaded the necessary .deb install files you can install them in a terminal (gnome-terminal, xterm, konsole) using

dpkg -i /path/to/kernel-source-2.6.8_2.6.8-16Sarge5_all.deb

The problem with doing it this way is that if their are any dependencies it will ask you for the missing packages so this can be quite laborious.

The tar or tar.gz files you have cannot be installed using a pacakge manager because they are not packages in that sense. They are source packages which need to be built manually. Debian packages will all end in .deb. basically with any of the source packages you need to do the following -

cd /path/to/your_package_name.tar.gz
tar xvf your_package_name.tar.gz
./configure
make
sudo make install

You will be prompted for your root password when running the last command.

You're trying to set up wireless tools - is it at all possible to get this machine temporarily to the router and connect using ethernet? The method you are using will work but it will be incredibly long winded and frustrating. You are likely to have many dependency errors and required packages. Synaptic/apt-get could probably have this all sorted in 10 minutes if it were at all possible.

[eggmatters]

This is what I get when I run dpkg -i:


@eggsmachine:~/test_kern$ sudo dpkg -i kernel-source-2.6.8_2.6.8-16sar ge5_all.deb

(Reading database ... 52829 files and directories currently installed.)

Unpacking kernel-source-2.6.8 (from kernel-source-2.6.8_2.6.8-16sarge5_all.deb) ...

dpkg-deb (subprocess): short read in buffer_copy (failed to write to pipe in cop y)
dpkg-deb: subprocess paste returned error exit status 2

dpkg: error processing kernel-source-2.6.8_2.6.8-16sarge5_all.deb (--install):

short read in buffer_copy (backend dpkg-deb during `./usr/src/kernel-source-2.6 .8.tar.bz2')

Errors were encountered while processing:
kernel-source-2.6.8_2.6.8-16sarge5_all.deb
eggmatters@eggsmachine:~/test_kern

----------------------------------------------

test_kern is simply a directory where I put the .deb file. I'll have to google these errors or something. I'll let you know what I come up with.

[eggmatters]

I'm so close I can smell it. I found a document:

http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/ap...g-scanpackages

with a bit more detail than all of my other sources. I followed it to the letter and got just a wee bit closer.

I made a /root/debs file Ifrom root) and then an override file emulating the one on my install cd. I chickened out though and just passed /dev/null to the command as shown below:

--------------------------------------------------------------------
eggsmachine:~# dpkg-scanpackages debs /dev/null | gzip > debs/Packages.gz

** Packages in archive but missing from override file: **
(thats because i didnt supply one)

kernel-source-2.6.8


Wrote 1 entries to output Packages file.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Alright it worked! Let's install that thing.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

eggsmachine:~# dpkg -i kernel-source-2.6.8

dpkg: error processing kernel-source-2.6.8 (--install):

cannot access archive: No such file or directory

Errors were encountered while processing:

kernel-source-2.6.8
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, what does aptitude have to say?

--------------------------------------------------------------------

eggsmachine:~# aptitude

--------------------------------------------------------------------

forgoing the aptitudes output, it shows that it's waiting to be installed complete with descriptions, dependencies, all that. I cant install it directly from aptitude though so,

--------------------------------------------------------------------

eggsmachine:~# apt-get install kernel-source-2.6.8

Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
Suggested packages:
libncurses-dev kernel-package libqt3-mt-dev

The following NEW packages will be installed:

kernel-source-2.6.8

0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

Need to get 0B/1919kB of archives.

After unpacking 35.1MB of additional disk space will be used.

E: Archive is too short

--------------------------------------------------------------------
?????????????????????????????????????????????
Archive is too short?
--------------------------------------------------------------------

E: Prior errors apply to /root/debs/kernel-source-2.6.8_2.6.8-16sarge5_all.deb
(Reading database ... 52829 files and directories currently installed.)

Unpacking kernel-source-2.6.8 (from .../kernel-source-2.6.8_2.6.8-16sarge5_all.deb) ...

dpkg-deb (subprocess): short read in buffer_copy (failed to write to pipe in copy)

--------------------------------------------------------------------
????????????
What is this error?
--------------------------------------------------------------------

dpkg-deb: subprocess paste returned error exit status 2

dpkg: error processing /root/debs/kernel-source-2.6.8_2.6.8-16sarge5_all.deb (--unpack):

short read in buffer_copy (backend dpkg-deb during `./usr/src/kernel-source-2.6.8.tar.bz2')

Errors were encountered while processing:
/root/debs/kernel-source-2.6.8_2.6.8-16sarge5_all.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
--------------------------------------------------------------------

And so on. Following is my sources.list just for posterity:

--------------------------------------------------------------------

eggsmachine:~#
eggsmachine:/# cat etc/apt/sources.list

#deb file:///cdrom/ sarge main


#deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 r2 _Sarge_ - Official i386 Binary-2 (20060419)]/ unstable main

#deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 r2 _Sarge_ - Official i386 Binary-1 (20060419)]/ unstable contrib main


deb file:/root debs/

--------------------------------------------------------------------

So what could be sparking these errors? Why can't I install from aptitude?
or dpkg for that matter?