[plug] /var/cache/apt/archives/?

[Peter]

Kev wrote:
> Greetings once again,
>
> If I take a copy of the contents of /var/cache/apt/archives/ and copy 
> it into the same place in a fresh installation of the same OS, how do 
> go about getting my package manager to see the files so copied and use 
> them instead of downloading them afresh?  I've tried an apt-get 
> update, but that didn't seem to do it.
>
> Tia
> Kev Downes
>
Hi Kev,

I recently did this as follows:

I copied the contents of /var/cache/apt/archives from a freshly updated 
install to the new (clean installed) PC.  In my case I am running the 
latest version of Linux Mint Helena 8 but the principal should be the same.

In a terminal, I then did:

~$ apt-get update   (make sure you have the most recent database updates.)
~$ apt-get check   (check the status of the current contents of your 
archives)
~$ apt-get upgrade  (upgrade everything to the latest versions)

There were a few differences but apt only needed to download about 9MB  
instead of 160MB in my case....

Hope this helps.