Using apt-cache-ng to speed up APT packages download

Install the program:

apt-get install apt-cache-ng

Edit /etc/apt-cacher-ng/acng.conf :

# Change to preferred storage location:
CacheDir: /mnt/usbhd/apt-cacher-ng

If running apt-cacher-ng on Debian squeeze, edit file /etc/apt-cacher-ng/backends_ubuntu, set content to:

http://hk.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/

Set APT to use cache by:

cat <<EOT > /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/90apt-cacher
Acquire::http {Proxy "http://192.168.0.1:3142";};
EOT

- Or -

Edit /etc/apt/sources.list :

deb http://192.168.0.1:3142/ftp.hk.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free
deb http://192.168.0.1:3142/security.debian.org/ lenny/updates main contrib
deb http://192.168.0.1:3142/ftp.tw.debian.org/debian-volatile/ lenny/volatile main contrib non-free

Directory structure of the cache dir:

$ tree -d /mnt/usbdisk/apt-cacher-ng

/mnt/usbdisk/apt-cacher-ng
|-- debrep
|   |-- dists
|   |   `-- lenny
|   |       |-- contrib
|   |       |   `-- binary-i386
|   |       |-- main
|   |       |   `-- binary-i386
|   |       `-- non-free
|   |           `-- binary-i386
|   `-- pool
|       `-- main
|           |-- d
|           |   `-- dialog
|           |-- l
|           |   `-- live-helper
|           |-- libt
|           |   `-- libterm-readline-gnu-perl
|           `-- t
|               `-- tree
|-- security.debian.org
|   `-- dists
|       `-- lenny
|           `-- updates
|               |-- contrib
|               |   `-- binary-i386
|               `-- main
|                   `-- binary-i386