PPA Mirror Docker

Dockerized PPA downloader for apt installs.

Why

Since Ubuntu 20.04, snap is the new package management standard for Ubuntu, over the old-school apt. Unlike apt, snap packages embark all dependencies into a single file to be easily deployed (packages are self-contained).

However, it requires tricky configuration for offline infrastructures. For example, in Ubuntu 22.04, Chromium is not in the official apt mirror anymore, which is either installable through snap or through the install of a PPA (Personal Packages Archives). This is not possible on "on-the-edge" infrastructures because it requires Internet.

This repositories allows to easily retrieve files from a specific PPA for Ubuntu systems, for packages to be downloadable through the traditional apt command.

It is useful for large-clients infrastructures. Another reason might be snap is not allowed to be used by your organization.

Note : If you are allowed to use snap and only have 1 package to download, you might consider downloading it manually.

Downloading & updating

1. Copy and edit the .env file with your own configuration

   cp .env.example .env

2. Run the mirror container :

   docker-compose build
   docker-compose run mirror

Tips: We recommend you downloading the mirror from a cloud provider and then transfer files to your computer.

Serving

1. Check your mirroring succeeded typing du -sh ./mirror to check the folder volume. Size varies depending on the PPA downloaded.

2. Run the server :

   docker-compose up -d server

   Server will run on localhost:8080

Client configuration

1. Add the GPG keys of the downloaded PPAs

   cat ./mirror/ppa.launchpadcontent.net/savoury1/ffmpeg4/ubuntu/savoury1-ffmpeg4.pgp | gpg --no-default-keyring --keyring gnupg-ring:/etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/savoury1-ffmpeg4.pgp --import -
   cat ./mirror/ppa.launchpadcontent.net/savoury1/chromium/ubuntu/savoury1-chromium.pgp | gpg --no-default-keyring --keyring gnupg-ring:/etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/savoury1-chromium.pgp --import -

2. Make your Ubuntu computer point to your mirror by creating a /etc/apt/source.list.d/ppa-mirror.list file as follow :

   # For default example with ppa.launchpadcontent.net/savoury1 on Ubuntu Jammy (amd64)
   deb [arch=amd64] http://localhost:8080/ppa.launchpadcontent.net/savoury1/ffmpeg4/ubuntu jammy main
   deb [arch=amd64] http://localhost:8080/ppa.launchpadcontent.net/savoury1/chromium/ubuntu jammy main
   

👉 Feel free to add a reverse proxy or update the nginx configuration file to secure the mirror with SSL/TLS
👉 Feel free to send pull requests as well !