REPOSITORY PROXY
----------------

Repo-proxy is a package repository proxy.  When a package manager is configured
to use repo-proxy, all package requests will be copied and stored in a local
cache directory for future use.  If you have more than one machine on a local
network they can all share the same package download cache saving you not only
bandwidth, but lengthy download times as well.

If you have only one machine, this isn't terribly exciting, but can still be
useful saving repeat updates if you need to later re-install packages.

Repo-proxy can be run using several different methods to accept requests from
clients (package managers such as apt-get or smart) for Release and/or Package
files.  When a request is received for a cached file, repo-proxy returns
the local file immediately.  Otherwise the file is fetched from the remote
repository source (internet) and served back to the client while simultaneously
saving a copy to the local cache.  Future requests for the same package will
go directly to the local cache without contacting the repository source.  Each
package is only downloaded once, no matter how many local machines request the
same package.

Repo-proxy requires no additional support applications to run.

FEATURES
---------

1.  Requires no additional tools or services to run.  Completely self contained.
2.  Easily installed, configured, and removed.  Automatically updates repository
    sources (if allowed).
3.  Packages are only cached as they are downloaded (installed).  No need to
    copy the entire repository.
4.  Fast.  Package downloads are copied simultaneously with no noticable impact
    on total package download times.
5.  Neither clients or sources are checked for any kind of restrictions.  Clients
    are presumed to be coming from an internal local network and sources are
    set according to the package manager setup.  Neither should require checking.
    (this may be considered a bug)
6.  Packages that have been replaced with newer versions are not cleared from
    the cache.  (this may be considered a bug)


REQUIREMENTS
------------
Perl 5.005 or above

Core Modules:
 Fcntl qw(:DEFAULT :flock);
 Socket;
 Sys::Syslog;
 POSIX qw(:sys_wait_h);

INSTALL REPO-PROXY
------------------
The latest released or current version is available at
http://www.littlefish.ca/projects/repo-proxy

1. copy the repo-proxy-X.XX.tgz file to a local directory
   and unpack the archive.

    for example:
        download to ~/repo-proxy-X.XX.tgz

    cd ~/
    tar -zxvpf repo-proxy-X.XX.tgz

2. run install script and follow the instructions

   cd ~/repo-proxy-X.XX
   ./install

3. That's it!  You're done!

To find more information, read the /etc/repo-proxy.conf file
and/or type:

   repo-proxy -h

to get more command line options

10/17/2007

projects.AT.littlefish.ca

