Japt-Proxy is a JAVA based Caching Proxy for Debian's APT-System. Japt-Proxy is very reliable and lightning fast. Japt-Proxy is usually used in environments where several Debian systems have to be kept up-to-date without downloading the same files over and over again from the debian mirrors. Mostly these environments are data centers, Linux-powered companies, schools, public authorities and so on.
Often Japt-Proxy is used because of small sized internet connections but it is also useful to install complete debian systems over the net (read: over the proxy). Even with high volume internet connections Japt-Proxy can dramatically reduce the time to install or update Debian on many machines.
Why Java?
I know there are people out there thinking "Hey? Why Java?". There are a bunch of reasons why people asking those questions. I have a simple answer to all those questions. The answer is, that Java enabled me to easily develop the fastest and most reliable APT-Proxy. Java and the Apache Software Foundation provides such good libraries for this job, that it wasn't very hard to bring up this tool.
If you don't trust, test it - the installation takes less than five minutes!
Doesn't a general proxy server supersede an APT-Proxy?
No, it doesn't. Japt-Proxy knows the characteristics of a Debian archive and their files. It knows, for example, that .deb files won't change, because newer files would have a new name (the version is always part of the filename), hence it won't recheck if there is a newer version of this specific file.
Furthermore you can configure the Japt-Proxy to delete old versions of a package in its cache directory - a general proxy cache would simple delete files that haven't been requested for some time.
So, a general caching proxy like Squid is a perfect tool for caching "normal" internet traffic. If you need a proxy for faster APT access - Japt-Proxy is the right tool for you.
Here are some key features of "Japt Proxy":
· Caching of all apt requests from Debian archives
· Multi-threaded architecture which increases the download speed enormously when several machines are requesting packages
· Builds up a partial mirror directory automatically, with exactly the same directory structure and filenames as the original mirror
· Automatic and configurable cache cleanup (purging packages in cache if newer versions exists)
· Makes sources.list configuration easier for multiple machines - if you change your internet backend server you only have to make the change once in Japt-Proxy, instead of on all Debian machines
· Works with multiple architectures
· Backend support for HTTP and FTP
· existing .debs can be copied into the Japt-Proxy cache directory (from a CD or DVD for example) and will be used by the Proxy automatically
Requirements:
· Java Runtime Environment 5.0
· Apache Tomcat 5.5
· Japt-Proxy
What's New in This Release:
· This is the first version that can be used as a stand-alone application (no application container like Tomcat is required).
· There are many other updates.
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