Provided by: reprepro_5.1.1-1ubuntu18.04.1_amd64 
NAME
reprepro - produce, manage and sync a local repository of Debian packages
SYNOPSIS
reprepro --help
reprepro [ options ] command [ per-command-arguments ]
DESCRIPTION
reprepro is a tool to manage a repository of Debian packages (.deb, .udeb, .dsc, ...). It stores files
either being injected manually or downloaded from some other repository (partially) mirrored into a pool/
hierarchy. Managed packages and checksums of files are stored in a Berkeley DB database file, so no
database server is needed. Checking signatures of mirrored repositories and creating signatures of the
generated Package indices is supported.
Former working title of this program was mirrorer.
GLOBAL OPTIONS
Options can be specified before the command. Each affects a different subset of commands and is ignored
by other commands.
-h --help
Displays a short list of options and commands with description.
-v, -V, --verbose
Be more verbose. Can be applied multiple times. One uppercase -V counts as five lowercase -v.
--silent
Be less verbose. Can be applied multiple times. One -v and one -s cancel each other out.
-f, --force
This option is ignored, as it no longer exists.
-b, --basedir basedir
Sets the base-dir all other default directories are relative to. If none is supplied and the
REPREPRO_BASE_DIR environment variable is not set either, the current directory will be used.
--outdir outdir
Sets the base-dir of the repository to manage, i.e. where the pool/ subdirectory resides. And in
which the dists/ directory is placed by default. If this starts with '+b/', it is relative to
basedir.
The default for this is basedir.
--confdir confdir
Sets the directory where the configuration is searched in.
If this starts with '+b/', it is relative to basedir.
If none is given, +b/conf (i.e. basedir/conf) will be used.
--distdir distdir
Sets the directory to generate index files relatively to. (i.e. things like Packages.gz,
Sources.gz and Release.gpg)
If this starts with '+b/', it is relative to basedir, if starting with '+o/' relative to outdir.
If none is given, +o/dists (i.e. outdir/dists) is used.
Note: apt has dists hard-coded in it, so this is mostly only useful for testing or when your
webserver pretends another directory structure than your physical layout.
Warning: Beware when changing this forth and back between two values not ending in the same
directory. Reprepro only looks if files it wants are there. If nothing of the content changed and
there is a file it will not touch it, assuming it is the one it wrote last time, assuming any
different --distdir ended in the same directory. So either clean a directory before setting
--distdir to it or do an export with the new one first to have a consistent state.
--logdir logdir
The directory where files generated by the Log: directive are stored if they have no absolute
path.
If this starts with '+b/', it is relative to basedir, if starting with '+o/' relative to outdir,
with '+c/' relative to confdir.
If none is given, +b/logs (i.e. basedir/logs) is used.
--dbdir dbdir
Sets the directory where reprepro keeps its databases.
If this starts with '+b/', it is relative to basedir, if starting with '+o/' relative to outdir,
with '+c/' relative to confdir.
If none is given, +b/db (i.e. basedir/db) is used.
Note: This is permanent data, no cache. One has almost to regenerate the whole repository when
this is lost.
--listdir listdir
Sets the directory where downloads it downloads indices to when importing from other repositories.
This is temporary data and can be safely deleted when not in an update run.
If this starts with '+b/', it is relative to basedir, if starting with '+o/' relative to outdir,
with '+c/' relative to confdir.
If none is given, +b/lists (i.e. basedir/lists) is used.
--morguedir morguedir
Files deleted from the pool are stored into morguedir.
If this starts with '+b/', it is relative to basedir, if starting with '+o/' relative to outdir,
with '+c/' relative to confdir.
If none is given, deleted files are just deleted.
--methoddir methoddir
Look in methoddir instead of /usr/lib/apt/methods for methods to call when importing from other
repositories.
-C, --component components
Limit the specified command to this components only. This will force added packages to this
components, limit removing packages from this components, only list packages in this components,
and/or otherwise only look at packages in this components, depending on the command in question.
Multiple components are specified by separating them with |, as in -C 'main|contrib'.
-A, --architecture architectures
Limit the specified command to this architectures only. (i.e. only list such packages, only
remove packages from the specified architectures, or otherwise only look at/act on this
architectures depending on the specific command).
Multiple architectures are specified by separating them with |, as in -A 'sparc|i386'.
Note that architecture all packages can be included to each architecture but are then handled
separately. Thus by using -A in a specific way one can have different versions of an architecture
all package in different architectures of the same distribution.
-T, --type dsc|deb|udeb
Limit the specified command to this packagetypes only. (i.e. only list such packages, only remove
such packages, only include such packages, ...)
-S, --section section
Overrides the section of inclusions. (Also override possible override files)
-P, --priority priority
Overrides the priority of inclusions. (Also override possible override files)
--export=(silent-never|never|changed|lookedat|force)
This option specify whether and how the high level actions (e.g. install, update, pull, delete)
should export the index files of the distributions they work with.
--export=lookedat
In this mode every distribution the action handled will be exported, unless there was an error
possibly corrupting it.
Note that only missing files and files whose intended content changed between before and after the
action will be written. To get a guaranteed current export, use the export action.
For backwards compatibility, lookedat is also available under the old name normal. The name
normal is deprecated and will be removed in future versions.
--export=changed
In this mode every distribution actually changed will be exported, unless there was an error
possibly corrupting it. (i.e. if nothing changed, not even missing files will be created.)
Note that only missing files and files whose intended content changed between before and after the
action will be written. To get a guaranteed current export, use the export action.
--export=force
Always export all distributions looked at, even if there was some error possibly bringing it into
a inconsistent state.
--export=never
No index files are exported. You will have to call export later.
Note that you most likely additionally need the --keepunreferencedfiles option, if you do not want
some of the files pointed to by the untouched index files to vanish.
--export=silent-never
Like never, but suppress most output about that.
--ignore=what
Ignore errors of type what. See the section ERROR IGNORING for possible values.
--nolistsdownload
When running update, checkupdate or predelete do not download any Release or index files. This is
hardly useful except when you just run one of those command for the same distributions. And even
then reprepro is usually good in not downloading except Release and Release.gpg files again.
--nothingiserror
If nothing was done, return with exitcode 1 instead of the usual 0.
Note that "nothing was done" means the primary purpose of the action in question. Auxiliary
actions (opening and closing the database, exporting missing files with --export=lookedat, ...)
usually do not count. Also note that this is not very well tested. If you find an action that
claims to have done something in some cases where you think it should not, please let me know.
--keeptemporaries
Do not delete temporary .new files when exporting a distribution fails. (reprepro first create
.new files in the dists directory and only if everything is generated, all files are put into
their final place at once. If this option is not specified and something fails, all are deleted
to keep dists clean).
--keepunreferencedfiles
Do not delete files that are no longer used because the package they are from is deleted/replaced
with a newer version from the last distribution it was in.
--keepunusednewfiles
The include, includedsc, includedeb and processincoming by default delete any file they added to
the pool that is not marked used at the end of the operation. While this keeps the pool clean and
allows changing before trying to add again, this needs copying and checksum calculation every time
one tries to add a file.
--keepdirectories
Do not try to rmdir parent directories after files or directories have been removed from them.
(Do this if your directories have special permissions you want keep, do not want to be pestered
with warnings about errors to remove them, or have a buggy rmdir call deleting non-empty
directories.)
--ask-passphrase
Ask for passphrases when signing things and one is needed. This is a quick and dirty and unsafe
implementation using the obsolete getpass(3) function with the description gpgme is supplying. So
the prompt will look quite funny and support for passphrases with more than 8 characters depend on
your libc. Use of this option is not recommended. Use gpg-agent with pinentry instead.
(With current versions of gnupg you need to set pinentry-mode loopback in your .gnupg/gpg.conf
file to use --ask-passphrase. Without that option gnupg uses the much safer and recommended
pinentry instead).
--noskipold
When updating do not skip targets where no new index files and no files marked as already
processed are available.
If you changed a script to preprocess downloaded index files or changed a Listfilter, you most
likely want to call reprepro with --noskipold.
--waitforlock count
If there is a lockfile indicating another instance of reprepro is currently using the database,
retry count times after waiting for 10 seconds each time. The default is 0 and means to error out
instantly.
--spacecheck full|none
The default is full:
In the update commands, check for every to be downloaded file which filesystem it is on and how
much space is left.
To disable this behaviour, use none.
--dbsafetymargin bytes-count
If checking for free space, reserve byte-count bytes on the filesystem containing the db/
directory. The default is 104857600 (i.e. 100MB), which is quite large. But as there is no way
to know in advance how large the databases will grow and libdb is extremely touchy in that regard,
lower only when you know what you do.
--safetymargin bytes-count
If checking for free space, reserve byte-count bytes on filesystems not containing the db/
directory. The default is 1048576 (i.e. 1MB).
--noguessgpgtty
Don't set the environment variable GPG_TTY, even when it is not set, stdin is terminal and
/proc/self/fd/0 is a readable symbolic link.
--gnupghome
Set the GNUPGHOME evnironment variable to the given directory as argument to this option. And
your gpg will most likely use the content of this variable instead of "~/.gnupg". Take a look at
gpg(1) to be sure. This option in the command line is usually not very useful, as it is possible
to set the environment variable directly. Its main reason for existence is that it can be used in
conf/options.
