I strongly object to the proxy environment variable overriding that in the conf file, because the apt.conf setting is more specific and is purely for apt, and has likely been set by the sysadmin specifically to suite the properties of debian packages -- large, and likely to be updated on a lot of machines. So if you are using apt-cacher, and all of your machines use apt-cacher for the apt proxy, then you can set it as the proxy for apt only, and everything else can keep using your squid proxy.
If the sysadmin (who is the only person running apt -- it's not like its going to be carelessly run by someone who didn't deliberately set up their system this way) wanted to use the same proxy as that contained in the environment variable, then they wouldn't have set the proxy in the apt.conf file in the first place. But there are many reasons why he wouldn't want to go the other way and remove his default setting just for the sake of apt. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]