3 ms·

It's not exactly the same as what you described, but apt-offline[1][2] comes close. You run it on the offline machine to obtain a "signature" which is then used

• AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago
  So now I have to visit the target, then schlep back to the source, then back to the target again. What if it is several hours away? You know, the kind of place likely to not have an internet connection to do it itself?
  • nybble41 8y ago
    To solve the original problem of downloading all potential dependencies without any knowledge about the state of the target machine, I suppose you could just prepare a minimal Debian installation in a container with only essential packages and run "apt-get clean && apt-get -d install $package". In principle you could then copy the downloaded package files to the target and install them offline with dpkg. You'll probably end up downloading much more than you need, though. That's inevitable without two-way communication about the state of the target.
    • AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago
      That isn't actually a better solution than the bash and awk hacking that I'm trying to avoid though.