** IMPORTANT ** mini-dinstall has some error checking, but it is not perfect. If it breaks, you get to keep both pieces. ** IMPORTANT ** First, you should probably set up a ~/.mini-dinstall.conf (or /etc/mini-dinstall.conf), but it's not strictly necessary; the defaults may suit you. Try copying the example file. If you do copy the example file, be sure to change the "mail_to" variable. mini-dinstall can be run either as a daemon (the default), or via cron. To run mini-dinstall as a daemon, just type: mini-dinstall It will automatically create any directories necessary. You should have set up a ~/.mini-dinstall.conf first. To run via cron: mini-dinstall --batch Running from cron is less than ideal. Currently there is no support for rejecting stale uploads; plus, it's less efficient. You may find it useful to run with --no-act at first, to see what is going to happen without making any changes. The archive layout is not (yet) configurable. It consists of separate distribution directories (the defaults are "sid" and "woody"), and then architecture-specific subdirectories (the defaults are "all", "i386", "sparc", and "powerpc"). Here's what an example apt line looks like: deb http://monk.debian.net/~walters/debian/ local/$(ARCH)/ deb http://monk.debian.net/~walters/debian/ local/all/ deb-src http://monk.debian.net/~walters/debian/ local/source/ In general, this should look like: deb // /$(ARCH)/ deb // /all/ deb-src // /source/ mini-dinstall will pick up on any upload (i.e. .changes) you stick in an archive directory, and install the file. It will automatically remove older versions of the package files, with one exception: if there are both binaries and source for a particular version, and you're installing a newer version .changes with source and binaries for a different arch, the old source will not be removed. That's it for now...enjoy! -- Colin Walters Tue, 13 Aug 2002 15:35:09 -0400