--gunzip gz-uncompressor
While reprepro links against libz, it will look for the program given with this option (or gunzip
if not given) and use that when uncompressing index files while downloading from remote
repositories. (So that downloading and uncompression can happen at the same time). If the
program is not found or is NONE (all-uppercase) then uncompressing will always be done using the
built in uncompression method. The program has to accept the compressed file as stdin and write
the uncompressed file into stdout.
--bunzip2 bz2-uncompressor
When uncompressing downloaded index files or when not linked against libbz2 reprepro will use this
program to uncompress .bz2 files. The default value is bunzip2. If the program is not found or
is NONE (all-uppercase) then uncompressing will always be done using the built in uncompression
method or not be possible when not linked against libbz2. The program has to accept the
compressed file as stdin and write the uncompressed file into stdout.
--unlzma lzma-uncompressor
When trying to uncompress or read lzma compressed files, this program will be used. The default
value is unlzma. If the program is not found or is NONE (all-uppercase) then uncompressing lzma
files will not be possible. The program has to accept the compressed file as stdin and write the
uncompressed file into stdout.
--unxz xz-uncompressor
When trying to uncompress or read xz compressed files, this program will be used. The default
value is unxz. If the program is not found or is NONE (all-uppercase) then uncompressing xz files
will not be possible. The program has to accept the compressed file as stdin and write the
uncompressed file into stdout.
--lunzip lzip-uncompressor
When trying to uncompress or read lzip compressed files, this program will be used. The default
value is lunzip. If the program is not found or is NONE (all-uppercase) then uncompressing lz
files will not be possible. The program has to accept the compressed file as stdin and write the
uncompressed file into stdout.
--list-max count
Limits the output of list, listmatched and listfilter to the first count results. The default is
0, which means unlimited.
--list-skip count
Omitts the first count results from the output of list, listmatched and listfilter.
--list-format format
Set the output format of list, listmatched and listfilter commands. The format is similar to
dpkg-query's --showformat: fields are specified as ${fieldname} or ${fieldname;length}. Zero
length or no length means unlimited. Positive numbers mean fill with spaces right, negative fill
with spaces left.
\n, \r, \t, \0 are new-line, carriage-return, tabulator and zero-byte. Backslash (\) can be used
to escape every non-letter-or-digit.
The special field names $identifier, $architecture, $component, $type, $codename denote where the
package was found.
The special field names $source and $sourceversion denote the source and source version a package
belongs to. (i.e. ${$source} will either be the same as ${source} (without a possible version in
parentheses at the end) or the same as ${package}.
The special field names $basename, $filekey and $fullfilename denote the first package file part
of this entry (i.e. usually the .deb, .udeb or .dsc file) as basename, as filekey (filename
relative to the outdir) and the full filename with outdir prepended (i.e. as relative or absolute
as your outdir (or basedir if you did not set outdir) is).
When --list-format is not given or NONE, then the default is equivalent to
${$identifier} ${package} ${version}\n.
Escaping digits or letters not in above list, using dollars not escaped outside specified
constructs, or any field names not listed as special and not consisting entirely out of letters,
digits and minus signs have undefined behaviour and might change meaning without any further
notice.
If you give this option on the command line, don't forget that $ is also interpreted by your
shell. So you have to properly escape it. For example by putting the whole argument to
--list-format in single quotes.
--show-percent
When downloading packages, show each completed percent of completed package downloads together
with the size of completely downloaded packages. (Repeating this option increases the frequency
of this output).
--onlysmalldeletes
The pull and update commands will skip every distribution in which one target loses more than 20%
of its packages (and at least 10).
Using this option (or putting it in the options config file) can avoid removing large quantities
of data but means you might often give --noonlysmalldeletes to override it.
--restrict src[=version|:type]
Restrict a pull or update to only act on packages belonging to source-package src. Any other
package will not be updated (unless it matches a --restrict-bin). Only packages that would
otherwise be updated or are at least marked with hold in a FilterList or FilerSrcList will be
updated.
The action can be restricted to a source version using a equal sign or changed to another type
(see FilterList) using a colon.
This option can be given multiple times to list multiple packages, but each package may only be
named once (even when there are different versions or types).
--restrict-binary name[=version|:type]
Like --restrict but restrict to binary packages (.deb and .udeb). Source packages are not
upgraded unless they appear in a --restrict.
--restrict-file filename
Like --restrict but read a whole file in the FilterSrcList format.
--restrict-file-bin filename
Like --restrict-bin but read a whole file in the FilterList format.
--endhook hookscript
Run the specified hookscript once reprepro exits. It will get the usual REPREPRO_* environment
variables set (or unset) and additionally a variable REPREPRO_EXIT_CODE that is the exit code with
which reprepro would have exited (the hook is always called once the initial parsing of global
options and the command name is done, no matter if reprepro did anything or not). Reprepro will
return to the calling process with the exitcode of this script. Reprepro has closed all its
databases and removed all its locks, so you can run reprepro again in this script (unless someone
else did so in the same repository before, of course).
The only advantage over running that command always directly after reprepro is that you can some
environment variables set and cannot so easily forget it if this option is in conf/options.
The script is supposed to be located relative to confdir, unless its name starts with /, ./, +b/,
+o/, or +c/ and the name may not start (except in the cases given before) with a +.
An example script looks like:
#!/bin/sh
if [ "$REPREPRO_EXIT_CODE" -ne 0 ] ; then
exit "$REPREPRO_EXIT_CODE"
fi
echo "congratulations, reprepro with arguments: $*"
echo "seems to have run successfully. REPREPRO_ part of the environment is:"
set | grep ^REPREPRO_
exit 0
--outhook hookscript
hookscript is called with a .outlog file as argument (located in logdir) containing a description
of all changes made to outdir.
The script is supposed to be located relative to confdir, unless its name starts with /, ./, +b/,
+o/, or +c/ and the name may not start (except in the cases given before) with a +.
For a format of the .outlog files generated for this script see the manual.html shiped with
reprepro.
COMMANDS
export [ codenames ]
Generate all index files for the specified distributions.
This regenerates all files unconditionally. It is only useful if you want to be sure dists is up
to date, you called some other actions with --export=never before or you want to create an initial
empty but fully equipped dists/codename directory.
[ --delete ] createsymlinks [ codenames ]
Creates suite symbolic links in the dists/-directory pointing to the corresponding codename.
It will not create links, when multiple of the given codenames would be linked from the same suite
name, or if the link already exists (though when --delete is given it will delete already existing
symlinks)
list codename [ packagename ]
List all packages (source and binary, except when -T or -A is given) with the given name in all
components (except when -C is given) and architectures (except when -A is given) of the specified
distribution. If no package name is given, list everything. The format of the output can be
changed with --list-format. To only get parts of the result, use --list-max and --list-skip.
listmatched codename glob
as list, but does not list a single package, but all packages matching the given shell-like glob.
(i.e. *, ? and [chars] are allowed).
Examples:
reprepro -b . listmatched test2 'linux-*' lists all packages starting with linux-.
listfilter codename condition
as list, but does not list a single package, but all packages matching the given condition.
The format of the formulas is those of the dependency lines in Debian packages' control files with
some extras. That means a formula consists of names of fields with a possible condition for its
content in parentheses. These atoms can be combined with an exclamation mark '!' (meaning not), a
pipe symbol '|' (meaning or) and a comma ',' (meaning and). Additionally parentheses can be used
to change binding (otherwise '!' binds more than '|' than ',').
The values given in the search expression are directly alphabetically compared to the headers in
the respective index file. That means that each part Fieldname (cmp value) of the formula will be
true for exactly those package that have in the Package or Sources file a line starting with
fieldname and a value is alphabetically cmp to value.
Additionally since reprepro 3.11.0, '%' can be used as comparison operator, denoting matching a
name with shell like wildcard (with '*', '?' and '[..]').
The special field names starting with '$' have special meaning (available since 3.11.1):
$Version
The version of the package, comparison is not alphabetically, but as Debian version strings.
$Source
The source name of the package.
$SourceVersion
The source version of the package.
$Architecture
The architecture the package is in (listfilter) or to be put into.
$Component
The component the package is in (listfilter) or to be put into.
$Packagetype
The packagetype of the package.
Examples:
reprepro -b . listfilter test2 'Section (== admin)' will list all packages in distribution test2
with a Section field and the value of that field being admin.
reprepro -b . -T deb listfilter test2 'Source (== blub) | ( !Source , Package (== blub) )' will
find all .deb Packages with either a Source field blub or no Source field and a Package field
blub. (That means all package generated by a source package blub, except those also specifying a
version number with its Source).
reprepro -b . -T deb listfilter test2 '$Source (==blub) is the better way to do this (but only
available since 3.11.1).
reprepro -b . listfilter test2 '$PackageType (==deb), $Source (==blub) is another (less efficient)
way.
reprepro -b . listfilter test2 'Package (% linux-*-2.6*)' lists all packages with names starting
with linux- and later having an -2.6.
ls package-name
List the versions of the specified package in all distributions.
lsbycomponent package-name
Like ls, but group by component (and print component names).
remove codename package-names
Delete all packages in the specified distribution, that have package name listed as argument.
