How to update programs in Arch Linux without having an internet connection

Gnu / Linux and its distributions are very versatile, powerful and safe operating systems. For many situations they are more useful than Windows or macOS, but they require elements that in many parts of the world are not as accessible as, for example, the Internet connection.

Continents like the African or the American still have parts and areas where Internet connection is difficult or impossible. It is for this reason that we are going to tell you about this tutorial, because we do not always have access to the Internet but we need to update certain computer programs. This time we will talk about how to do it on Arch Linux, a rolling release distribution that is always up-to-date and does not wait for the release of specific versions.

To update programs in Arch Linux without having an Internet connection we will need a large capacity usb, in case we want to update more than one program, a computer with an internet connection and the Packup script. This script updates programs by emulating the Internet connection. You can find it in your GitHub repository.

En the computer that has an Internet connection we will need to do the following:

sudo pacman -S nodejs npm

cd /run/media/sk/bce5f14a-097a-41c5-88ec-c38e20410182/ ( el último código hemos de cambiarlo por la dirección de montaje de USB)

git clone https://github.com/cookiengineer/packup;

cd packup/

./backup.js;

sync;

After a few minutes, we will disassemble the usb to use it on the computer that does not have an Internet connection.

Now the computer that does not have an internet connection we have to do the following:

sudo pacman -S nodejs npm

cd /mnt/packup/

sudo cp ./sync/*.db /var/lib/pacman/sync/;

./upgrade.js;

Y for clean the USB memory we have to do following:

cd /path/to/usb/drive/packup/

./clean.js;

sync;

With this we will have an ideal system for update programs in Arch Linux without needing to be connected to the Internet. Ideal for sites where the Internet connection is poor or non-existent. As well as for computer rooms where it is not necessary for all computers to have Internet access.