# Changed package files with unchanged version information in the filename?



## shalpin (Feb 26, 2020)

I've been using apt-cacher-ng so I can (somewhat) isolate FreeBSD jails on internal systems from the broader Internet.  In trying to install nginx-full-1.16.1_4,2 and the version which is "apt-cacher-ng cached" is smaller than the one currently available for download even though they have the same filename (the smaller one is consistent with the files "FreeBSD pkg cached in /var/pkg/cache/..." on my FreeBSD nginx servers where they were installed in December.)  The same is true for some of its dependencies.  Having seen projects burn themselves when people were using long embedded version information in filenames thinking they had the same stuff and didn't I'm wondering why this is how packages are handled?

I was able to wipe the apt-cacher-ng cache and I'm now looking at how the volatile marking works (I use it for the package info where I don't care if it's downloaded every time but for actual packages I'll have to see if it can be made to use header clues like file length and modification times so I actually get caching benefits.)  While I've gotten the package and ports tree to load through this tool I haven't found really useful information on using it with FreeBSD so if someone has a good link I haven't been able to find please pass it along!  In particular the mirror hosts seem to change often so if there is a central location with the latest lists that would be great (I use the ForceManage option to limit the servers that can be reached through the caching server.)


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