(i.e. remove all packages list with the same arguments and options would list, except that an
empty package list is not allowed.)
Note that like any other operation removing or replacing a package, the old package's files are
unreferenced and thus may be automatically deleted if this was their last reference and no
--keepunreferencedfiles specified.
removematched codename glob
Delete all packages listmatched with the same arguments would list.
removefilter codename condition
Delete all packages listfilter with the same arguments would list.
removesrc codename source-name [version]
Remove all packages in distribution codename belonging to source package source-name. (Limited to
those with source version version if specified).
If package tracking is activated, it will use that information to find the packages, otherwise it
traverses all package indices for the distribution.
removesrcs codename source-name[=version] ...
Like removesrc, but can be given multiple source names and source versions must be specified by
appending '=' and the version to the name (without spaces).
update [ codenames ]
Sync the specified distributions (all if none given) as specified in the config with their
upstreams. See the description of conf/updates below.
checkupdate [ codenames ]
Same like update, but will show what it will change instead of actually changing it.
dumpupdate [ codenames ]
Same like checkupdate, but less suiteable for humans and more suitable for computers.
predelete [ codenames ]
This will determine which packages a update would delete or replace and remove those packages.
This can be useful for reducing space needed while upgrading, but there will be some time where
packages are vanished from the lists so clients will mark them as obsolete. Plus if you cannot
download a updated package in the (hopefully) following update run, you will end up with no
package at all instead of an old one. This will also blow up .diff files if you are using the
pdiff example or something similar. So be careful when using this option or better get some more
space so that update works.
cleanlists
Delete all files in listdir (default basedir/lists) that do not belong to any update rule for any
distribution. I.e. all files are deleted in that directory that no update command in the current
configuration can use. (The files are usually left there, so if they are needed again they do not
need to be downloaded again. Though in many easy cases not even those files will be needed.)
pull [ codenames ]
pull in newer packages into the specified distributions (all if none given) from other
distributions in the same repository. See the description of conf/pulls below.
checkpull [ codenames ]
Same like pull, but will show what it will change instead of actually changing it.
dumppull [ codenames ]
Same like checkpull, but less suiteable for humans and more suitable for computers.
includedeb codename .deb-filename
Include the given binary Debian package (.deb) in the specified distribution, applying override
information and guessing all values not given and guessable.
includeudeb codename .udeb-filename
Same like includedeb, but for .udeb files.
includedsc codename .dsc-filename
Include the given Debian source package (.dsc, including other files like .orig.tar.gz, .tar.gz
and/or .diff.gz) in the specified distribution, applying override information and guessing all
values not given and guessable.
Note that .dsc files do not contain section or priority, but the Sources.gz file needs them.
reprepro tries to parse .diff and .tar files for it, but is only able to resolve easy cases. If
reprepro fails to extract those automatically, you have to either specify a DscOverride or give
them via -S and -P
include codename .changes-filename
Include in the specified distribution all packages found and suitable in the .changes file,
applying override information guessing all values not given and guessable.
processincoming rulesetname [.changes-file]
Scan an incoming directory and process the .changes files found there. If a filename is supplied,
processing is limited to that file. rulesetname identifies which rule-set in conf/incoming
determines which incoming directory to use and in what distributions to allow packages into. See
the section about this file for more information.
check [ codenames ]
Check if all packages in the specified distributions have all files needed properly registered.
checkpool [ fast ]
Check if all files believed to be in the pool are actually still there and have the known md5sum.
When fast is specified md5sum is not checked.
collectnewchecksums
Calculate all supported checksums for all files in the pool. (Versions prior to 3.3 did only
store md5sums, 3.3 added sha1, 3.5 added sha256).
translatelegacychecksums
Remove the legacy files.db file after making sure all information is also found in the new
checksums.db file. (Alternatively you can call collecnewchecksums and remove the file on your
own.)
rereference
Forget which files are needed and recollect this information.
dumpreferences
Print out which files are marked to be needed by whom.
dumpunreferenced
Print a list of all filed believed to be in the pool, that are not known to be needed.
deleteunreferenced
Remove all known files (and forget them) in the pool not marked to be needed by anything.
deleteifunreferenced [ filekeys ]
Remove the given files (and forget them) in the pool if they are not marked to be used by
anything. If no command line arguments are given, stdin is read and every line treated as one
filekey. This is mostly useful together with --keepunreferenced in conf/options or in situations
where one does not want to run deleteunreferenced, which removes all files eligible to be deleted
with this command.
reoverride [ codenames ]
Reapply the override files to the given distributions (Or only parts thereof given by -A,-C or
-T).
Note: only the control information is changed. Changing a section to a value, that would cause
another component to be guessed, will not cause any warning.
redochecksums [ codenames ]
Readd the information about file checksums to the package indices.
Usually the package's control information is created at inclusion time or imported from some
remote source and not changed later. This command modifies it to readd missing checksum types.
Only checksums already known are used. To update known checkums about files run
collectnewchecksums first.
dumptracks [ codenames ]
Print out all information about tracked source packages in the given distributions.
retrack [ codenames ]
Recreate a tracking database for the specified distributions. This contains ouf of three steps.
First all files marked as part of a source package are set to unused. Then all files actually
used are marked as thus. Finally tidytracks is called remove everything no longer needed with the
new information about used files.
(This behaviour, though a bit longsome, keeps even files only kept because of tracking mode keep
and files not otherwise used but kept due to includechanges or its relatives. Before version
3.0.0 such files were lost by running retrack).
removealltracks [ codenames ]
Removes all source package tracking information for the given distributions.
removetrack codename sourcename version
Remove the trackingdata of the given version of a given sourcepackage from a given distribution.
This also removes the references for all used files.
tidytracks [ codenames ]
Check all source package tracking information for the given distributions for files no longer to
keep.
copy destination-codename source-codename packages...
Copy the given packages from one distribution to another. The packages are copied verbatim, no
override files are consulted. Only components and architectures present in the source
distribution are copied.
copysrc destination-codename source-codename source-package [versions]
look at each package (where package means, as usual, every package be it dsc, deb or udeb) in the
distribution specified by source-codename and identifies the relevant source package for each.
All packages matching the specified source-package name (and any version if specified) are copied
to the destination-codename distribution. The packages are copied verbatim, no override files are
consulted. Only components and architectures present in the source distribution are copied.
copymatched destination-codename source-codename glob
Copy packages matching the given glob (see listmatched).
The packages are copied verbatim, no override files are consulted. Only components and
architectures present in the source distribution are copied.
copyfilter destination-codename source-codename formula
Copy packages matching the given formula (see listfilter). (all versions if no version is
specified). The packages are copied verbatim, no override files are consulted. Only components
and architectures present in the source distribution are copied.
restore codename snapshot packages...
restoresrc codename snapshot source-epackage [versions]
restorefilter destination-codename snapshot formula
Like the copy commands, but do not copy from another distribution, but from a snapshot generated
with gensnapshot. Note that this blindly trusts the contents of the files in your dists/
directory and does no checking.
clearvanished
Remove all package databases that no longer appear in conf/distributions. If --delete is
specified, it will not stop if there are still packages left. Even without --delete it will
unreference files still marked as needed by this target. (Use --keepunreferenced to not delete
them if that was the last reference.)
Do not forget to remove all exported package indices manually.
gensnapshot codename directoryname
Generate a snapshot of the distribution specified by codename in the directory
dists/codename/snapshots/directoryname/ and reference all needed files in the pool as needed by
that. No Content files are generated and no export hooks are run.
Note that there is currently no automated way to remove that snapshot again (not even
clearvanished will unlock the referenced files after the distribution itself vanished). You will
have to remove the directory yourself and tell reprepro to unreferencesnapshot codename
directoryname before deleteunreferenced will delete the files from the pool locked by this.
To access such a snapshot with apt, add something like the following to your sources.list file:
deb method://as/without/snapshot codename/snapshots/name main
unreferencesnapshot codename directoryname
Remove all references generated by an genshapshot with the same arguments. This allows the next
deleteunferenced call to delete those files. (The indicies in dists/ for the snapshot are not
removed.)
rerunnotifiers [ codenames ]
Run all external scripts specified in the Log: options of the specified distributions.
build-needing codename architecture [ glob ]
List source packages (matching glob) that likely need a build on the given architecture.
List all source package in the given distribution without a binary package of the given
architecture built from that version of the source, without a .changes or .log file for the given
architecture, with an Architecture field including any, os-any (with os being the part before the
hyphen in the architecture or linux if there is no hyphen) or the architecture and at least one
package in the Binary field not yet available.
If instead of architecture the term any is used, all architectures are iterated and the
architecture is printed as fourth field in every line.
If the architecture is all, then only source packages with an Architecture field including all are
considered (i.e. as above with real architectures but any does not suffice). Note that dpkg-dev
<< 1.16.1 does not both set any and all so source packages building both architecture dependent
and independent packages will never show up unless built with a new enough dpkg-source).
translatefilelists
Translate the file list cache within db/contents.cache.db into the new format used since reprepro
3.0.0.
Make sure you have at least half of the space of the current db/contents.cache.db file size
available in that partition.
flood distribution [architecture]
For each architecture of distribution (or for the one specified) add architecture all packages
from other architectures (but the same component or packagetype) under the following conditions:
Packages are only upgraded, never downgraded.
