OPEN-SOURCE APT / YUM REPOSITORY MANAGER

Software Over Warehouse

One binary that builds and manages APT & YUM repositories createrepo_c and reprepro, replaced — by the Pigsty Community

Documentation Download & Install

SOW // REPOSITORY WORKSPACE sow.yml

YUMrepodata/DNF · YUM · REPOSYNC

REPOSITORY ENGINE SOW PLAIN · MANAGED

APTdists/INRELEASE · BY-HASH

POOL // IMMUTABLE PACKAGE STORE

postgresqlPOOLEDpgbouncerPOOLEDpatroniBUILTetcdSIGNED

SINGLE BINARYMAINTAINED BY PIGSTY

PRODUCT FACTS

What a single binary covers

2 Package Formats 4 Platforms 7 Verified Clients 0 External Dependencies

VALUE PROPOSITION

Everything a repository needs, in one executable

For operators who host their own package feeds—no toolchain to install, no daemon to run, no guessing about state.

01 · TWO ENGINES

Flat Repositories and Managed Workspaces

One command to start. One model to grow into

Plain: sow create indexes a directory of rpm / deb files in place
Managed: workspace → repository → dist, with the pool separated from published views
The two paths never mix, and both emit deterministic, reproducible output

From a scratch directory to a long-lived feed, without changing tools

quickstart.sh

# Plain: index a directory as it is
sow create /srv/repo

# Managed: a workspace you keep
sow init /srv/sow
sow repo new pigsty
sow dist new el9 --format rpm
sow add *.rpm

02 · POOL AND VIEWS

One Payload, Many Architecture Views

The pool owns the bytes. Views are projections

A Debian-style pool/ holds immutable payloads, grouped by initial
Architecture views are hardlink projections, never a second copy
noarch / all packages land in every applicable view

A multi-architecture repository costs about as much disk as one

repository.layout

# Owned once, projected many times
pool/p/postgresql/ *.rpm *.deb
el9/x86_64/ repodata/
el9/aarch64/ repodata/
trixie/dists/ InRelease
by-hash: SHA256

03 · SIGNING AND TRUST

Two Independent Trust Chains

Metadata signatures and package signatures, kept apart

Metadata is signed in-process: repomd.xml.asc, InRelease, Release.gpg
RPM package signing runs in never / fill / always mode
Keys are referenced as file://, env://, or agent://

Changing a signing identity marks the repository dirty until it is rebuilt

SOW // PUBLISHED SURFACESIGNED · VERIFIABLE RPMprimary · filelists DEBPackages · Release ASCrepomd signature GPGInRelease · detached POOLimmutable payloads LOGoperation journal CLIENT-VERIFIABLE →

04 · TRANSACTIONS AND AUDIT

Interrupt It. The Repository Stays Whole

Record the intent, then touch the files

Writes are journaled first; the next write command rolls them forward or back
Commit order is fixed—payload, metadata, pointer, delete—so clients never see a torn tree
The operation journal is queryable and exportable: sow log, sow log export

When the evidence is insufficient, it refuses—rather than guessing

sow check

# Eight layers, fail-closed
config: strict schema
pool: payload digests
views: hardlink integrity
metadata: index vs tree
generation: clean or dirty

# dirty → exit 5, not a silent pass

COMMAND SURFACE

One command set for the whole repository lifecycle

Create, add, build, check, audit—every verb has a defined exit code and an optional JSON envelope.

CLI Reference → Configuration → Exit Codes →

CRcreateFlat repository INinitWorkspace setup ADDadd / rmMembership BLDbuildPublish a generation CHKcheckDeliverability gate LOGlogOperation journal

REPOSITORY CAPABILITIES

Browse the Documentation →

SCOPE

A deliberately narrow scope

SOW builds and maintains local repositories. The column on the right is not a backlog—those are explicit non-goals.

IN SCOPE

What SOW does

Generating and maintaining RPM and DEB repository indexes
Package pools, architecture views, and membership policy
Metadata signing and RPM package signing
Transactions, crash recovery, and an operation audit trail

EXPLICIT NON-GOALS

What SOW does not do

Building packages—SOW indexes them, it does not produce them
Remote publishing, CDN integration, or object-storage upload
Multi-writer setups—the model is single-writer by design
modulemd, sqlite repodata, zchunk, and source package indexes

DOWNLOAD

Get SOW

Take a prebuilt binary for your platform, or build one with the Go toolchain. Neither path needs an extra runtime.

PREBUILT BINARY

Download sow

Take a static binary from GitHub Releases, drop it on your PATH, and run it. No CGO, no runtime dependencies.

linux/amd64linux/arm64darwin/amd64darwin/arm64

See the download matrix

BUILD FROM SOURCE

go build

Build the same static binary with CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -trimpath—convenient for auditing and cross-compilation.

Go 1.26+CGO_ENABLED=0cross-compile

Read the install guide