504 - unknown url type: tor ( also tor+http )

[gr936]

using apt-offline with a tor setup gives the following errors:

504 - unknown url type: tor
504 - unknown url type: tor+http

Apt over tor is setup following the instructions provided by Debian at https://wiki.debian.org/SourcesList, section "Using Tor with Apt"

Both the offline and online systems are setup with tor addresses "tor://vwakviie2ienjx6t.onion..." and both offline and online systems update successfully (putting the offline system directly online to test).

For completeness, I tested both the "tor://vwakviie2ienjx6t.onion..." and "tor+http://vwakviie2ienjx6t.onion..." formats on both sides (offline/online) and both formats work online but fail with apt-offline.

apt-offline version on both online and offline systems

# apt-offline -v
1.8.2

[rickysarraf]

tor transport is not supported in apt-offline.

I think the tor transport is useful on systems where you are directly downloading for the target system. So it is useful to use tor to ensure there is no direct trail.

In the use case of apt-offline, one mostly does the download operation on a different machine. So your actual machine's trace isn't there at all.

Do you see a strong use case for tor support in apt-offline ?

[gr936]

There are many, but the simplest and strongest would be if a location (home, office, lab) wishes to remain private in term of the software installed for security or legal restrictions (eg some software is illegal in certain countries). So you might have two computers side-by-side, an offline one and an online one, both running linux. The offline computer might have a crypto wallet or some sensitive selection of software packages (eg something illegal in a specific country). New software or updates for the offline computer would be downloaded from the online computer.

Thus it is critical that the apt-offline on the online computer also use the tor transport protocol. In certain countries, this can be a very serious issue.

Of course, there are many workarounds, but since apt and apt-offline, by the nature of their names, sound like they would offer similar functionalities, it would be nice if apt-offline would support the same functionalities possible in apt.

[rickysarraf]

I don't see a very strong ~use case~ user group for this feature. But I'll mark this wishlist. Patches welcome

[rickysarraf]

The error part should now be fixed, as in errors won't directly be reported, with this commit https://github.com/rickysarraf/apt-offline/commit/50267a68844b70cff4c8d422df7d760a2595a65b