If there is a package not being architecture all, then architecture all packages of the same
source from the same source version are preferred over those that have no such binary sibling.
Otherwise the package with the highest version wins.
You can restrict with architectures are looked for architecture all packages using -A and which
components/packagetypes are flooded by -C/-T as usual.
There are mostly two use cases for this command: If you added an new architecture to an
distribution and want to copy all architecture all packages to it. Or if you included some
architecture all packages only to some architectures using -A to avoid breaking the other
architectures for which the binary packages were still missing and now want to copy it to those
architectures were they are unlikely to break something (because a newbinary is already
available).
unusedsources [distributions]
List all source packages for which no binary package build from them is found.
sourcemissing [distributions]
List all binary packages for which no source package is found (the source package must be in the
same distribution, but source packages only kept by package tracking is enough).
reportcruft [distributions]
List all source package versions that either have a source package and no longer a binary package
or binary packages left without source package in the index. (Unless sourcemissing also list
packages where the source package in only in the pool due to enabled tracking but no longer in the
index).
sizes [ codenames ]
List the size of all packages in the distributions specified or in all distributions.
Each row contains 4 numbers, each being a number of bytes in a set of packages, which are: The
packages in this distribution (including anything only kept because of tracking), the packages
only in this distribution (anything in this distribution and a snapshot of this distribution
counts as only in this distribution), the packages in this distribution and its snapshots, the
packages only in this distribution or its snapshots.
If more than one distribution is selected, also list a sum of those (in which 'Only' means only in
selected ones, and not only only in one of the selected ones).
repairdescriptions [ codenames ]
Look for binary packages only having a short description and try to get the long description from
the .deb file (and also remove a possible Description-md5 in this case).
internal commands
These are hopefully never needed, but allow manual intervention. WARNING: Is is quite easy to get into
an inconsistent and/or unfixable state.
_detect [ filekeys ]
Look for the files, which filekey is given as argument or as a line of the input (when run without
arguments), and calculate their md5sum and add them to the list of known files. (Warning: this is
a low level operation, no input validation or normalization is done.)
_forget [ filekeys ]
Like _detect but remove the given filekey from the list of known files. (Warning: this is a low
level operation, no input validation or normalization is done.)
_listmd5sums
Print a list of all known files and their md5sums.
_listchecksums
Print a list of all known files and their recorded checksums.
_addmd5sums
alias for the newer
_addchecksums
Add information of known files (without any check done) in the strict format of _listchecksums
output (i.e. don't dare to use a single space anywhere more than needed).
_dumpcontents identifier
Printout all the stored information of the specified part of the repository. (Or in other words,
the content the corresponding Packages or Sources file would get)
_addreference filekey identifier
Manually mark filekey to be needed by identifier
_addreferences identifier [ filekeys ]
Manually mark one or more filekeys to be needed by identifier. If no command line arguments are
given, stdin is read and every line treated as one filekey.
_removereference identifier filekey
Manually remove the given mark that the file is needed by this identifier.
_removereferences identifier
Remove all references what is needed by identifier.
__extractcontrol .deb-filename
Look what reprepro believes to be the content of the control file of the specified .deb-file.
__extractfilelist .deb-filename
Look what reprepro believes to be the list of files of the specified .deb-file.
_fakeemptyfilelist filekey
Insert an empty filelist for filekey. This is a evil hack around broken .deb files that cannot be
read by reprepro.
_addpackage codenam filename packages...
Add packages from the specified filename to part specified by -C -A and -T of the specified
distribution. Very strange things can happen if you use it improperly.
__dumpuncompressors
List what compressions format can be uncompressed and how.
__uncompress format compressed-file uncompressed-file
Use builtin or external uncompression to uncompress the specified file of the specified format
into the specified target.
_listconfidentifiers identifier [ distributions... ]
Print - one per line - all identifiers of subdatabases as derived from the configuration. If a
list of distributions is given, only identifiers of those are printed.
_listdbidentifiers identifier [ distributions... ]
Print - one per line - all identifiers of subdatabases in the current database. This will be a
subset of the ones printed by _listconfidentifiers or most commands but clearvanished will refuse
to run, and depending on the database compatibility version, will include all those if reprepro
was run since the config was last changed.
CONFIG FILES
reprepo uses three config files, which are searched in the directory specified with --confdir or in the
conf/ subdirectory of the basedir.
If a file options exists, it is parsed line by line. Each line can be the long name of a command line
option (without the --) plus an argument, where possible. Those are handled as if they were command line
options given before (and thus lower priority than) any other command line option. (and also lower
priority than any environment variable).
To allow command line options to override options file options, most boolean options also have a
corresponding form starting with --no.
(The only exception is when the path to look for config files changes, the options file will only opened
once and of course before any options within the options file are parsed.)
The file distributions is always needed and describes what distributions to manage, while updates is only
needed when syncing with external repositories and pulls is only needed when syncing with repositories in
the same reprepro database.
The last three are in the format control files in Debian are in, i.e. paragraphs separated by empty lines
consisting of fields. Each field consists of a fieldname, followed by a colon, possible whitespace and
the data. A field ends with a newline not followed by a space or tab.
Lines starting with # as first character are ignored, while in other lines the # character and everything
after it till the newline character are ignored.
A paragraph can also consist of only a single field "!include:" which causes the named file (relative to
confdir unless starting with ~/, +b/, +c/ or / ) to be read as if it was found at this place.
Each of the three files or a file included as described above can also be a directory, in which case all
files it contains with a filename ending in .conf and not starting with . are read.
conf/distributions
Codename
This required field is the unique identifier of a distribution and used as directory name within
dists/ It is also copied into the Release files.
Note that this name is not supposed to change. You most likely never ever want a name like
testing or stable here (those are suite names and supposed to point to another distribution
later).
Suite This optional field is simply copied into the Release files. In Debian it contains names like
stable, testing or unstable. To create symlinks from the Suite to the Codename, use the
createsymlinks command of reprepro.
FakeComponentPrefix
If this field is present, its argument is added - separated by a slash - before every Component
written to the main Release file (unless the component already starts with it), and removed from
the end of the Codename and Suite fields in that file. Also if a component starts with it, its
directory in the dists dir is shortened by this.
So
Codename: bla/updates
Suite: foo/updates
FakeComponentPrefix: updates
Components: main bad
will create a Release file with
Codename: bla
Suite: foo
Components: updates/main updates/bad
in it, but otherwise nothing is changed, while
Codename: bla/updates
Suite: foo/updates
FakeComponentPrefix: updates
Components: updates/main updates/bad
will also create a Release file with
Codename: bla
Suite: foo
Components: updates/main updates/bad
but the packages will actually be in the components updates/main and updates/bad, most likely
causing the same file using duplicate storage space.
This makes the distribution look more like Debian's security archive, thus work around problems
with apt's workarounds for that.
AlsoAcceptFor
A list of distribution names. When a .changes file is told to be included into this distribution
with the include command and the distribution header of that file is neither the codename, nor the
suite name, nor any name from the list, a wrongdistribution error is generated. The
process_incoming command will also use this field, see the description of Allow and Default from
the conf/incoming file for more information.
Version
This optional field is simply copied into the Release files.
Origin This optional field is simply copied into the Release files.
Label This optional field is simply copied into the Release files.
NotAutomatic
This optional field is simply copied into the Release files. (The value is handled as an
arbitrary string, though anything but yes does not make much sense right now.)
ButAutomaticUpgrades
This optional field is simply copied into the Release files. (The value is handled as an
arbitrary string, though anything but yes does not make much sense right now.)
Description
This optional field is simply copied into the Release files.
Architectures
This required field lists the binary architectures within this distribution and if it contains
source (i.e. if there is an item source in this line this Distribution has source. All other items
specify things to be put after "binary-" to form directory names and be checked against
"Architecture:" fields.)
This will also be copied into the Release files. (With exception of the source item, which will
not occur in the topmost Release file whether it is present here or not)
Components
This required field lists the component of a distribution. See GUESSING for rules which component
packages are included into by default. This will also be copied into the Release files.
UDebComponents
Components with a debian-installer subhierarchy containing .udebs. (E.g. simply "main")
Update When this field is present, it describes which update rules are used for this distribution. There
also can be a magic rule minus ("-"), see below.
Pull When this field is present, it describes which pull rules are used for this distribution. Pull
rules are like Update rules, but get their stuff from other distributions and not from external
sources. See the description for conf/pulls.
SignWith
When this field is present, a Release.gpg file will be generated. If the value is "yes" or
"default", the default key of gpg is used. If the field starts with an exlamation mark ("!"), the
given script is executed to do the signing. Otherwise the value will be given to libgpgme to
determine to key to use.
If there are problems with signing, you can try
gpg --list-secret-keys value
to see how gpg could interprete the value. If that command does not list any keys or multiple
ones, try to find some other value (like the keyid), that gpg can more easily associate with a
unique key.
If this key has a passphrase, you need to use gpg-agent or the insecure option --ask-passphrase.
A '!' hook script is looked for in the confdir, unless it starts with ~/, ./, +b/, +o/, +c/ or / .
