How to Create a Local Debian Mirror or Ubuntu Repository

Looking to set up and create a local Ubuntu mirror or Debian mirror or host your own Debian repository or Ubuntu Repository? You can use your local hard drive or a network drive and share your mirror over a network or even on the internet. Having your own Debian Linux or Ubuntu mirrors enables you to drastically speed up the process of installing packages or complete netbuilds on one or more networked Linux PCs.

How to Create a Local Debian Mirror Repository

In the following steps, I’ll guide you through the process of creating a local Debian mirror. The primary goal is to allow you to use a local repository to quickly install packages or perform Debian Linux builds on computers from your own local network.

NOTE: This method can be edited and used for building local Ubuntu mirrors too, if desired. To do this, simply replace the Debian sources with Ubuntu sources.

First, open a terminal Ctrl+Alt+T and type the following to become root:
```
sudo su
```
Next, update your package list and install the prerequisites for hosting a local mirror:
```
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install apt-mirror apache2 rsync
```

Then, backup your existing mirror.list:

mv /etc/apt/mirror.list /etc/apt/backup-mirror.list

Now, you can proceed to create a new mirror list entry. Note that you can use the "gedit" command in place of "nano" if you have the graphical editor installed:
```
nano /etc/apt/mirror.list
```

Add the following to your mirror list for Debian bookworm. Once finished, save the file:

## apt-mirror configuration file
## The following are default configuration options (uncomment the singular # to change)
# set base_path /var/spool/apt-mirror
# set mirror_path $base_path/mirror
# set skel_path $base_path/skel
# set var_path $base_path/var
# set defaultarch amd64
# set nthreads 20
set _tilde 0

## sources
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free
deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free
deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main 
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free
deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-backports main 
deb-src http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-backports main contrib non-free

Finally, type the following to begin creating a local mirror:
```
apt-mirror
```

This entire process will take a while (it could even take hours depending on your connection speed), so it's best to start this process when you plan to be away from your computer for some time. Once finished, you can find your Debian mirrors stored in subdirectories located at /var/spool/apt-mirror/mirror/.

Make Your Debian Mirror Available over HTTP

To access your Debian mirror on a network, replace localhost in the following steps with the IP address of the PC hosting the Local Debian Repository.

From the terminal, use the ln command to create a symbolic link for Debian:

ln -s /var/spool/apt-mirror/mirror/ftp.us.debian.org/debian /var/www/debian

Then, create a symbolic link for debian-security:

ln -s /var/spool/apt-mirror/mirror/security.debian.org/debian-security /var/www/debian-security

Make sure the web server user (e.g., www-data) has proper permissions to access these directories:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/debian
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/debian-security

Now you’ll want to backup your original apt sources list:
```
mv /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/backup-sources.list
```

Then, edit the apt sources list to include your local Debian source repositories:

gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Add the following deb sources, replacing <your-server-ip> with the actual IP address of your mirror server:

deb http://<your-server-ip>/debian bookworm main contrib non-free
deb-src http://<your-server-ip>/debian bookworm main contrib non-free
deb http://<your-server-ip>/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free
deb-src http://<your-server-ip>/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free
deb http://<your-server-ip>/debian bookworm-updates main 
deb-src http://<your-server-ip>/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free
deb http://<your-server-ip>/debian bookworm-backports main 
deb-src http://<your-server-ip>/debian bookworm-backports main contrib non-free

Finally, update your system to make sure all packages are current:
```
sudo apt-get update
```

That's all there is to it! You should now be able to perform all of your package management locally. I hope this helps you enjoy the ability to install Debian packages from your own local mirror or repository.

How to Create a Local Ubuntu Mirror Repository

Similar to the Debian mirror repository, follow these steps to create a local Ubuntu mirror. This will allow you to quickly install packages or perform Ubuntu builds on your local network.

First, open a terminal Ctrl+Alt+T and type the following to become root:
```
sudo su
```
Next, update your package list and install the prerequisites for hosting a local mirror:
```
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install apt-mirror apache2 rsync
```

Then, backup your existing mirror.list:

mv /etc/apt/mirror.list /etc/apt/backup-mirror.list

Now, you can proceed to create a new mirror list entry:
```
nano /etc/apt/mirror.list
```

Add the following to your mirror list for Ubuntu jammy (22.04). If you prefer to use lunar (23.04), replace all instances of jammy with lunar:

## apt-mirror configuration file
set _tilde 0

## sources
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-security main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse

Finally, type the following to begin creating a local mirror:
```
apt-mirror
```

This entire process may also take some time, depending on your connection speed. Once finished, you can find your Ubuntu mirrors stored in subdirectories located at /var/spool/apt-mirror/mirror/.

Make Your Ubuntu Mirror Available via HTTP

To access your Ubuntu mirror on a network, replace localhost in the following steps with the IP address of the PC hosting the Local Ubuntu Repository.

From the terminal, use the ln command to create a symbolic link for Ubuntu:

ln -s /var/spool/apt-mirror/mirror/archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu /var/www/ubuntu

Make sure the web server user (e.g., www-data) has proper permissions to access these directories:
```
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/ubuntu
```
Now you’ll want to backup your original apt sources list:
```
mv /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/backup-sources.list
```

Then, edit the apt sources list to include your local Ubuntu source repositories:

gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

Add the following deb sources, replacing <your-server-ip> with the actual IP address of your mirror server:

deb http://<your-server-ip>/ubuntu jammy main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://<your-server-ip>/ubuntu jammy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://<your-server-ip>/ubuntu jammy-security main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://<your-server-ip>/ubuntu jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse

Finally, update your system to ensure all packages are current:
```
sudo apt-get update
```

That's all there is to it! You should now be able to perform all of your package management locally for both Debian and Ubuntu.

Keeping a Debian or Ubuntu Repository Updated

Optionally, you can set up a cron job to keep your local mirror or repository updated regularly. To do this, type the following:

sudo crontab -e

Then, add the following line:

0 4 * * * /usr/bin/apt-mirror

This will run the mirror update process every day at 4 AM.