Announcing apt-archive.postgresql.org

Users had often asked where they could find older versions of packages from apt.postgresql.org. I had been collecting these since about April 2013, and in July 2016, I made the packages available via an ad-hoc URL on the repository master host, called “the morgue”. There was little repository structure, all files belonging to a source package were stuffed into a single directory, no matter what distribution they belonged to. Besides this not being particularly accessible for users, the main problem was the ever-increasing need for more disk space on the repository host. We are now at 175 GB for the archive, of which 152 GB is for the morgue.

Our friends from yum.postgresql.org have had a proper archive host (yum-archive.postgresql.org) for some time already, so it was about time to follow suit and implement a proper archive for apt.postgresql.org as well, usable from apt.

So here it is: apt-archive.postgresql.org

The archive covers all past and current Debian and Ubuntu distributions. The apt sources.lists entries are similar to the main repository, just with “-archive” appended to the host name and the distribution:

deb https://apt-archive.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt DIST-pgdg-archive main
deb-src https://apt-archive.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt DIST-pgdg-archive main

The oldest PostgreSQL server versions covered there are 8.2.23, 8.3.23, 8.4.17, 9.0.13, 9.1.9, 9.2.4, 9.3beta1, and everything newer.

Some example:

$ apt-cache policy postgresql-12
postgresql-12:
  Installed: 12.2-2.pgdg+1+b1
  Candidate: 12.2-2.pgdg+1+b1
  Version table:
 *** 12.2-2.pgdg+1+b1 900
        500 http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt sid-pgdg/main amd64 Packages
        500 https://apt-archive.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt sid-pgdg-archive/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     12.2-2.pgdg+1 500
        500 https://apt-archive.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt sid-pgdg-archive/main amd64 Packages
     12.2-1.pgdg+1 500
        500 https://apt-archive.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt sid-pgdg-archive/main amd64 Packages
     12.1-2.pgdg+1 500
        500 https://apt-archive.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt sid-pgdg-archive/main amd64 Packages
     12.1-1.pgdg+1 500
        500 https://apt-archive.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt sid-pgdg-archive/main amd64 Packages
     12.0-2.pgdg+1 500
        500 https://apt-archive.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt sid-pgdg-archive/main amd64 Packages
     12.0-1.pgdg+1 500
        500 https://apt-archive.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt sid-pgdg-archive/main amd64 Packages
     12~rc1-1.pgdg+1 500
        500 https://apt-archive.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt sid-pgdg-archive/main amd64 Packages
     12~beta4-1.pgdg+1 500
        500 https://apt-archive.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt sid-pgdg-archive/main amd64 Packages
     12~beta3-1.pgdg+1 500
        500 https://apt-archive.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt sid-pgdg-archive/main amd64 Packages
     12~beta2-1.pgdg+1 500
        500 https://apt-archive.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt sid-pgdg-archive/main amd64 Packages
     12~beta1-1.pgdg+1 500
        500 https://apt-archive.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt sid-pgdg-archive/main amd64 Packages

Because this is hosted on S3, browsing directories is only supported indirectly by static index.html files, so if you want to look at some specific URL, append “/index.html” to see it.

The archive is powered by a PostgreSQL database and a bunch of python/shell scripts, from which the apt index files are built.

Archiving old distributions

I’m also using the opportunity to remove some long-retired distributions from the main repository host. The following distributions have been moved over:

• Debian etch (4.0)
• Debian lenny (5.0)
• Debian squeeze (6.0)
• Ubuntu lucid (10.04)
• Ubuntu saucy (13.10)
• Ubuntu utopic (14.10)
• Ubuntu wily (15.10)
• Ubuntu zesty (17.04)
• Ubuntu cosmic (18.10)

They are available as “DIST-pgdg” from the archive, e.g. squeeze:

deb https://apt-archive.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt squeeze-pgdg main
deb-src https://apt-archive.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt squeeze-pgdg main

• Debian
• Postgresql