Ok, let me start off by saying that I'm one of those people who would rather download and install an .rpm or .deb without the use of a package manager. I would rather save it and its dependencies for use later b/c who knows if the site you got it from will still be around next time you go install it.

That said, I'm having a really hard time doing this for my n800/ 2008 OS. I'm able to dig around and find the .deb, but the dependencies I find always complain about being incompatible.

Is there any way I can save the installed packages and dependencies --- or at the very least, is there a folder where all the .debs are saved when I install them via the package manager?

Thanks in advance!

/var/cache/apt/archives

So, I just went to that directory, and it's empty. Does it clear out after a reboot? Should I find something there immediately after an install?

You need to install from comand line if you want the archives.

Or find this application manager settings which I can't remember..


Any decent package manager will keep archives..

go into red pill mode. then go to the settings menu. something about saving/clearing cache.

The application manager is configured to automatically run 'apt-get clean' when finished, so nothing is left over in /var/cache/apt/archives.

In any case: 'Manual' installation of .debs to avoid possible future unavailabilities of repos won't save you work, it'll instead just create lots of extra work in your day-to-day package managment, instead of the very rare once-off repo unavailability. Also, it doesn't matter which repo a package comes from, so if a package A depends on package B then package B can come from any old repo.

And lastly, if you simply just want to store any installed package locally then you can use apt-get install to install the packages, and avoid running apt-get clean ever. Unless configured to do otherwise, this will leave every installed package in /var/apt/cache/archives/, from where you could also copy to somewhere else for long-time storage. (Or just try to find the config the previous poster mentioned, if so you could continue to use the application manager.)

Yes, this is EXACTLY what I want to do. So, then from yours and everyone's feedback, I need to do all the stuff via command line.

Historically, I've ALWAYS saved my files. The more popular repositories I don't fear will go away, but the smaller, more obscure ones I do. Besides, there have been instances where I've been somewhere with slow or no internet connection AND I've had to do a clean install (not on my tablet, but my PC or cell phone) --- and I was hosed because I had no way to get what I needed until I got back home. "Never again," I said.

apt-get -o DPkg::Dir::Cache::Archives::="/path/to/new/archives" mypackage

You can even set this permanently, probably in /etc/apt/*conf*