Having a hard dependency on a fast and reliable internet connection for syncing new packages to your system may - at times - be an obstacle.
This topic is intended to provide a - hands-on - proof of concept on how to overcome such obstacle.
Using a portable mirror is no different than using an online mirror - except the fact that you become your own mirror proovider.
Technically - with out too much hazzle - you can expand the availability to your local network - but for now let us stay with the portable mirror abstraction.
A word of warning: Do not cheap out on the device - use a branded device with good reputation of reliability and resilience to accidents like drops or moisture.
A normal Manjaro stable branch sees fewer sync than testing and unstable, so scheduling a monthly sync of your portable mirror would be sufficient, but you may choose to sync it more often when you have the option of a fast and realiable connection.
Create a Linux partition with (as miniminum) 128GB space and format it with ext4 and the label PortableMirror - do not use btrfs even if you prefer - it is not suited for this purpose.
To avoid accidental change of your PortableMirror device you should only change the device using root context.
This means you run the rsync script using sudo as this will ensure some integrity against accidental changes.
This also means we create the initial script using root contenxt
Mount the partition using the label PortableMirror on the designated temporary mountpoint /mnt.
sudo mount /dev/disk/by-label/PortableMirror /mntCreate a new file on the new partition - call it rsync-manjaro.sh. I am using micro as my terminal editor - replace micro with your preferred editor capable of obtaining root permissions for saving the file.
micro /mnt/rsync-manjaro.shPaste the following and save the file
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# This must be a relative path starting with the scripts location
# To accomodate for various ways of executing the script I have used
# this snippet to ensure we always know the exact path of the script
# https://www.baeldung.com/linux/bash-get-location-within-script
SCRIPT_PATH="${BASH_SOURCE}"
while [ -L "${SCRIPT_PATH}" ]; do
SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd -P "$(dirname "${SCRIPT_PATH}")" >/dev/null 2>&1 && pwd)"
SCRIPT_PATH="$(readlink "${SCRIPT_PATH}")"
[[ ${SCRIPT_PATH} != /* ]] && SCRIPT_PATH="${SCRIPT_DIR}/${SCRIPT_PATH}"
done
SCRIPT_PATH="$(readlink -f "${SCRIPT_PATH}")"
SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd -P "$(dirname -- "${SCRIPT_PATH}")" >/dev/null 2>&1 && pwd)"
# this will be the folder holding the portable mirror
TARGET="${SCRIPT_DIR}/PortableMirror"
# working variables
TMP="${SCRIPT_DIR}/tmp"
# lockfile will prevent multiple instances of the script process
# if the script is terminated mid execution
# you may need to manually remove the lockfile
LOCK="${TMP}/rsync-manjaro.lock"
# this is the mirror to sync from
# you æmay need to evaluate various mirrors to
# find one that supports checksum
SOURCE="rsync://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/manjaro/"
# assume checksum
CHECKSUM="-c"
# verify if checksum can be used
check=$(rsync --checksum --dry-run ${SOURCE})
[[ ${check} =~ "disabled" ]] && unset CHECKSUM
# create the targets
[ ! -d "${TARGET}" ] && mkdir -p "${TARGET}"
[ ! -d "${TMP}" ] && mkdir -p "${TMP}"
# exit if lockfile exist
exec 9>"${LOCK}"
flock -n 9 || exit
# if running from a timer or a cron job silence the output
if ! stty &>/dev/null; then
QUIET="-q"
fi
if [[ -z QUIET ]]; then
echo "--== SYNC PORTABLE MIRROR ==--"
echo "${SOURCE}"
echo "please wait ... "
fi
##################################################
###
### This rsync command creates a copy of stable repo
### where symlinks are converted to regular files
### Expect the size to be around 50GB to 80GB
### It is possible to reduce the size further
### by excluding signatures
### this requires to execute the update as
### SigLevel=TrustAll sudo pacman -Syu
###
##################################################
rsync -rtLv --safe-links \
--delete-after --progress -h \
--timeout=600 --contimeout=300 -p \
--delay-updates --no-motd \
--exclude="arm*" \
--exclude="pool" \
--exclude="testing" \
--exclude="unstable" \
--exclude="stable/kde-unstable" \
${QUIET} ${CHECKSUM} \
${SOURCE} \
"${TARGET}"
rm -f ${LOCK}
if [[ -z QUIET ]]; then
echo "${SOURCE}"
echo "Sync complete"
fiIf you have the internet connection and the time - run the script
sudo bash rsync-manjaro.shWhenever you have the option - once or twice a month - attach the device - mount it - open a terminal at the mount path - and execute above command to sync the portable mirror.
Your portable mirror goes into the custom mirrors catagory and according to the manpage you can use a custom mirror as a file based miror or server based mirror.
If you want to make it available in an air-gapped network (understood as no internet connection) then use a http based mirror.
If you want to use on a single air-gapped system (with no network at all) the file based mirror is also an option.
In either case you need to mount the partition - and because we labelled the disk you do not need to know the device path - just remember the label. You could even attach a sticker to the device with the label name - easy recognizable on the desk.
The core application pacman-mirrors allows you to specify a given mirror using command line.
First mount the device
sudo mount /dev/disk/by-label/PortableMirror /mntFor a file based mirror
sudo pacman-mirrors --api --url file:///mnt/PortableMirrorThe process for a http mirror is slightly different as you must first start a http service. The system Python contains a simple http service you can utilize for this purpose.
python -m http.server -d /mnt/PortableMirror 8080 &
sudo pacman-mirrors --api --url http://localhost:8080When ready
sudo pacman -SyuWhile the it initially requires some work and patience to sync the stable branch repo you are now able to install any application offline.
Remember this:
If you are going to rely on your portable mirror - it is advised to disable the timer and notification.
Instead of syncing your computer - sync your portable mirror - then sync your system using the portable mirror.
Posted at: Create and use a portable Manjaro mirror