Is gets three command line arguments: The filename to sign, an empty argument or the filename to
create with an inline signature (i.e. InRelease) and an empty argument or the filename to create
an detached signature (i.e. Release.gpg). The script may generate no Release.gpg file if it
choses to (then the repository will look like unsigned for older clients), but generating empty
files is not allowed. Reprepro waits for the script to finish and will abort the exporting of the
distribution this signing is part of unless the scripts returns normally with exit code 0. Using
a space after ! is recommended to avoid incompatibilities with possible future extensions.
DebOverride
When this field is present, it describes the override file used when including .deb files.
UDebOverride
When this field is present, it describes the override file used when including .udeb files.
DscOverride
When this field is present, it describes the override file used when including .dsc files.
DebIndices, UDebIndices, DscIndices
Choose what kind of Index files to export. The first part describes what the Index file shall be
called. The second argument determines the name of a Release file to generate or not to generate
if missing. Then at least one of ".", ".gz", ".xz" or ".bz2" specifying whether to generate
uncompressed output, gzipped output, bzip2ed output or any combination. (bzip2 is only available
when compiled with bzip2 support, so it might not be available when you compiled it on your own,
same for xz and liblzma). If an argument not starting with dot follows, it will be executed after
all index files are generated. (See the examples for what argument this gets). The default is:
DebIndices: Packages Release . .gz
UDebIndices: Packages . .gz
DscIndices: Sources Release .gz
ExportOptions
Options to modify how and if exporting is done:
noexport Never export this distribution. That means there will be no directory below dists/
generated and the distribution is only useful to copy packages to other distributions.
keepunknown Ignore unknown files and directories in the exported directory. This is currently the
only available option and the default, but might change in the future, so it can already be
requested explicitly.
Contents
Enable the creation of Contents files listing all the files within the binary packages of a
distribution. (Which is quite slow, you have been warned).
In earlier versions, the first argument was a rate at which to extract file lists. As this did
not work and was no longer easily possible after some factorisation, this is no longer supported.
The arguments of this field is a space separated list of options. If there is a udebs keyword,
.udebs are also listed (in a file called uContents-architecture.) If there is a nodebs keyword,
.debs are not listed. (Only useful together with udebs) If there is at least one of the keywords
., .gz, .xz and/or .bz2, the Contents files are written uncompressed, gzipped and/or bzip2ed
instead of only gzipped.
If there is a percomponent then one Contents-arch file per component is created. If there is a
allcomponents then one global Contents-arch file is generated. If both are given, both are
created. If none of both is specified then percomponent is taken as default (earlier versions had
other defaults).
The switches compatsymlink or nocompatsymlink (only possible if allcomponents was not specified
explicitly) control whether a compatibility symlink is created so old versions of apt-file looking
for the component independent filenames at least see the contents of the first component.
Unless allcomponents is given, compatsymlinks currently is the default, but that will change in
some future (current estimate: after wheezy was released)
ContentsArchitectures
Limit generation of Contents files to the architectures given. If this field is not there, all
architectures are processed. An empty field means no architectures are processed, thus not very
useful.
ContentsComponents
Limit what components are processed for the Contents-arch files to the components given. If this
field is not there, all components are processed. An empty field is equivalent to specify nodebs
in the Contents field, while a non-empty field overrides a nodebs there.
ContentsUComponents
Limit what components are processed for the uContents files to the components given. If this
field is not there and there is the udebs keyword in the Contents field, all .udebs of all
components are put in the uContents.arch files. If this field is not there and there is no udebs
keyword in the Contents field, no uContents-arch files are generated at all. A non-empty fields
implies generation of uContents-arch files (just like the udebs keyword in the Contents field),
while an empty one causes no uContents-arch files to be generated.
Uploaders
Specifies a file (relative to confdir if not starting with ~/, +b/, +c/ or / ) to specify who is
allowed to upload packages. Without this there are no limits, and this file can be ignored via
--ignore=uploaders. See the section UPLOADERS FILES below.
Tracking
Enable the (experimental) tracking of source packages. The argument list needs to contain exactly
one of the following:
keep Keeps all files of a given source package, until that is deleted explicitly via removetrack.
This is currently the only possibility to keep older packages around when all indices contain
newer files.
all Keep all files belonging to a given source package until the last file of it is no longer used
within that distribution.
minimal Remove files no longer included in the tracked distribution. (Remove changes, logs and
includebyhand files once no file is in any part of the distribution).
And any number of the following (or none):
includechanges Add the .changes file to the tracked files of a source package. Thus it is also
put into the pool.
includebyhand Add byhand and raw-* files to the tracked files and thus in the pool.
includebuildinfos Add buildinfo files to the tracked files and thus in the pool.
includelogs Add log files to the tracked files and thus in the pool. (Not that putting log files
in changes files is a reprepro extension not found in normal changes files)
embargoalls Not yet implemented.
keepsources Even when using minimal mode, do not remove source files until no file is needed any
more.
needsources Not yet implemented.
Log Specify a file to log additions and removals of this distribution into and/or external scripts to
call when something is added or removed. The rest of the Log: line is the filename, every
following line (as usual, have to begin with a single space) the name of a script to call. The
name of the script may be preceded with options of the form --type=(dsc|deb|udeb),
--architecture=name or --component=name to only call the script for some parts of the
distribution. An script with argument --changes is called when a .changes file was accepted by
include or processincoming (and with other arguments). Both type of scripts can have a
--via=command specified, in which case it is only called when caused by reprepro command command.
For information how it is called and some examples take a look at manual.html in reprepro's source
or /usr/share/doc/reprepro/
If the filename for the log files does not start with a slash, it is relative to the directory
specified with --logdir, the scripts are relative to --confdir unless starting with ~/, +b/, +c/
or /.
ValidFor
If this field exists, an Valid-Until field is put into generated Release files for this
distribution with an date as much in the future as the argument specifies.
The argument has to be an number followed by one of the units d, m or y, where d means days, m
means 31 days and y means 365 days. So ValidFor: 1m 11 d causes the generation of a Valid-Until:
header in Release files that points 42 days into the future.
ReadOnly
Disallow all modifications of this distribution or its directory in dists/codename (with the
exception of snapshot subdirectories).
ByHandHooks
This species hooks to call for handling byhand/raw files by processincoming (and in future
versions perhaps by include).
Each line consists out of 4 arguments: A glob pattern for the section (clasically byhand, though
Ubuntu uses raw-*), a glob pattern for the priority (not usually used), and a glob pattern for the
filename.
The 4th argument is the script to be called when all of the above match. It gets 5 arguments: the
codename of the distribution, the section (usually byhand), the priority (usually only -), the
filename in the changes file and the full filename (with processincoming in the secure TempDir).
conf/updates
Name The name of this update-upstream as it can be used in the Update field in conf/distributions.
Method An URI as one could also give it apt, e.g. http://ftp.debian.de/debian which is simply given to
the corresponding apt-get method. (So either apt-get has to be installed, or you have to point
with --methoddir to a place where such methods are found.
Fallback
(Still experimental:) A fallback URI, where all files are tried that failed the first one. They
are given to the same method as the previous URI (e.g. both http://), and the fallback-server must
have everything at the same place. No recalculation is done, but single files are just retried
from this location.
Config This can contain any number of lines, each in the format apt-get --option would expect. (Multiple
lines ‐ as always ‐ marked with leading spaces).
For example: Config: Acquire::Http::Proxy=http://proxy.yours.org:8080
From The name of another update rule this rules derives from. The rule containing the From may not
contain Method, Fallback or Config. All other fields are used from the rule referenced in From,
unless found in this containing the From. The rule referenced in From may itself contain a From.
Reprepro will only assume two remote index files are the same, if both get their Method
information from the same rule.
Suite The suite to update from. If this is not present, the codename of the distribution using this one
is used. Also "*/whatever" is replaced by "<codename>/whatever"
Components
The components to update. Each item can be either the name of a component or a pair of a upstream
component and a local component separated with ">". (e.g. "main>all contrib>all non-free>notall")
If this field is not there, all components from the distribution to update are tried.
An empty field means no source or .deb packages are updated by this rule, but only .udeb packages,
if there are any.
A rule might list components not available in all distributions using this rule. In this case
unknown components are silently ignored. (Unless you start reprepro with the --fast option, it
will warn about components unusable in all distributions using that rule. As exceptions, unusable
components called none are never warned about, for compatibility with versions prior to 3.0.0
where and empty field had a different meaning.)
Architectures
The architectures to update. If omitted all from the distribution to update from. (As with
components, you can use ">" to download from one architecture and add into another one. (This only
determine in which Package list they land, it neither overwrites the Architecture line in its
description, nor the one in the filename determined from this one. In other words, it is no really
useful without additional filtering))
UDebComponents
Like Components but for the udebs.
VerifyRelease
Download the Release.gpg file and check if it is a signature of the Releasefile with the key given
here. (In the Format as "gpg --with-colons --list-key" prints it, i.e. the last 16 hex digits of
the fingerprint) Multiple keys can be specified by separating them with a "|" sign. Then finding a
signature from one of the will suffice. To allow revoked or expired keys, add a "!" behind a key.
(but to accept such signatures, the appropriate --ignore is also needed). To also allow subkeys
of a specified key, add a "+" behind a key.
IgnoreRelease: yes
If this is present, no InRelease or Release file will be downloaded and thus the md5sums of the
other index files will not be checked.
