Manage Debian packages

This page describes adding, viewing, and deleting Debian packages in Apt repositories.

Before you begin

  1. If the target Apt repository doesn't exist, create a new repository.
  2. Configure VMs to access the repository.
  3. (Optional) Configure defaults for gcloud commands.
  4. Ensure your package names in metadata meet the Debian package name standards.

Adding packages

Repository modes: standard

You must have both read and write permissions for the repository to add packages.

You can upload a package to a repository using the Google Cloud CLI, or you can import a package that is stored in Cloud Storage. If you build packages using Cloud Build, the build can store the packages in Cloud Storage for you to import.

Very long import or upload operations might exceed the expiry period for the token that gcloud CLI uses to call the API. If you have a very large number of packages to add, consider adding them in smaller batches so that each upload or import operation can complete in a shorter amount of time. See OS packages troubleshooting documentation for more information.

Direct upload

Use the gcloud artifacts apt upload command to upload a package to an Apt repository:

gcloud artifacts apt upload REPOSITORY \
    --location=LOCATION \
    --source=PACKAGES

Replace the following values:

  • REPOSITORY is the Artifact Registry repository name.
  • LOCATION is the regional or multi-regional location of the repository.
  • PACKAGES is the path to the package.

For example, to upload the package my-package.deb to the Apt repository my-repo in the location us-west1, run:

gcloud artifacts apt upload my-repo \
    --location=us-west1 \
    --source=my-package.deb

Cloud Storage

  1. Upload the packages to Cloud Storage by doing the following:
    • Upload packages directly to a Cloud Storage bucket
    • Build packages with Cloud Build and store the packages in a bucket
  2. Run the following command: 
    gcloud artifacts apt import REPOSITORY \
  --location=LOCATION \
  --gcs-source=PACKAGES

    Replace the following values:

    • REPOSITORY is the Artifact Registry repository name.
    • LOCATION is the regional or multi-regional location of the repository.
    • PACKAGES is a comma separated list of packages in Cloud Storage. To upload all packages from a directory, use a directory wildcard (*) or use a recursive directory wildcard (**) to upload all packages in all subdirectories.

    For example, to upload a the package package.rpm and all packages in the directory directory from the bucket my-bucket to the Apt repository my-repo in the location us-west1, run:

    gcloud artifacts apt import my-repo \
  --location=us-west1 \
  --gcs-source=gs://my-bucket/path/to/package.deb,gs://my-bucket/directory*

When the upload or import operation is complete, you can use the Google Cloud console or gcloud CLI to view packages in the repository and confirm that they were uploaded successfully.

If you have a large repository with a lot of packages, it might take several minutes to regenerate the package index so that the new packages are visible to the Apt client.

Viewing packages

Repository modes: standard, remote (preview)

To view packages, you must have the permissions in the Artifact Registry Reader role. Artifact Registry does not list files inside packages.

To view packages and package versions using the Google Cloud console or gcloud:

Console

  1. Open the Repositories page in the Google Cloud console.

    Open the Repositories page

  2. In the repository list, click the appropriate repository.

    The Packages page lists the packages in the repository.

  3. Click a package to view versions of the package.

gcloud

To list packages in a repository, run the following command:

gcloud artifacts packages list [--repository=REPOSITORY] [--location=LOCATION]

Replace the following:

  • REPOSITORY is the name of the repository. If you configured a default repository, you can omit this flag to use the default.
  • LOCATION is the regional or multi-regional location of the repository. If you configured a default location, then you can omit this flag to use the default.

To view versions of a package, run the following command:

gcloud artifacts versions list --package=PACKAGE \
    [--repository=REPOSITORY] [--location=LOCATION]

Replace the following:

  • PACKAGE is the ID of the package or fully qualified identifier for the package.
  • REPOSITORY is the name of the repository. If you configured a default repository, then you can omit this flag to use the default.
  • LOCATION is the regional or multi-regional location of the repository. Use this flag to view repositories in a specific location. If you configured a default location, then you can omit this flag to use the default.

Installing packages

Repository modes: standard, remote (preview)

Before you install packages, verify that you have configured the package manager and repository correctly.

To install a package in the repository:

  1. Update the list of available packages:

    sudo apt update

  2. Install the package, specifying the name of the repository configured in Apt.

    sudo apt install PACKAGE/REPOSITORY

    Replace the following values:

    • PACKAGE is the package name.
    • REPOSITORY is the name of the Artifact Registry repository. For remote repositories, use the name of the standard upstream repository.

    For example, to install the package my-package from the repository my-repo, run the command:

    sudo apt install my-package -t my-repo

Deleting packages

Repository modes: standard

Before you delete a package or package version, verify that any you have communicated or addressed any important dependencies on it.

To delete a package:

Console

  1. Open the Repositories page in the Google Cloud console.

    Open the Repositories page

  2. In the repository list, click the appropriate repository.

    The Packages page lists the packages in the repository.

  3. Select the package that you want to delete.

  4. Click DELETE.

  5. In the confirmation dialog box, click DELETE.

gcloud

Run the following command:

gcloud artifacts packages delete PACKAGE \
    [--repository=REPOSITORY] [--location=LOCATION] [--async]

Replace the following:

  • PACKAGE is the name of the package in the repository.
  • REPOSITORY is the name of the repository. If you configured a default repository, then you can omit this flag to use the default.
  • LOCATION is the regional or multi-regional location of the repository. Use this flag to view repositories in a specific location. If you configured a default location, then you can omit this flag to use the default.

The --async flag causes the command to return immediately, without waiting for the operation in progress to complete.

To delete versions of a package:

Console

  1. Open the Repositories page in the Google Cloud console.

    Open the Repositories page

  2. In the repository list, click the appropriate repository.

    The Packages page lists the packages in the repository.

  3. Click a package to view versions of that package.

  4. Select versions that you want to delete.

  5. Click DELETE.

  6. In the confirmation dialog box, click DELETE.

gcloud

Run the following command:

gcloud artifacts versions delete VERSION \
    --package=PACKAGE \
    [--repository=REPOSITORY] [--location=LOCATION] \
    [--async]

Replace the following:

  • VERSION is the name of the version to delete.
  • PACKAGE is the name of the package in the repository.
  • REPOSITORY is the name of the repository. If you configured a default repository, then you can omit this flag to use the default.
  • LOCATION is the regional or multi-regional location of the repository. Use this flag to view repositories in a specific location. If you configured a default location, then you can omit this flag to use the default.

The --async flag causes the command to return immediately, without waiting for the operation in progress to complete.

For large repositories, it can take a few minutes to regenerate the Apt package index to reflect deletions.

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