APT should support scanning .iso for packages, as it scans CD-ROMs

[Pushkaraj]

Binary package hint: apt

As apt supports scanning CD-ROMs, an inbuilt support for .iso images should be provided to scan and install the packages too.

[Torsten Spindler (tspindler)]

As a work around, you can always loop back mount the iso image and install from there.

[Drew Scott Daniels (drewdaniels)]

Loopback isn't as easy as it used to be. In lucid, apt-cdrom, synaptic, and update-manager are expecting to mount real hardware.

I worked around this by something like:
sudo mkdir /mnt/image
#append mount point information to fstab
echo '/ext/precise-dvd-amd64.iso /mnt/image iso9660 user,loop,ro 0 0'>>/etc/fstab #requires root and plain sudo doesn't work, sudo gedit could be used instead
#test:
mount /mnt/image
ls /mnt/image
echo 'Acquire::cdrom::mount "/mnt/image";
APT::CDROM::NoMount;'>>/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/30local-cdimage #requires root and plain sudo doesn't work, sudo gedit could be used instead

Then I could use the software to mount a cdrom image, though apt-cdrom still didn't work.