GetInRelease: no
IF this is present, no InRelease file is downloaded but only Release (and Release.gpg ) are tried.
Flat If this field is in an update rule, it is supposed to be a flat repository, i.e. a repository
without a dists dir and no subdirectories for the index files. (If the corresponding sources.list
line has the suite end with a slash, then you might need this one.) The argument for the Flat:
field is the Component to put those packages into. No Components or UDebComponents fields are
allowed in a flat update rule. If the Architecture field has any > items, the part left of the
">" is ignored.
For example the sources.list line
deb http://cran.r-project.org/bin/linux/debian etch-cran/
would translate to
Name: R
Method: http://cran.r-project.org/bin/linux/debian
Suite: etch-cran
Flat: whatevercomponentyoudlikethepackagesin
IgnoreHashes
This directive tells reprepro to not check the listed hashes in the downloaded Release file (and
only in the Release file). Possible values are currently md5, sha1 and sha256.
Note that this does not speed anything up in any measurable way. The only reason to specify this
if the Release file of the distribution you want to mirror from uses a faulty algorithm
implementation. Otherwise you will gain nothing and only lose security.
FilterFormula
This can be a formula to specify which packages to accept from this source. The format is misusing
the parser intended for Dependency lines. To get only architecture all packages use "architecture
(== all)", to get only at least important packages use "priority (==required) | priority
(==important)".
See the description of the listfilter command for the semantics of formulas.
FilterList, FilterSrcList
These take at least two arguments: The first one is the default action when something is not found
in the list, then a list of filenames (relative to --confdir, if not starting with ~/, +b/, +c/ or
/ ) in the format of dpkg --get-selections and only packages listed in there as install or that
are already there and are listed with upgradeonly will be installed. Things listed as deinstall or
purge will be ignored. Packages having supersede will not be installed but instead cause the
removal of packages with strictly smaller version (i.e. if a package would be replaced by this
package if this was install, it will be removed instead and no new package being installed).
Things listed with warning are also ignored, but a warning message is printed to stderr. A
package being hold will not be upgraded but also not downgraded or removed by previous delete
rules. To abort the whole upgrade/pull if a package is available, use error. Instead of a
keyword you can also use "= version" which is treated like install if the version matches and like
no entry if it does not match. Only one such entry per package is currently supported and the
version is currently compared as string.
If there is both FilterList and FilterSrcList then the first is used for .deb and .udeb and the
second for .dsc packages. If there is only FilterList that is applied to everything. If there is
only FilterSrcList that is applied to everything, too, but the source package name (and source
version) is used to do the lookup.
OmitExtraSourceOnly
This field controls whether source packages with Extra-Source-Only set are ignore when getting
source packages. Withouth this option or if it is true, those source packages are ignored, while
if set to no or false, those source packages are also condidates if no other filter excludes them.
(The default of true will likely change once reprepro supports multiple versions of a package or
has other means to keep the source packages around).
ListHook
If this is given, it is executed for all downloaded index files with the downloaded list as first
and a filename that will be used instead of this. (e.g. "ListHook: /bin/cp" works but does
nothing.)
If a file will be read multiple times, it is processed multiple times, with the environment
variables REPREPRO_FILTER_CODENAME, REPREPRO_FILTER_PACKAGETYPE, REPREPRO_FILTER_COMPONENT and
REPREPRO_FILTER_ARCHITECTURE set to the where this file will be added and REPREPRO_FILTER_PATTERN
to the name of the update rule causing it.
ListShellHook
This is like ListHook, but the whole argument is given to the shell as argument, and the input and
output file are stdin and stdout.
i.e.:
ListShellHook: cat
works but does nothing but useless use of a shell and cat, while
ListShellHook: grep-dctrl -X -S apt -o -X -S dpkg || [ $? -eq 1 ]
will limit the update rule to packages from the specified source packages.
DownloadListsAs
The arguments of this field specify which index files reprepro will download.
Allowed values are ., .gz, .bz2, .lzma, .xz, .lz, .diff, force.gz, force.bz2, force.lzma,
force.xz, force.lz, and force.diff.
Reprepro will try the first supported variant in the list given: Only compressions compiled in or
for which an uncompressor was found are used. Unless the value starts with force., it is only
tried if is found in the Release or InRelease file.
The default value is .diff .xz .lzma .bz2 .gz ., i.e. download Packages.diff if listed in the
Release file, otherwise or if not usable download .xz if listed in the Release file and there is a
way to uncompress it, then .lzma if usable, then .bz2 if usable, then .gz and then uncompressed).
Note there is no way to see if an uncompressed variant of the file is available (as the Release
file always lists their checksums, even if not there), so putting '.' anywhere but as the last
argument can mean trying to download a file that does not exist.
Together with IgnoreRelease reprepro will download the first in this list that could be unpacked
(i.e. force is always assumed) and the default value is .gz .bzip2 . .lzma .xz.
conf/pulls
This file contains the rules for pulling packages from one distribution to another. While this can also
be done with update rules using the file or copy method and using the exported indices of that other
distribution, this way is faster. It also ensures the current files are used and no copies are made.
(This also leads to the limitation that pulling from one component to another is not possible.)
Each rule consists out of the following fields:
Name The name of this pull rule as it can be used in the Pull field in conf/distributions.
From The codename of the distribution to pull packages from.
Components
The components of the distribution to get from.
If this field is not there, all components from the distribution to update are tried.
A rule might list components not available in all distributions using this rule. In this case
unknown components are silently ignored. (Unless you start reprepro with the --fast option, it
will warn about components unusable in all distributions using that rule. As exception, unusable
components called none are never warned about, for compatibility with versions prior to 3.0.0
where and empty field had a different meaning.)
Architectures
The architectures to update. If omitted all from the distribution to pull from. As in
conf/updates, you can use ">" to download from one architecture and add into another one. (And
again, only useful with filtering to avoid packages not architecture all to migrate).
UDebComponents
Like Components but for the udebs.
FilterFormula
FilterList
FilterSrcList
The same as with update rules.
OVERRIDE FILES
The format of override files used by reprepro should resemble the extended ftp-archive format, to be
specific it is:
packagename field name new value
For example:
kernel-image-2.4.31-yourorga Section protected/base
kernel-image-2.4.31-yourorga Priority standard
kernel-image-2.4.31-yourorga Maintainer That's me <me@localhost>
reprepro Priority required
All fields of a given package will be replaced by the new value specified in the override file with the
exception of special fields starting with a dollar sign ($). While the field name is compared case-
insensitive, it is copied in exactly the form in the override file there. (Thus I suggest to keep to the
exact case it is normally found in index files in case some other tool confuses them.) More than copied
is the Section header (unless -S is supplied), which is also used to guess the component (unless -C is
there).
Some values like Package, Filename, Size or MD5sum are forbidden, as their usage would severly confuse
reprepro.
As an extension reprepro also supports patterns instead of packagenames. If the package name contains
'*', '[' or '?', it is considered a pattern and applied to each package that is not matched by any non-
pattern override nor by any previous pattern.
Fieldnames starting with a dollar ($) are not be placed in the exported control data but have special
meaning. Unknown ones are loudly ignored. Special fields are:
$Component: includedeb, includedsc, include and processincoming will put the package in the component
given as value (unless itself overridden with -C). Note that the proper way to specify the component is
by setting the section field and using this extension will most likely confuse people and/or tools.
$Delete: the value is treated a fieldname and fields of that name are removed. (This way one can remove
fields previously added without removing and readding the package. And fields already included in the
package can be removed, too).
conf/incoming
Every chunk is a rule set for the process_incoming command. Possible fields are:
Name The name of the rule-set, used as argument to the scan command to specify to use this rule.
IncomingDir
The Name of the directory to scan for .changes files.
TempDir
A directory where the files listed in the processed .changes files are copied into before they are
read. You can avoid some copy operatations by placing this directory within the same moint point
the pool hierarchy is (at least partially) in.
LogDir A directory where .changes files, .log files, .buildinfo files and otherwise unused .byhand files
are stored upon procession.
Allow Each argument is either a pair name1>name2 or simply name which is short for name>name. Each
name2 must identify a distribution, either by being Codename, a unique Suite, or a unique
AlsoAcceptFor from conf/distributions. Each upload has each item in its Distribution: header
compared first to last with each name1 in the rules and is put in the first one accepting this
package. e.g.:
Allow: local unstable>sid
or
Allow: stable>security-updates stable>proposed-updates
(Note that this makes only sense if Multiple is set to true or if there are people only allowed to
upload to proposed-updates but not to security-updates).
Default distribution
Every upload not put into any other distribution because of an Allow argument is put into
distribution if that accepts it.
Multiple
Old form of Options: multiple_distributions.
Options
A list of options
multiple_distributions
Allow including a upload in multiple distributions.
If a .changes file lists multiple distributions, then reprepro will start with the first name
given, check all Accept and Default options till it finds a distribution this upload can go into.
If this found no distribution or if this option was given, reprepro will then do the same with the
second distribution name given in the .changes file and so on.
limit_arch_all
If an upload contains binaries from some architecture and architecture all packages, the
architecture all packages are only put into the architectures within this upload. Useful to
combine with the flood command.
