How to select specific version for Debian distribution and packages.

[Holger Parplies]

Hi,

Steffen Grunewald wrote on 2017-07-13 17:10:18 +0200 [Re: R: How to select specific version for Debian distribution and packages.]:
> On Thu, 2017-07-13 at 15:40:35 +0200, Giorgio Buffa wrote:
> > I need to be able to automatically re-create the exact system (OS and
> > configuration) provided to my customer. The documentation says the system
> > must be Debian v8.0.0. That's the reason behind my request.
> 
> Your customer didn't apply any updates, including security ones? 8-(
> 
> Anyway, according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian_version_history#Debian_8_.28Jessie.29
> you are looking for a 20150426 datestamp.

in general, you need a package repository with these exact packages. If you
have a source with the correct package versions you need and no newer ones,
then you will install the correct package versions from it. Period.

For example, you could mount the BD image for 8.0 on a local server and export
that (or copy together the DVD images, but you'd need to regenerate the
Packages and Release files and so on, so I'd prefer the BD image if you have
it or can get hold of it; hmm ... for jessie, there is probably more than one
BD image, but if you're lucky, the first one will contain all the packages you
need for installation).
Or import the packages from the DVDs into a reprepro repository or something
similar. (With reprepro, you can even keep snapshots, so if you know ahead of
time, just freeze the current state as a snapshot when you do the initial
install - or after importing packages from DVDs, if you also want to track
newer point releases.)

You could even update your repository to include security updates you did
install and even local packages, so you'd always have a repository containing
the exact packages relevant to your customer. Since disk space is cheap, that
might be safer or easier (or faster) than relying on external resources.

Just note that you would also need a basefile generated from these packages.
If you used a newer basefile, packages already installed at that point would
not be downgraded to match your repository (and there might even be conflicts).

Hope that helps.

Regards,
Holger