Download Debian Linux full ISO collection
In case you want the complete Debian Linux distro on discs (if you are a hoarder, a prepper, etc), you can order them online from various places, or you can download them yourself, for archiving. Alternatively, you might want to have a Debian mirror site, in which case this page is your best friend, but here I’ll only be talking about the way to download multiple ISOs of the architecture you selected, using jigdo.
Of course, a “normal” Debian mirror does not carry any CD/DVD images, so how can jigdo download them? jigdo achieves this by downloading individually all the files that are on the CD/DVD. All these files are assembled in one big file which is an exact copy of the CD/DVD image. However, all this happens behind the scenes - all that you need to do is tell the download tool the location of a “.jigdo” file to process.
Trust me, it’s way more simpler than it looks. Start by installing/downloading jigdo:
$ sudo apt install jigdo
or macOS:
$ brew install jigdo
or download the Windows version.
As for media support, you have multiple options:
jigdo-dvd(single-layer DVDs) - multiple images, each up to 4482 MB large.jigdo-bd(single-layer Blu-Rays) - multiple images, each up to 23 GB in size.jigdo-dlbd(dual-layer Blu-Rays) - multiple images, each up to 48 GB in size.
I suggest you select the single-layer DVD format.
So, in order to download the ISO images, pick the architecture and the media support. For example, to download the Debian 12.6.0 version, i386 arch, as single layer DVD images, visit this page.
The format of the URL is this: https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/release/<VERSION>/<ARCH>/jigdo-<MEDIA_FORMAT>/, so, for i386 single layer DVD images the URL is https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/release/12.6.0/i386/jigdo-dvd/. If you want to download the amd64 arch as dual-layer Blu-Rays, this is the URL: https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/release/12.6.0/amd64/jigdo-dlbd/. You get the idea.
From that URL, make a note of how many images there are, for i386 there are currently 21 .jigdo files, which means that there will be 21 ISO files.
Open your favorite terminal and launch jigdo-lite.
$ jigdo-lite
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To resume a half-finished download, enter name of .jigdo file.
To start a new download, enter URL of .jigdo file.
You can also enter several URLs/filenames, separated with spaces,
or enumerate in {}, e.g. `http://server/cd-{1_NONUS,2,3}.jigdo'
jigdo []: https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/release/12.6.0/i386/jigdo-dvd/debian-12.6.0-i386-DVD-{1,2}.jigdo
Debian mirror []: http://deb.debian.org/debian/
It will ask you for the URL (or path) to a .jigdo file, and you can enumerate multiple links with {1,2,3,4}. Also, specify the debian mirror you want to download the files from, usually http://deb.debian.org/debian/.
Depending on your connection speed, it might take a long time or a really really long time. When jigdo has finished downloading, you will have a multitude of ISO files, ready to write to physical media or drop on an external HDD.
Enjoy.