Permit A list of options to allow things otherwise causing errors:
unused_files
Do not stop with error if there are files listed in the .changes file if it lists files not
belonging to any package in it.
older_version
Ignore a package not added because there already is a strictly newer version available instead of
treating this as an error.
unlisted_binaries
Do not abort with an error if a .changes file contains .deb files that are not listed in the
Binaries header.
Cleanup options
A list of options to cause more files in the incoming directory to be deleted:
unused_files
If there is unused_files in Permit then also delete those files when the package is deleted after
successful processing.
unused_buildinfo_files
If .buildinfo files of processed .changes files are not used (neither stored by LogDir nor with
Tracking: includebuildinfos) then delete them from the incoming dir. (This option has no
additional effect if unused_files is already used.)
on_deny
If a .changes file is denied processing because of missing signatures or allowed distributions to
be put in, delete it and all the files it references.
on_error
If a .changes file causes errors while processing, delete it and the files it references.
Note that allowing cleanup in publically accessible incoming queues allows a denial of service by
sending in .changes files deleting other peoples files before they are completed. Especially when
.changes files are handled directly (e.g. by inoticoming).
MorgueDir
If files are to be deleted by Cleanup, they are instead moved to a subdirectory of the directory
given as value to this field. This directory has to be on the same partition as the incoming
directory and files are moved (i.e. owner and permission stay the same) and never copied.
UPLOADERS FILES
These files specified by the Uploaders header in the distribution definition as explained above describe
what key a .changes file as to be signed with to be included in that distribution.
Empty lines and lines starting with a hash are ignored, every other line must be of one of the following
nine forms or an include directive:
allow condition by anybody
which allows everyone to upload packages matching condition,
allow condition by unsigned
which allows everything matching that has no pgp/gpg header,
allow condition by any key
which allows everything matching with any valid signature in or
allow condition by key key-id
which allows everything matching signed by this key-id (to be specified without any spaces). If
the key-id ends with a + (plus), a signature with a subkey of this primary key also suffices.
key-id must be a suffix of the id libgpgme uses to identify this key, i.e. a number of hexdigits
from the end of the fingerprint of the key, but no more than what libgpgme uses. (The maximal
number should be what gpg --list-key --with-colons prints, as of the time of this writing that is
at most 16 hex-digits).
allow condition by group groupname
which allows every member of group groupname. Groups can be manipulated by
group groupname add key-id
to add a key-id (see above for details) to this group, or
group groupname contains groupname
to add a whole group to a group.
To avoid warnings in incomplete config files there is also
group groupname empty
to declare a group has no members (avoids warnings that it is used without those) and
group groupname unused
to declare that a group is not yet used (avoid warnings that it is not used).
A line starting with include causes the rest of the line to be interpreted as filename, which is opened
and processed before the rest of the file is processed.
The only conditions currently supported are:
* which means any package,
source 'name'
which means any package with source name. ('*', '?' and '[..]' are treated as in shell
wildcards).
sections 'name'(|'name')*
matches an upload in which each section matches one of the names given. As upload conditions are
checked very early, this is the section listed in the .changes file, not the one from the override
file. (But this might change in the future, if you have the need for the one or the other
behavior, let me know).
sections contain 'name'(|'name')*
The same, but not all sections must be from the given set, but at least one source or binary
package needs to have one of those given.
binaries 'name'(|'name')*
matches an upload in which each binary (type deb or udeb) matches one of the names given.
binaries contain 'name'(|'name')*
again only at least one instead of all is required.
architectures 'architecture'(|'name')*
matches an upload in which each package has only architectures from the given set. source and all
are treated as unique architectures. Wildcards are not allowed.
architectures contain 'architecture'(|'architecture')*
again only at least one instead of all is required.
byhand matches an upload with at least one byhand file (i.e. a file with section byhand or
raw-something).
byhand 'section'(|'section')*
matches an upload with at least one byhand file and all byhand files having a section listed in
the list of given section. (i.e. byhand 'byhand'|'raw-*' is currently is the same as byhand).
distribution 'codename'
which means any package when it is to be included in codename. As the uploaders file is given by
distribution, this is only useful to reuse a complex uploaders file for multiple distributions.
Putting not in front of a condition, inverses it's meaning. For example
allow not source 'r*' by anybody
means anybody may upload packages which source name does not start with an 'r'.
Multiple conditions can be connected with and and or, with or binding stronger (but both weaker than
not). That means
allow source 'r*' and source '*xxx' or source '*o' by anybody
is equivalent to
allow source 'r*xxx' by anybody
allow source 'r*o' by anybody
(Other conditions will follow once somebody tells me what restrictions are useful. Currently planned is
only something for architectures).
ERROR IGNORING
With --ignore on the command line or an ignore line in the options file, the following type of errors can
be ignored:
brokenold (hopefully never seen)
If there are errors parsing an installed version of package, do not error out, but assume it is
older than anything else, has not files or no source name.
brokensignatures
If a .changes or .dsc file contains at least one invalid signature and no valid signature (not
even expired or from an expired or revoked key), reprepro assumes the file got corrupted and
refuses to use it unless this ignore directive is given.
brokenversioncmp (hopefully never seen)
If comparing old and new version fails, assume the new one is newer.
dscinbinnmu
If a .changes file has an explicit Source version that is different the to the version header of
the file, than reprepro assumes it is binary non maintainer upload (NMU). In that case, source
files are not permitted in .changes files processed by include or processincoming. Adding
--ignore=dscinbinnmu allows it for the include command.
emptyfilenamepart (insecure)
Allow strings to be empty that are used to construct filenames. (like versions, architectures,
...)
extension
Allow one to includedeb files that do not end with .deb, to includedsc files not ending in .dsc
and to include files not ending in .changes.
forbiddenchar (insecure)
Do not insist on Debian policy for package and source names and versions. Thus allowing all 7-bit
characters but slashes (as they would break the file storage) and things syntactically active
(spaces, underscores in filenames in .changes files, opening parentheses in source names of binary
packages). To allow some 8-bit chars additionally, use 8bit additionally.
8bit (more insecure)
Allow 8-bit characters not looking like overlong UTF-8 sequences in filenames and things used as
parts of filenames. Though it hopefully rejects overlong UTF-8 sequences, there might be other
characters your filesystem confuses with special characters, thus creating filenames possibly
equivalent to /mirror/pool/main/../../../etc/shadow (Which should be safe, as you do not run
reprepro as root, do you?) or simply overwriting your conf/distributions file adding some
commands in there. So do not use this if you are paranoid, unless you are paranoid enough to have
checked the code of your libs, kernel and filesystems.
ignore (for forward compatibility)
Ignore unknown ignore types given to --ignore.
flatandnonflat (only suppresses a warning)
Do not warn about a flat and a non-flat distribution from the same source with the same name when
updating. (Hopefully never ever needed.)
malformedchunk (I hope you know what you do)
Do not stop when finding a line not starting with a space but no colon(:) in it. These are
otherwise rejected as they have no defined meaning.
missingfield (safe to ignore)
Ignore missing fields in a .changes file that are only checked but not processed. Those include:
Format, Date, Urgency, Maintainer, Description, Changes
missingfile (might be insecure)
When including a .dsc file from a .changes file, try to get files needed but not listed in the
.changes file (e.g. when someone forgot to specify -sa to dpkg-buildpackage) from the directory
the .changes file is in instead of erroring out. (--delete will not work with those files,
though.)
spaceonlyline (I hope you know what you do)
Allow lines containing only (but non-zero) spaces. As these do not separate chunks as thus will
cause reprepro to behave unexpected, they cause error messages by default.
surprisingarch
Do not reject a .changes file containing files for a architecture not listed in the Architecture-
header within it.
surprisingbinary
Do not reject a .changes file containing .deb files containing packages whose name is not listed
in the "Binary:" header of that changes file.
undefinedtarget (hope you are not using the wrong db directory)
Do not stop when the packages.db file contains databases for
codename/packagetype/component/architectures combinations that are not listed in your
distributions file.
This allows you to temporarily remove some distribution from the config files, without having to
remove the packages in it with the clearvanished command. You might even temporarily remove
single architectures or components, though that might cause inconsistencies in some situations.
undefinedtracking (hope you are not using the wrong db directory)
Do not stop when the tracking file contains databases for distributions that are not listed in
your distributions file.
This allows you to temporarily remove some distribution from the config files, without having to
remove the packages in it with the clearvanished command. You might even temporarily disable
tracking in some distribution, but that is likely to cause inconsistencies in there, if you do not
know, what you are doing.
unknownfield (for forward compatibility)
Ignore unknown fields in the config files, instead of refusing to run then.
unusedarch (safe to ignore)
No longer reject a .changes file containing no files for any of the architectures listed in the
Architecture-header within it.
unusedoption
Do not complain about command line options not used by the specified action (like --architecture).
uploaders
The include command will accept packages that would otherwise been rejected by the uploaders file.
wrongarchitecture (safe to ignore)
Do not warn about wrong "Architecture:" lines in downloaded Packages files. (Note that wrong
Architectures are always ignored when getting stuff from flat repostories or importing stuff from
one architecture to another).
wrongdistribution (safe to ignore)
Do not error out if a .changes file is to be placed in a distribution not listed in that files'
Distributions: header.
wrongsourceversion
Do not reject a .changes file containing .deb files with a different opinion on what the version
of the source package is.
