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I would like to set up an APT repository on a server that will provide a couple of packages.

Is there a way to set one up without installing any software on the server?

How do the files have to be organized?

Edit: I must be doing something wrong... can someone please help me? I have the repository at http://quickmediasolutions.com/apt/dists

I'm not sure where or what, but something's misconfigured. I only currently have one package and it's for all architectures.

Here's what's been added to my /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://quickmediasolutions.com/apt stable main

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Can you edit and add what kind of license the applications you downloaded are in? Is this for private use or do you plan to distribute them, etc.? –  Jorge Castro Oct 13 '10 at 14:25
@Jorge: What do you mean? What applications? –  Nathan Osman Oct 14 '10 at 0:10
I was trying to determine if the package was OSS you could just use launchpad. –  Jorge Castro Oct 14 '10 at 0:59
@Jorge: No, it isn't OSS. (In fact, it's pretty much the only app I've written that isn't.) –  Nathan Osman Oct 14 '10 at 18:27

4 Answers 4

up vote 15 down vote accepted

Setting up a trivial repository is very easy using dpkg-scanpackages. This page explains how to set up a trivial repo, and this one explains how to use it (scroll down to example 4).

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Having a bit of trouble getting it to work. Please see my update to the question. –  Nathan Osman Jul 31 '10 at 5:18
It looks like you're trying to set up an "automatic" repo. For one (or just several) package(s), you'll be much better off using a trivial repo. Try moving your Packages.gz and deb all the way up to quickmediasolutions.com/apt/binary. Then your source will be deb http://quickmediasolutions.com/apt binary/. –  mac9416 Jul 31 '10 at 10:58
Trivial repos present problems when pinning, but yes, they are the quickest / easiest way to set up a repo for just a few packages. It would seem silly to set up a pooled repo just for 2 - 3 packages. –  Tim Post Jul 31 '10 at 15:21
George, were you ever able to make this work? –  mac9416 Aug 9 '10 at 23:32
@mac: Well.... I haven't had time to try it yet :) I ended up just uploading everything to a PPA. –  Nathan Osman Aug 23 '10 at 0:26

Just set up a simple but signed repository on a webserver. Because most other tutorials are somewhat dated or cumbersome, I'll try to replicate the procedure here. The initial configuration takes a bit of effort, but the simple build script keeps it easy to manage. And you can just drop in new *.deb files, then update.

setup keys

First you need to create a gpg signing key for packages and your repository. Make it a (4) RSA signing key, no password, and give it a unique $KEYNAME when asked for, further examples assume "dpkg1".

 gpg --gen-key
 gpg -a --export-secret-key dpkg1 > secret.gpg
 gpg -a --export dpkg1            > public.gpg

I said no password, because your webserver has no monkey to type it in repeatedly. And the signed packages and repository are only meant to satisfy update-managers obnoxiousness anyway. Just upload both keys to the new /apt/ repository directory on your webserver, but delete the secret.gpg key after initialization.

update script

This is the simple update shell/CGI script for it:

echo Status: 200 Okay
echo Content-Type: text/plain
echo Rebuilding APT repository:

  #-- settings
  export GNUPGHOME=/var/www/usr12345/files
  export KEYNAME=dpkg1
  #-- one-time setup
  if [ ! -e "$GNUPGHOME/secring.gpg" ] ; then
     gpg --import -v -v ./secret.gpg
     gpg --import -v -v ./public.gpg
     gpg --list-keys

  #-- symlink .deb files from adjacent sub-directories
  find .. -name '*.deb' -exec ln -s '{}' . \;

  #-- build Packages file
  apt-ftparchive packages . > Packages
  bzip2 -kf Packages

  #-- signed Release file
  apt-ftparchive release . > Release
  gpg --yes -abs -u $KEYNAME -o Release.gpg Release

} 2>&1

The three gpg lines only need to be executed once, to initialize the GPG setup in some directory $GNUPGHOME (above the document root). Delete only the secret.gpg after success.

One unique feature of this small shell script is that it accepts any *.deb files that you drop in, but also searches recursively (starting from one level up) for others, and links them. (Needs .htaccess Options FollowSymLinks eventually.)

You can either execute this script manually as CGI or per cron-job. But hide it, or better yet move it out of the data directory.

Because it's a "trivial" apt repository it needs the following apt-sources.list entry:

deb http://example.org/deb/  ./    # Simple singed repository

That's suitable for single-architecture repositories, and if you don't expect hundreds of packages.

package signing

Signing your individual packages is also trivial, once you've set up your gpg keys:

dpkg-sig -k dpkg1 -s builder *.deb

(This should be done on the workstation where packages are built, not on the repository webserver.)

unsigned repo

If you didn't need any signing, then you could slash the update script down to just:

  dpkg-scanpackages . > Packages
  bzip2 -kf Packages


For end users, just drop a HEADER.html into the repository directory. Apache mod_auto_index will prepend that note:

<dt>Add this repository to /etc/apt/sources.list as:
 <dd><kbd>deb http://example.org/apt/ ./  # example repo</kbd>
<dt>Import verification key with:
 <dd><kbd>wget -q http://http://example.org/apt/public.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -</kbd>
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Yes. You can do this. You just need to organize the files in the right way and create the index files. If you put the directory structure inside the document root of your web server the packages can just be accessed via the web server.

Here is a detailed description how the files need to be organized and how the index files are created.

You can also use a tool called reprepro if you are willing to install that one package. This will make the administration a little more convenient.

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@txwikinger: The reason I can't install packages is because the server is running centOS :) –  Nathan Osman Jul 31 '10 at 1:12
Well. you don't need to. You can create everything on a different computer and just rsync the whole tree to the centos server –  txwikinger Jul 31 '10 at 1:40
Yeah, I would definitely second the use of reprepro. It will make your life so much easier. Creating the repo on a different computer might even be a feature, in case it allows you to protect your signing key better. –  andol Jul 31 '10 at 5:48
@andol & @txwikinger: I'm trying but running into problems. Please see my updated question. –  Nathan Osman Jul 31 '10 at 5:51
For your dists file you will still need ./binary-<specific arch>. –  andol Jul 31 '10 at 6:18

You can perhaps also consider a Launchpad PPA

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