Create the Debian Package Repository

There is excellent documentation available from both the debian.org site and the Ubuntu Wiki. The Debian Package Repository HowTo provides an in-depth look at how to setup and maintain a Debian package repository. We'll create a 'trivial' repository with just source and binary subdirectories.

Creating the Index Files

dpkg-scanpackages will generate the Packages file and dpkg-scansources the Sources file. dpkg-scanpackages scans the .deb packages; dpkg-scansources scans the .dsc files. It is thus necessary to put the .orig.gz, .diff.gz and .dsc files together. The .changes files are not needed. Note: for testing the binary packages you might want to create binary packages only. Create the two index files as follows: The Release file in /pub/sipx/debian/dists/unstable/main/binary-i386/ looks like this:

Creating the Release files

If you want to enable the users of your repository to use Pinning with your repository, you must include a Release file in every directory containing an index file. (You can read more about pinning in the APT HOWTO). The Release files are simple and short text files of the following form:

Archive

The name of the distribution of Debian the packages in this directory belong to (or are designed for), i.e. stable, testing or unstable.

Component

The component of the packages in the directory, for example main, non-free, or contrib.

Origin

The name of who made the packages.

Label

Some label adequate for the packages or for your repository. Use your fantasy.

Architecture

The architecture of the packages in this directory, such as i386, sparc or source.

Use the new repository

To install packages from the custom repository, you need to add it to your /etc/apt/sources.list.