(Note: reprepro only compares literally here, not by meaning.)
wrongversion
Do not reject a .changes file containing .dsc files with a different version.
(Note: reprepro only compares literally here, not by meaning.)
expiredkey (I hope you know what you do)
Accept signatures with expired keys. (Only if the expired key is explicitly requested).
expiredsignature (I hope you know what you do)
Accept expired signatures with expired keys. (Only if the key is explicitly requested).
revokedkey (I hope you know what you do)
Accept signatures with revoked keys. (Only if the revoked key is explicitly requested).
GUESSING
When including a binary or source package without explicitly declaring a component with -C it will take
the first component with the name of the section, being prefix to the section, being suffix to the
section or having the section as prefix or any. (In this order)
Thus having specified the components: "main non-free contrib non-US/main non-US/non-free non-US/contrib"
should map e.g. "non-US" to "non-US/main" and "contrib/editors" to "contrib", while having only "main
non-free and contrib" as components should map "non-US/contrib" to "contrib" and "non-US" to "main".
NOTE: Always specify main as the first component, if you want things to end up there.
NOTE: unlike in dak, non-US and non-us are different things...
NOMENCLATURE
Codename the primary identifier of a given distribution. This are normally things like sarge, etch or
sid.
basename
the name of a file without any directory information.
byhand Changes files can have files with section 'byhand' (Debian) or 'raw-' (Ubuntu). Those files are
not packages but other data generated (usually together with packages) and then uploaded together
with this changes files.
With reprepro those can be stored in the pool next to their packages with tracking, put in some
log directory when using processincoming, or given to an hook script (currently only possible with
processincoming).
filekey
the position relative to the outdir. (as found in "Filename:" in Packages.gz)
full filename
the position relative to /
architecture
The term like sparc, i386, mips, ... . To refer to the source packages, source is sometimes also
treated as architecture.
component
Things like main, non-free and contrib (by policy and some other programs also called section,
reprepro follows the naming scheme of apt here.)
section
Things like base, interpreters, oldlibs and non-free/math (by policy and some other programs also
called subsections).
md5sum The checksum of a file in the format "<md5sum of file> <length of file>"
Some note on updates
A version is not overwritten with the same version.
reprepro will never update a package with a version it already has. This would be equivalent to
rebuilding the whole database with every single upgrade. To force the new same version in, remove it and
then update. (If files of the packages changed without changing their name, make sure the file is no
longer remembered by reprepro. Without --keepunreferencedfiled and without errors while deleting it
should already be forgotten, otherwise a deleteunreferenced or even some __forget might help.)
The magic delete rule ("-").
A minus as a single word in the Update: line of a distribution marks everything to be deleted. The mark
causes later rules to get packages even if they have (strict) lower versions. The mark will get removed
if a later rule sets the package on hold (hold is not yet implemented, in case you might wonder) or would
get a package with the same version (Which it will not, see above). If the mark is still there at the end
of the processing, the package will get removed.
Thus the line "Update: - rules " will cause all packages to be exactly the highest Version found in
rules. The line "Update: near - rules " will do the same, except if it needs to download packages, it
might download it from near except when too confused. (It will get too confused e.g. when near or rules
have multiple versions of the package and the highest in near is not the first one in rules, as it never
remember more than one possible spring for a package.
Warning: This rule applies to all type/component/architecture triplets of a distribution, not only those
some other update rule applies to. (That means it will delete everything in those!)
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
Environment variables are always overwritten by command line options, but overwrite options set in the
options file. (Even when the options file is obviously parsed after the environment variables as the
environment may determine the place of the options file).
REPREPRO_BASE_DIR
The directory in this variable is used instead of the current directory, if no -b or --basedir
options are supplied.
It is also set in all hook scripts called by reprepro (relative to the current directory or
absolute, depending on how reprepro got it).
REPREPRO_CONFIG_DIR
The directory in this variable is used when no --confdir is supplied.
It is also set in all hook scripts called by reprepro (relative to the current directory or
absolute, depending on how reprepro got it).
REPREPRO_OUT_DIR
This is not used, but only set in hook scripts called by reprepro to the directory in which the
pool subdirectory resides (relative to the current directory or absolute, depending on how
reprepro got it).
REPREPRO_DIST_DIR
This is not used, but only set in hook scripts called by reprepro to the dists directory (relative
to the current directory or absolute, depending on how reprepro got it).
REPREPRO_LOG_DIR
This is not used, but only set in hook scripts called by reprepro to the value setable by
--logdir.
REPREPRO_CAUSING_COMMAND
REPREPRO_CAUSING_FILE
Those two environment variable are set (or unset) in Log: and ByHandHooks: scripts and hint what
command and what file caused the hook to be called (if there is some).
REPREPRO_CAUSING_RULE
This environment variable is set (or unset) in Log: scripts and hint what update or pull rule
caused this change.
REPREPRO_FROM
This environment variable is set (or unset) in Log: scripts and denotes what other distribution a
package is copied from (with pull and copy commands).
REPREPRO_FILTER_ARCHITECTURE
REPREPRO_FILTER_CODENAME
REPREPRO_FILTER_COMPONENT
REPREPRO_FILTER_PACKAGETYPE
REPREPRO_FILTER_PATTERN
Set in FilterList: and FilterSrcList: scripts.
GNUPGHOME
Not used by reprepro directly. But reprepro uses libgpgme, which calls gpg for signing and
verification of signatures. And your gpg will most likely use the content of this variable
instead of "~/.gnupg". Take a look at gpg(1) to be sure. You can also tell reprepro to set this
with the --gnupghome option.
GPG_TTY
When there is a gpg-agent running that does not have the passphrase cached yet, gpg will most
likely try to start some pinentry program to get it. If that is pinentry-curses, that is likely
to fail without this variable, because it cannot find a terminal to ask on. In this cases you
might set this variable to something like the value of $(tty) or $SSH_TTY or anything else
denoting a usable terminal. (You might also want to make sure you actually have a terminal
available. With ssh you might need the -t option to get a terminal even when telling gpg to start
a specific command).
By default, reprepro will set this variable to what the symbolic link /proc/self/fd/0 points to,
if stdin is a terminal, unless you told with --noguessgpgtty to not do so.
BUGS
Increased verbosity always shows those things one does not want to know. (Though this might be
inevitable and a corollary to Murphy)
Reprepro uses berkeley db, which was a big mistake. The most annoying problem not yet worked around is
database corruption when the disk runs out of space. (Luckily if it happens while downloading packages
while updating, only the files database is affected, which is easy (though time consuming) to rebuild,
see recovery file in the documentation). Ideally put the database on another partition to avoid that.
While the source part is mostly considered as the architecture source some parts may still not use this
notation.
WORK-AROUNDS TO COMMON PROBLEMS
gpgme returned an impossible condition
With the woody version this normally meant that there was no .gnupg directory in $HOME, but it
created one and reprepro succeeds when called again with the same command. Since sarge the
problem sometimes shows up, too. But it is no longer reproducible and it does not fix itself,
neither. Try running gpg --verify file-you-had-problems-with manually as the user reprepro is
running and with the same $HOME. This alone might fix the problem. It should not print any
messages except perhaps
gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found.
gpg: the signature could not be verified.
if it was an unsigned file.
not including .orig.tar.gz when a .changes file's version does not end in -0 or -1
If dpkg-buildpackage is run without the -sa option to build a version with a Debian revision not
being -0 or -1, it does not list the .orig.tar.gz file in the .changes file. If you want to
include such a file with reprepro when the .orig.tar.gz file does not already exist in the pool,
reprepro will report an error. This can be worked around by:
call dpkg-buildpackage with -sa (recommended)
copy the .orig.tar.gz file to the proper place in the pool before
call reprepro with --ignore=missingfile (discouraged)
leftover files in the pool directory.
reprepro is sometimes a bit too timid of deleting stuff. When things go wrong and there have been
errors it sometimes just leaves everything where it is. To see what files reprepro remembers to
be in your pool directory but does not know anything needing them right know, you can use
reprepro dumpunreferenced
To delete them:
reprepro deleteunreferenced
INTERRUPTING
Interrupting reprepro has its problems. Some things (like speaking with apt methods, database stuff) can
cause problems when interrupted at the wrong time. Then there are design problems of the code making it
hard to distinguish if the current state is dangerous or non-dangerous to interrupt. Thus if reprepro
receives a signal normally sent to tell a process to terminate itself softly, it continues its operation,
but does not start any new operations. (I.e. it will not tell the apt-methods any new file to download,
it will not replace a package in a target, unless it already had started with it, it will not delete any
files gotten dereferenced, and so on).
It only catches the first signal of each type. The second signal of a given type will terminate reprepro.
You will risk database corruption and have to remove the lockfile manually.
Also note that even normal interruption leads to code-paths mostly untested and thus expose a multitude
of bugs including those leading to data corruption. Better think a second more before issuing a command
than risking the need for interruption.
REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs or wishlist requests to the Debian BTS
(e.g. by using reportbug reprepro under Debian)
or directly to brlink@debian.org
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2004,2005,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012 Bernhard R. Link ⟨http://www.brlink.eu⟩ This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.