Okay, I understand how I may use apt-get {install|remove} mypackages
and apt-get upgrade
to install, upgrade, or remove binaries as well as their configuration data files and dependencies (actually, remove
will only remove the binaries unless additional flags are provided).
I am not looking for how it is used as the man
describes this, but high level what it is doing. My end goal is to create a means for me to install and manage some custom software (created by a make file) on multiple remote machines, and I need to learn more about the process. If answers to this question are based on which distribution is used, please tailor to Debian.
In addition to generally how it works, I have the following specific questions:
- How does the client that is accessing the apt repository keep track of the files?
- Must the repository be hosted on the same operating system (i.e. can apt repository be hosted on redhat)?
- How are the locations to install files specified? Is this specified by the
.deb
file? - How is a remote machine accessing the repository? Is it just ftp(s) or http(s)?
- Is the machine that is hosting the repository running special software (like gitlab for a git repository), or is it just some structured file system?