PKGD(1)								       PKGD(1)



NAME
       pkgd - share your pacman packages over your lan


SYNOPSIS
       pkgd [options]


DESCRIPTION
       PkgD  (Package Daemon) is intended to facilitate package sharing over a
       LAN to avoid unnecessary downloads from the external network.  By  run‐
       ning  a	network	 of  pkgds  you	 can create the equivalent of a shared
       cache.


CONFIGURING PKGD
       Select at least one computer on which to run a "master" pkgd. This will
       be  the	server	that  you   connect  to	 when attempting  to  retrieve
       packages. A master pkgd does not require any special  configuration  to
       make  it	 a  master.  Master  status is determined by how other "slave"
       pkgds are configured.

       Once the master pkgd is set up, you should start a "slave" pkgd on  the
       other   computers  in  your  network.  You should  configure each slave
       to point to the master by adding a "Master =  <address:port>"  line  to
       the slave's configuration file, e.g. "Master = 192.168.0.1:14687".

       When  the master pkgd is queried for a package, it will first check its
       own cache. If the  package  is  not  found then	it  will   check  each
       slave pkgd that it knows about for the package until either the package
       is found or it has queried all of the slaves. If the package cannot  be
       found, the master pkgd will  return  a  "404  Not  Found"error.

       Alternative  network  topologies are supported, including cyclical mas‐
       ter-slave relationships. Pkgd should detect and	prevent	 infinite-loop
       queries	so  you	 should experiment with other setups to find one which
       works for you.


ARCHITECTURES
       It may be necessary to take system architecture into account when  run‐
       ning PkgD. Previously, packages in the community repo had the architec‐
       ture stripped from  the	package	 filename  which  created  overlapping
       namespaces  between different architectures. This is no longer done but
       there may still be some packages which have not yet been updated to the
       current naming scheme. In the event that a package for the wrong archi‐
       tecture is downloaded, Pacman should detect a mismatched	 checksum  and
       refuse to install the package.


PORTS AND SECURITY
       You  must  open	a  port	 for PkgD when running it on a computer with a
       firewall or other computers in your LAN will not be able to connect  to
       it  (yes, I realize that if you have a firewall on Arch Linux, then you
       probably don't need to be told this, but it's better to	be  too	 clear
       than  not  clear	 enough).  However, you do not need to, nor should you
       open ports in your router's firewall or any other firewall which stands
       between	your  LAN and an external network. PkgD is only intended to be
       used on a LAN to avoid downloads from the external network.

       Although the author has tried  to  avoid	 potential  security  exploits
       while  writing  the  code, this has not been a primary focus nor is the
       author a security expert. As the license states,	 PkgD  comes  with  NO
       WARRANTY whatsoever. If you wish to deploy it in an unsafe environment,
       you are advised to review the code yourself.


PACMAN
       To use PkgD with Pacman, simply specify the  PkgD  master  servers  the
       same  way  that you specify other http servers in the Pacman configura‐
       tion file, e.g.

	   [core]

	   Server = http://192.168.0.1:14687/$repo

       Place the master PkgD server(s) at the top of each repo section	or  at
       the  top of your mirrorlist to make sure that Pacman checks them before
       downloading from an external server.

       Note that pacman will report an error when a PkgD server cannot find  a
       package.	 It  will then move on to the next server in the list. This is
       due to the way pacman handle's 404 errors. Despite the  errors,	pacman
       will  continue to retrieve packages as expected. Note that these errors
       can be avoided by using Powerpill.


OPTIONS
       PkgD recognizes the following options:



       --address, -a <address>
	      Bind PkgD to this address, e.g. "-a 192.168.0.1". Leave it blank
	      to allow access to PkgD through all interfaces.


       --cachedir <path>
	      The  path	 to  the  package cache. Multiple may be specified and
	      they will be checked in that order.

	      This option may be repeated to pass multiple values.


       --config <path>
	      The path to the PkgD configuration file.


       --get-config-template
	      Display a configuration file template and exit.


       --get-pid
	      Return the pid of a running PkgD. This is	 mostly	 for  handling
	      PkgD daemons.


       --help, -h
	      Display the help message and exit.


       --interval, -i <int>
	      The  PkgD	 master	 notification  interval (in seconds), i.e. how
	      often PkgD should inform master PkgDs that it is available.  The
	      default is five minutes (300 s).


       --log, -l <arg>
	      The PkgD log file.


       --man  Display the man page and exit.


       --man-nroff
	      Display the man page in nroff format and exit.


       --master, -m <address:port>
	      An address and port of a master PkgD. Multiple may be specified.

	      This option may be repeated to pass multiple values.


       --max-depth <int>
	      The  maximum number of nodes in each query path, e.g. each imme‐
	      diate slave is the first node, each slave of a slave is a second
	      node, etc.


       --port, -p <port>
	      The  port	 on which to listen, e.g. "-p 44567". The default port
	      is 14687


       --quiet, -q
	      Suppress console output (this has no effect on logging).




AUTHORS
       Xyne




				 January 2010			       PKGD(1)