Ubuntu package mirror (Docker)

Dockerized apt-mirror + nginx that serves a local copy of Ubuntu repositories. Data is stored on a volume so you can persist it to a Synology share or Kubernetes PVC. You can either mirror everything you care about, or switch to a proxy-caching option noted below.

Files

• Dockerfile – builds an image with apt-mirror and nginx.
• entrypoint.sh – generates the mirror config from env vars, runs syncs, or serves content.
• nginx.conf – exposes /ubuntu and /ubuntu-security over port 8080.
• docker-compose.yml – convenience for local/Synology deployment with a persistent volume.

Quickstart (full mirror)

Warning: a full mirror of multiple releases and architectures is large and will take time and bandwidth. Start with the one release/arch you need.

1. Build the image
   docker compose build

2. Sync once (downloads into the volume)
   docker compose run --rm ubuntu-mirror sync

   • Defaults: UBUNTU_RELEASES=jammy, UBUNTU_ARCHES=amd64.
   • Example for more: UBUNTU_RELEASES="jammy noble" UBUNTU_ARCHES="amd64 arm64" docker compose run --rm ubuntu-mirror sync

3. Serve the mirror
   docker compose up -d ubuntu-mirror

4. Point clients at it (replace mirror.local with your host/IP): add to /etc/apt/sources.list or a new file in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/local-mirror.list:

deb http://mirror.local:8080/ubuntu jammy main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://mirror.local:8080/ubuntu jammy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://mirror.local:8080/ubuntu jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://mirror.local:8080/ubuntu-security jammy-security main restricted universe multiverse

All packages remain signed by Ubuntu; no extra keys are needed.

5. Re-sync on a schedule
   Run docker compose run --rm ubuntu-mirror sync from cron or a Kubernetes CronJob to keep the mirror fresh.

Environment knobs

• UBUNTU_RELEASES – space-separated releases, e.g. jammy noble.
• UBUNTU_ARCHES – architectures to mirror (apt-mirror uses the value in [arch=...]), e.g. amd64 arm64.
• UBUNTU_COMPONENTS – repo components, default main restricted universe multiverse.
• UBUNTU_MIRROR / SECURITY_MIRROR – override upstreams if you have a preferred source.
• MIRROR_THREADS – parallel downloads (default 10).
• MIRROR_PROXY – HTTP proxy if you need one.

Storage

The compose file mounts mirror-data:/var/spool/apt-mirror; replace that with a host path or PVC in Kubernetes. Only this directory needs persistence.

Optional: caching proxy instead of full mirror

If you just want a cache of packages that clients actually request (smaller footprint), you can run apt-cacher-ng:

docker run -d --name apt-cacher-ng \
  -p 3142:3142 \
  -v apt-cacher-ng:/var/cache/apt-cacher-ng \
  sameersbn/apt-cacher-ng:latest

Then on clients create /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/01proxy with:

Acquire::http::Proxy "http://mirror.local:3142";
Acquire::https::Proxy "false";

This caches downloads on first use instead of mirroring everything up front.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.