Archive
The archive is currently shared between GNU/Linux avr32 and m68k, GNU/Hurd and GNU/kFreeBSD It uses mini-dak, in order to have one pool per architecture and various suites (unstable, experimental), and most notably the unreleased suite. This suite is used to upload packages which need hacks to build until the changes are integrated into Debian.
You can browse the archive directly via ftp, via http or you can mirror it using rsync. It is accessible through both IPv4 and IPv6.
APT sources
The archive includes binary-all packages mirrored regularly from
Debian. To use it, add the following lines to your /etc/apt/sources.list:
deb http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian unstable main
deb http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian unreleased main
and possibly:
deb http://ftp.debian-ports.org/debian experimental main
For GNU/Hurd the unstable and experimental suites are provided by the regular Debian archive, therefore you only need to add the unreleased suite.
Note that you can also use a mirror.
Packages authentication
If you want apt to verify the downloaded packages, you can import debian-ports.org archive's key into apt:
gpg --keyserver hkp://subkeys.pgp.net --recv-keys 43229C06
gpg --export 43229C06 | apt-key add -
or
wget -O - http://ftp.debian-ports.org/archive/archive_2008.key | apt-key add -
Upload policy
-
Any change to the source you need to do implies moving the suite
from unstable to unreleased, appending a magic
+string(see below) to the version to distinguish and/or filter it and adding a proper changelog entry. For Hurd only the unreleased suite is allowed, there should be no need to use unstable. - All Debian developers can request upload rights. Other people may need to seek a sponsor as is done on the Debian archive.
- Upload to ftp://ftp.debian-ports.org/incoming/. You will see the package appearing in less than 5 minutes on http://incoming.debian-ports.org/.
- Mini-dak logs are visible on http://ftp.debian-ports.org/archive/log/
- If a package should be removed, please mail ftpmaster@debian-ports.org.
Magic +string
- Updating config.guess and config.sub:
+cfg - Relibtoolizing:
+libtool - Autotools:
+autotool - Changes for any GNU system variants:
+gnu - Changes for GNU/Hurd:
+hurd - Changes for any GNU/k*bsd:
+kbsd - Changes for any GNU/kfreebsd:
+kfreebsd