Last modified: 2023-03-29

pacman: custom repository

To simplify installation if custom packages, you can create custom repository.

I am going to use following structure:

• git.sr.ht/~atomicfs/atomicfs-repo-arch
  • the main repository with all the code and packages
  • upon trigger it builds new versions of packages and git push --force into gitlab
• gitlab.com/AtomicFS/atomicfs-repo-arch-gitlab
  • repository used only to host the content in pages

GPG signature

Firstly create a PGP key (guide):

gpg --full-gen-key

Upon successful creation you should see following:

pub   rsa3072 2022-04-09 [SC] [expires: 2023-04-09]
      B941681D8C7FE3876F84F9BEE0C66981D83CBF4A
uid                      Vojtech Vesely (custom_archlinux_packages) <vojtech_vesely@white-hat-hacker.icu>
sub   rsa3072 2022-04-09 [E] [expires: 2023-04-09]

Where the B941681D8C7FE3876F84F9BEE0C66981D83CBF4A is the user-id.

Export public and private key:

gpg --export --armor --output archlinux_packages.pub.key B941681D8C7FE3876F84F9BEE0C66981D83CBF4A
gpg --export-secret-keys --armor --output archlinux_packages.priv.asc B941681D8C7FE3876F84F9BEE0C66981D83CBF4A

You can also publish it:

gpg --send-keys B941681D8C7FE3876F84F9BEE0C66981D83CBF4A

Add the private key into secrets:

Then the new secret will get assigned UUID (in this case d146a201-579a-4f45-b097-b282ca4c6bd7):

Add this secret into the secrets section in the build.yml file:

secrets:
  - d146a201-579a-4f45-b097-b282ca4c6bd7

And then import the key before building the packages:

gpg --import ~/.gpg/archlinux_packages.priv.asc

Add the repository in system

Edit pacman's configuration file and add the repository:

[atomicfs-repo-arch]
Server = https://atomicfs.gitlab.io/atomicfs-repo-arch-gitlab/x86_64/
SigLevel = Required DatabaseOptional

Or you can point your own domain to it:

[atomicfs-repo-arch]
Server = https://repo-arch.white-hat-hacker.icu/x86_64/
SigLevel = Required DatabaseOptional

Import the public key to your other systems:

pacman-key --recv-key B941681D8C7FE3876F84F9BEE0C66981D83CBF4A --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com
pacman-key --lsign-key B941681D8C7FE3876F84F9BEE0C66981D83CBF4A

And you are done, now you can install packages from your own repository.