How Do I Use Apt with an Offline Mirror of a PPA Repository?

Question

I'm a Linux noob but a longtime Windows/DOS user. I'm running Ubuntu Trusty on an air-gap network (see below).

As a baseline, I'm already able to use APT with an offline Ubuntu repository to install anything that's available in the Ubuntu repos: main, universe, etc. My offline Ubuntu repository is stored on a USB hard drive. I'm having difficulty doing the same thing with a PPA repository.

My setup is:

A. Windows 7 PC connected to Internet through corporate network.
B. Ubuntu (Trusty) PC on "air-gap" network.

I want to use APT to install KiCad 4 (h++p://kicad-pcb.org/download/ubuntu/) on my air-gap Ubuntu PC.

I've done the following on the Windows PC:
1. I setup pyapt-mirror, h++ps://launchpad.net/pyapt-mirror, on my Windows PC.
2. I pointed pyapt-mirror to the KiCad repo: h++p://ppa.launchpad.net/js-reynaud/kicad-4/ubuntu trusty main
3. I ran pyapt-mirror and successfully downloaded the PPA to my Windows PC.
4. I copied the local mirror from my Windows PC to a USB hard drive.

I've done the following on the Ubuntu PC:
5. Moved the USB hard drive to my Ubuntu PC and used 'tree -d' to confirm that the PPA is visible:

/media/<user>/<volname>/ppa.launchpad.net/js-reynaud/kicad-4/ubuntu
├── dists
│   └── trusty
│       └── main
│           └── binary-amd64
└── pool
    └── main
        ├── k
        │   ├── kicad
        │   ├── kicad-doc
        │   ├── kicad-i18n
        │   └── kicad-library
        └── w
            ├── wxpython3.0
            └── wxwidgets3.0

I created the sources list file like this:

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sources.list
In that file, I added this string (the only string in the file):

deb file:///media///ppa.launchpad.net/js-reynaud/kicad-4/ubuntu trusty main

Note that I opened Ubuntu Software Center and selected Edit -> Software Sources… -> Other Software.. and I can see my new entry:

file:///media/<user>/<volname>/ppa.launchpad.net/js-reynaud/kicad-4/ubuntu trusty main

In a terminal I typed:

sudo add-apt-repository –yes ppa:js-reynaud/kicad-4

After a few seconds it responds:

Cannot add PPA: 'ppa:js-reynaud/kicad-4'. Please check that the PPA name or format is correct.

I need some suggestions for what to try next.

Thanks,

-Rob

How Do I Use Apt with an Offline Mirror of a PPA Repository?

0 Answers0