Offline Rust

[duaneellissd]

Using cargo in an offline way is hard, really hard, it is really confusing.

I am looking for 1 of 2 options ways of solving my problem

Option 1 -
Step 1 - Some means to get cargo to list all the URLS required by a something
I'm ok if this was a 10 TB download.
I'm ok if this is an iterative process, ie: get the first batch, and rinse and repeat for more.

Step 2 - I can then go fetch these
Step 3 - I can then "move these into a closed environment"
YES for me that means Burn to DVD and sneaker-net the DVD images

Step 4 - I can then setup a network location( NFS share )that has a readonly copy of all of these packages.
OR:
Step 4 - I can push/create a GIT repo for each package in my internal "closed environment"

Step 5 - when I run Cargo in my internal environment (where I have no internet)
I would like to tell Cargo: "given the name FOO instead of the normal place
fetch it from git://gitserver.local/rust-package/FOO
OR fetch it from /some/directory/named/FOO

How can I do this. What is considered "best practice" for mirroring 'crates.io' internally/locally.
Google finds a number of examples but they seem stale/dead - ie: last commit was years ago.
Im trying to avoid going down useless rabbit holes only to end up at a pile of garbage.

So what is the current -2025- way to mirror "crates.io"

I see this in 3 parts or 3 steps.

part A1) _ what to download, the download and BURNING dvds
Again - I am ok with downloading TERABYTES of files.

part A2) Given the Cargo.io-Index - I can find a package.
But it is not clear how to get the URL where to download the package.
If i had that - I could write my own downloader.

Part B) What infrastructure do I need in my "closed environment"
Best answer:
Easy options are: - Setup an Apache web server that can serve static files - ie: The content of those DVDS?

Part C) - in the restricted environment. Is there a Global setting I can use to tell cargo (and rustup, etc)
To use my NEW URL for all things you want to download.
AND - have RUSTUP/CARGO - when it cannot find something - print a USABLE error message?
The Error message for the cargo --offline option is beyond useless.