Package Proxy Cache - ArchWiki

# Package Proxy Cache

If you want to install the same Arch packages over and over - like for testing AIF profiles - it could help if you wouldn't have to get the packages every time from the internet. This article shows you how to setup a Squid proxy that only caches arch packages and can be used with aif/pacman/wget/etc with minimal configuration on the client system.

## Install Squid

    # pacman -S squid

## Configure Squid

This is the minimum configuration to get squid cache arch packages.

### Cache Rules

Before defining these rules, remove/comment (if you do not need them) all the default refresh_patterns

    /etc/squid/squid.conf

    refresh_pattern \.pkg\.tar\.   0       20%     4320      reload-into-ims
    refresh_pattern .              0       0%      0

That should define that *.pkg.tar.* gets cached, and anything else should not.

Tip: http://www.squid-cache.org/Doc/config/refresh_pattern

### Maximum Filesize

Objects larger than this size will NOT be saved on disk:

    /etc/squid/squid.conf

    maximum_object_size 256 MB

Tip: http://www.squid-cache.org/Doc/config/maximum_object_size

### Cache Directory

Set the cache dir and its maximum size and subdirs:

    /etc/squid/squid.conf

    cache_dir aufs /var/cache/squid 10000 16 256

Tip: http://www.squid-cache.org/Doc/config/cache_dir

### Shutdown Lifetime

Time to wait until all active client sockets are closed:

    /etc/squid/squid.conf

    shutdown_lifetime 1 seconds

Tip: http://www.squid-cache.org/Doc/config/shutdown_lifetime
Note:

Every time you change the cache_dir path (and after fresh install), you need to (re)create this directory:

    # squid -z

and it could be helpful to check the config file before running squid:

    # squid -k check

## Start Squid

    # systemctl start squid.service

or if squid is already running:

    # systemctl restart squid.service

Note:

It could be helpful to check the config file before running:

    # squid -k check

## Follow Squid access log

To see the access to squid:

    # tail -f /var/log/squid/access.log

You should see this for packages that are directed to original host:

    ...TCP_MISS/200...DIRECT...

and for packages that are delivered from the cache:

    ...TCP_HIT/200...NONE...

## Manual Arch Install

Before running /arch/setup, add variables for your proxy. To do so, run on the console:

    # export http_proxy='http://your_squid_machine_ip:3128'
    # export ftp_proxy='ftp://your_squid_machine_ip:3128'

Now just use /arch/setup to normally install the system, and it should use your proxy. Watch the squid logs to verify this.

Note: If you want to use the proxy settings in the installed system, you need to add the http_proxy and/or ftp_proxy variables in an appropriate place on the installed system. (like /etc/profile.d/proxy.sh)

## Intercepting local requests

If you want all HTTP requests on local machine automagically go through squid, we first need to add an intercepting port for squid:

    /etc/squid/squid.conf

    http_port 3127 intercept

and iptables rules to redirect all (except the ones from squid) port 80 requests to squid:

    # iptables -t nat -A OUTPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -m owner --uid-owner proxy -j ACCEPT
    # iptables -t nat -A OUTPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -j REDIRECT --to-ports 3127

Tip: http://wiki.squid-cache.org/ConfigExamples/Intercept/LinuxLocalhost
Note: if you get random slow download speeds in vagrant/packer/virtualbox, try using `virtio` network device type.
Category:

- Package management