Setup New Repository

Setup and Create Repository

This section is about setting up and create a new hosting repository.

Install Reprepro Into System

The first thing to do is to install reprepro. To do that, simply use apt-get:

$ sudo apt-get install reprepro -y

Have Your DEB Package Signed and Ready

Normally, you should have built your DEB package standing by for submissions. You need a .deb package standing by for hosting practice.

Getting the Repository Ready

Let's map out the required repository structure. They are 4 critical directories:

1. basedir - stands for base directory. It is the fallback directory to work with. Usually, you want to set this path to the root of the repository.
2. outdir - stands for output directory. It is the output directory to host the server. Usually, you want to set this path to the static path of the hosting server, like releases/deb for URI like www.example.com/release/deb.
3. confdir - stands for configuration directory. It is the configurations directory to produce the output. Usually you want to set this path to somewhere hidden to the repository like .configs/reprepro.
4. dbdir - stands for database directory. It is the database directory to hold the repository's past data. Usually you want to set this path somewhere hidden like .configs/reprepro.

Overall, your repository structure looks something as such (not a rule, but a reference):

repo                               // basedir path

  +-- static hosting server directory

        +-- ...

        +-- static

              +-- releases

                      +-- deb      // outdir path

  +-- .configs

        +-- reprepro               // confdir and dbdir path

Create Configuration Directory's Structure

Inside the confdir path, create a directory called conf that holds all your reprepro configurations. Hence, the structure looks something as such based on the example above:

repo                               // basedir path

  +-- static hosting server directory

        +-- ...

        +-- static

              +-- releases

                      +-- deb      // outdir path

  +-- .configs

        +-- reprepro               // confdir and dbdir path

              +-- conf

Once done, the next few steps are creating necessary configuration files based on the reprepro man page: https://manpages.debian.org/jessie/reprepro/reprepro.1.en.html#CONFIG_FILES

Other Non-Reprepro Setup

There are other non-related setup needs to be done before you can tell your users to use it.

Test The Server

Once done, you may start testing your server. To include a deb package into the server, please follow the following page (recommended right-click and open new tab in case you need to amend the configurations):