Setup a local deb repo.

First we need install the apt-utils:

sudo apt install apt-utils
Create the repo directory, we create in home:
mkdir -r /home/ubuntu/main
mkdir -r /home/ubuntu/dists
Copy all .deb packages to main and change the permission for the repo directory to "0755" and run the command dpkg-scanpackages inside the ubuntu directory:
cd /home/ubuntu
dpkg-scanpackages main | gzip -9c >dists/Packages.gz
dpkg-scanpackages will read all .deb packages from the main and will creat the Packages.gz in the dists directory.
The repo is ready to add to the /etc/apt/sources.list:
deb file:///home/ubuntu dists/
If you add the local repo with online repos in the sources.list the package manager will give the priority to the online repo frist and will not use the local repos, for the reason we will give high priority to the local repo in the /etc/apt/preferences.d
Create a file with any name like "local" in the /etc/apt/preferences.d:
Package: *
Pin: origin
Pin-Priority: 700
Can create the local repo in the web server root directory or create creat a semi link to that repos as:

sudo mkdir -r /var/www/ubuntu/main
sudo mkdir -r /var/www/ubuntu/dists
Add this repo to the apt sources.list: deb http://localhost/ubuntu dists/
Create a file with any name like localhost in the /etc/apt/preferences.d:
Package: *
Pin: origin localhost
Pin-Priority: 1000

to check the repos priority run the command:
apt-cache policy
Run the apt-get update, to update the packages cache.
How to add repository to sources.list
In our example the repo directories hierarchy is:
http://www.example.com/ubuntu/dists/artful/main
http://www.example.com/ubuntu/dists/artful/non-free
http://www.example.com/ubuntu/pool
we add the above repo to the /etc/sources.list
deb http://example.com/ubuntu main non-free
Our ubuntu release is artfull, update manager reads the dists directory from the ubuntu, and then reads the main and non-free from the artfull, directory and cache the packages of main and non-free.
To install a local package and resolve it's dependencies from the online repos run the command:
dpkg -i && aptitude -f package_name
Add ubuntu iso to apt sources.list
Mount the the ubuntu iso to the /mnt/cdrom and then run the command:
apt-cdrom -d /mnt/cdrom add
Exclude a package from dist upgrade
Tips
First install the wajig:
sudo apt install wajig
Run the wajig to hold the package:
sudo wajig hold package_name
Unhold the package with:
sudo wajig unhold package_name
To find which package contain a file, run the apt-cache or dpkg:
apt-cache search file_name
dpkg -S file_name
To remove a package misconfigured or improperly installed can run the command:
sudo aptitude purge $(dpkg -l|grep ^rc|awk '{ print $2 }')


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