diff --git a/docs/introduction.rst b/docs/introduction.rst index 7cffff3..93bdddb 100644 --- a/docs/introduction.rst +++ b/docs/introduction.rst @@ -4,10 +4,12 @@ Introduction What is Proxmox Offline Mirror? ------------------------------- -With Proxmox Offline Mirror (POM) you can manage a local apt mirror for all Proxmox and Debian -projects package updates. You can also export this mirror to a external medium to update systems -that cannot connect to the repositories via HTTP, for example due to being completely air-gapped. -Finally you can also manage subscription for such restricted hosts. +With the Proxmox Offline Mirror tool, you can manage a local apt mirror for all package updates for +Proxmox and Debian projects. From this local apt mirror you can create an external medium, for +example a USB flash drive or a local network share, to update systems which cannot access the +package repositories directly via the internet. Such systems might be restricted by policies to +access the public internet or are completely air-gapped. Finally, you can also manage subscriptions +for such restricted hosts. This tool consists of two binaries: @@ -15,8 +17,8 @@ This tool consists of two binaries: The mirror tool to create and manage mirrors and media containing repositories ``proxmox-apt-repo`` - The helper to use media and setup subscription key on offline Proxmox VE, - Proxmox Mail Gateway or Proxmox Backup Server systems + The helper to use the external medium on offline Proxmox VE, Proxmox Mail Gateway or Proxmox + Backup Server systems as well as managing subscriptions on these systems. Terminology ----------- @@ -53,16 +55,17 @@ Behind the scenes, one or more `pools` consisting of - a base directory containing directories and hardlinks to the checksum files inside the pool directory -are used for space-efficient storing of repository contents ("snapshots"). +are used to store the repository contents ("snapshots") in a space-efficient way. -Adding a file consists of first adding the checksum file(s), then linking them under one or more -paths. a garbage collect operation will iterate over all files in the base directory and remove -those which are not (or no longer) a hardlink to any checksum files, and remove any checksum files -which have no hardlinks outside of the pool checksum file directories. +When adding a file, the following steps are done: first the ckecksum file(s) are added, then they +are linked under one or more paths. A garbage collect operation will iterate over all files in the +base directory and remove those, which are not (or no longer) a hardlink to any checksum files. It +will also remove any checksum files which have no hardlinks outside of the pool's checksum file +directories. -A default config path of ``/etc/proxmox-offline-mirror.cfg`` is used, but is overridable on a per -command basis (for example, to allow operation as non-root user) using either the ``--config`` CLI -option or the ``PROXMOX_OFFLINE_MIRROR_CONFIG`` environment variable. +The default config path is ``/etc/proxmox-offline-mirror.cfg``, but it can be overriden on a per +command basis (for example, to allow operation as a non-root user). Use the ``--config`` CLI option or +the ``PROXMOX_OFFLINE_MIRROR_CONFIG`` environment variable. .. _get_help: