I have thought of a solution involving a Python script that is simple enough for me to work on, without having to touch apt-get code.
The reason this bug is important to me is that I have a slow Internet connection. A more general solution is to implement a network shared package cache like Pacserve[1] or pkgdistcache[2]. It doesn't matter that apt is locked during a download if the packages are already in the local cache (/var/cache/apt/archives/) because the download stage is instantaneous. My script will run a virtual package server on localhost which should be set as the only repository in Software Sources. When my script receives a request it starts downloading the package from the quickest location, and sends an error to the apt client. My script will then get a complete list of packages to download, and the package manager will exit. I will also make a wrapper for apt-get so that when the download is finished, installation can proceed automatically. Synaptic will require bug #80753 to be fixed so that the lock is only made when changes are applied. It then also needs to integrate with the download script to display progress and proceed with installation automatically. Ubuntu Software Centre would just need to integrate with the script because it is not affected by bug #80753 anyway. So I'm assigning this bug to me, but for Synaptic this solution is blocked by bug #80753, so can someone please try to fix that. [1] http://xyne.archlinux.ca/projects/pacserve/ [2] http://venator.ath.cx/dw/doku.php?id=linux:pkgdistcache ** Changed in: apt Assignee: (unassigned) => James Haigh (james.r.haigh) ** Changed in: apt Status: New => In Progress -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/830492 Title: Downloads should not lock apt To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/apt/+bug/830492/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
