Quickstart for the impatient
============================

Requisites:

  Depending on what repositories you want to generate, you can install
  a combination of these packages:

	tool		package		provides
	""""		"""""""		""""""""
	genbasedir	apt		provides apt support
	yum-arch	yum		provides yum support
	createrepo	createrepo	provides repomd support (new yum, new apt)

  Depending on what kind of sources you want to mirror, you can install
  a combination of these packages:

	tool		provides
	""""		""""""""
	rsync		provides rsync:// access
	mirrordir	provides ftp:// and mc:// access
	lftp		provides ftp://, http://, sftp:// fish://
	up2date		provides rhn:// and rhns:// access

  If you want to hardlink duplicate (downloaded) packages to save on
  diskspace, you need to install:

	hardlink++	(separate 'hardlink++' package)
	hardlink	(part of the kernel-utils package)


Do the following steps to get started (real) fast.

  1. Start with collecting the existing ISO files you have of the
     different distributions you want to put into a repository.
     Put these into your $srcdir (normally /var/mrepo), eg:

		/var/mrepo/fc3-i386/


  2. Edit /etc/mrepo.conf and add for each distribution a new section
     like the examples given in the default mrepo.conf, mrepo-complex.conf
     or mrepo-example.conf

     You can add a distribution section to a new file in /etc/mrepo.conf.d/

		eg. /etc/mrepo.conf.d/fc3-i386.conf

     See the examples in the documentation as a reference.


  3. If you want to add your own custom packages to one or all of
     the repositories, you have 2 options.

     a. Add them to /var/mrepo/<distro>-<arch>/local/

		eg. /var/mrepo/fc3-i386/local/

	or add them to /var/mrepo/all/local/ to add them to all.

     b. Specify the directory of your choice in a new repository,
	eg. called 'myrepo'

		[fc3-i386]
		name = Fedora Core $release ($arch)
		release = 3
		.
		.
		myrepo = file:///var/ftp/pub/my-rpms/fc3/i386/

	eg. you can rewrite this as:

		myrepo = file:///var/ftp/pub/my-rpms/$dist/$arch/

        This way you can specify an unlimited number of custom
        repositories.


  4. Now run mrepo with no actions to see if the ISO files are mounted
     and all your configuration options have been used:

	mrepo -vv

     Then run mrepo to update the repositories:

	mrepo -uvv

     Then generate the mrepo repositories by doing:

	mrepo -gvv

     Now look in $wwwdir (normally /var/www/mrepo) or surf to
     http://localhost/mrepo/ to see if everything is the way you wanted.


  5. Next time you can do directly

	mrepo -ug
     or
	mrepo -ugv

     and all steps will be performed in one phase.


  6. If you're removing distributions from the mrepo.conf file and
     you want to remove the ISOs to gain diskspace. Remember that
     Linux will not release diskspace for files that are still
     accessed (like a loop-mounted ISO file). You're best bet is
     to first unmount the ISOs:

	mrepo -vv --umount

     then remove or comment the distributions and mount again:

	mrepo -vv

  7. When you're adding new distributions, it's sufficient to just
     run mrepo again. It will automatically mount everything that is
     not already mounted. You can always remount/reset by doing:

	mrepo -vv --remount

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