apt‐cacher‐ng(8)

💖 apt-cacher-ng — the manual, but make it make sense 💖

okay bestie, welcome to apt-cacher-ng(8) — yes that's the manual section, she's a daemon, she's in section 8, she's iconic. sit down, grab a strawberry 🍓, we're doing this.

✨ NAME ✨

apt-cacher-ng — a caching proxy for software package downloads. that's the whole vibe: your packages get downloaded once, cached, and then served to everyone else like a queen sharing her snacks 👑

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

apt-cacher-ng [-c confdir] [-h] [optname=optvalue ...]

look at her. three little things to remember. that's it. periodt.

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Apt-Cacher NG is a caching proxy for software packages — the kind that get downloaded by Unix/Linux system distribution mechanisms, from mirror servers that you can reach over HTTP. so like, every time your system wants a .deb from some mirror, it can hit the cache first instead. lowkey genius, highkey saves bandwidth. 💅

💜 OPTIONS 💜

here are the command-line options apt-cacher-ng supports, no gatekeeping:

• -c confdir — scan that specific configuration directory and interpret whatever config files are chillin' in there. yes, she'll actually read them. 💖
• -h — a short option summary. the mini version. the trailer, not the whole movie.
• -i — ignore some non-critical configuration errors at startup. > ⚠️ heads up bestie: running her like this regularly is not recommended. it's a "get me out of this one specific jam" button, not a lifestyle.
• -v — turn up the verbosity in the log output. more words. more lore. more everything. ✨
• -e — invoke the expiration task immediately after startup. > 😭 okay so, this one exists for legacy compatibility, and it can be dangerous to use because of filesystem permission issues — as in, it can literally cause them. the manual says using acngtool to control these operations instead is the move. so like… don't, bestie. 🫶
• varname=varopt — any option that lives in the config can also be passed on the command line as key=value pairs. config files but make it a one-liner. slay.

🎀 CONFIGURATION 🎀

Apt-Cacher NG gets configured by a multi-config directory, which is a fancy way of saying: the config is split across many files, all with names ending in .conf, all sitting in one single directory. very "everything in one group chat but organized by topic" of her.

Variables can override settings that were configured earlier in other files. and sometimes those settings get merged instead — depends on the variable, because of course it does. 🙈

The configuration directory is typically:

/etc/apt-cacher-ng

but it can be adjusted with the -c option — check the systemd service file for the details, or honestly wherever your init system happens to start the daemon. iykyk.

On Debian systems, there are at least three files installed by default:

• acng.conf — containing documented examples. the annotated textbook era. 📚
• security.conf — containing sensible data, and only readable for special users. 👀 private. exclusive. we love that for her.
• zz_debconf.conf — containing popular settings which are set by the Debian Configuration mechanism. the zz_ is giving "i go last on purpose". 💅

🌈 SIGNALS 🌈

only a few signals get handled in non-default ways. most of them she just ignores like an ex's text. but these three? these three matter:

• SIGUSR1 — closes and reopens the log files.
• SIGTERM and SIGINT — close the log files and stop the daemon. that's the shutdown combo. 🌙

⭐ MORE INFORMATION ⭐

want more lore on Apt-Cacher NG? go read the User Manual — you can find it either in the doc/pdf directory of the software source package, or installed in the documentation directory of apt-cacher-ng by your distribution. either way, she's there waiting for you. 💖

and that's the whole page, bestie, no cap. go cache something. 🧚

apt‐cacher‐ng — brought to you by Eduard Bloch, dated back in November 2007, and honestly? she's aged like fine wine. mwah. 💅✨🎀