UBuntu Offline Updater

Hey guys. I'm trying out Ubuntu 7.04 on a dual boot Windows 2000/Ubuntu system, and I want to know: Is there an Offline Updater package available that would allow me to download the Ubuntu updates, and then update a system that isn't connected to the internet?

Just use the standard Synaptic package manager - you have a "download packages only" option there.

...And is there a way to combine those packages to create an updater similar to a Windows Service Pack? Or do I have to apply each package individually?

Also, is there also a way to transfer files out of a virtual HDD (Like in virtual PC)?
I'm planning on using Virtual PC on an existing windows install to download the packages...

So actually, you want to download the updates on one computer and apply them to another?

You can install many packages at once no problem with the command line dpkg utility. If you downloaded the updates using the same version of Ubuntu, then you will find the packages in the APT cache directory.

As for a pretty Service Pack, such a thing would be impossible - there are literally thousands of software packages in the Ubuntu repositories and gathering updates for every one of them would be pointless. You can consider the next version of Ubuntu (they come twice a year, whoich is way better than anything Microsoft can do) as a "Service Pack" that you can apply to your previous version.


The easiest way would be to use network shares (Samba). This way both the guest and the parent can keep running. If you shut down the guest, then you can mount the disk image in parent and access the "drive" directly. Another way would be to set up the guest to use a disk partition from the parent. Mind you, accessing that partition simultaneously from both OSes means disaster.