wild-directory/aptly/versions/1

Aptly

Aptly is a Debian/Ubuntu APT repository management tool. Use it to mirror upstream repositories, create package snapshots, and publish private or curated APT repositories that your machines can install from.

Configuration

Key settings in your instance's config.yaml:

• domain - Where aptly will be accessible (default: aptly.{your-cloud-domain})
• storage - Persistent volume size for packages and mirrors (default: 50Gi — adjust based on how many packages you plan to mirror)

Access

After deployment:

• https://aptly.{your-cloud-domain} — Published repository root (for APT clients, no auth required)
• https://aptly.{your-cloud-domain}/api — REST API for managing repos, mirrors, and snapshots (requires credentials)

Credentials

The API is protected by HTTP basic authentication. The username defaults to aptly (configurable via apiUser in config.yaml). The password is auto-generated and stored in your instance's secrets.yaml under apps.aptly.apiPassword.

To retrieve it:

wild secret get aptly apiPassword
# or directly:
grep apiPassword path/to/secrets.yaml

To use the API with curl:

curl -u aptly:{your-api-password} https://aptly.{your-cloud-domain}/api/version

The published repository at / does not require credentials — APT clients can install packages without authenticating.

First-Time Setup

1. Add and deploy:

   wild app add aptly
   wild app deploy aptly
   

2. Verify the API is responding:

   curl -u aptly:{your-api-password} https://aptly.{your-cloud-domain}/api/version
   

Common Workflows

Aptly is managed entirely through its REST API or the aptly CLI (run inside the pod). The REST API docs are at https://www.aptly.info/doc/api/.

Running aptly commands inside the pod

kubectl -n aptly exec -it deploy/aptly -- bash

Mirror a Debian repository

# Create a mirror (run inside the pod, or via the REST API)
aptly mirror create debian-bookworm-main http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main

# Download packages
aptly mirror update debian-bookworm-main

# Snapshot the mirror
aptly snapshot create bookworm-snap from mirror debian-bookworm-main

# Publish the snapshot
aptly publish snapshot bookworm-snap

The published repo will be available at https://aptly.{your-cloud-domain}/debian bookworm main.

Create a private package repository

# Create a local repo
aptly repo create my-packages

# Add packages
aptly repo add my-packages /path/to/package.deb

# Publish
aptly publish repo my-packages

Configure a machine to use the repository

# Add the repo to sources.list
echo "deb https://aptly.{your-cloud-domain}/ bookworm main" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/my-aptly.list

# Import the signing key (generate one first if needed — see GPG section below)
curl -s https://aptly.{your-cloud-domain}/public.key | sudo apt-key add -

sudo apt update

GPG Signing

Published repositories should be signed with a GPG key. On first use, generate a key inside the pod:

kubectl -n aptly exec -it deploy/aptly -- bash

# Generate a signing key (stored in /opt/aptly/gpg)
gpg --gen-key

# Export the public key for clients to import
gpg --export --armor > /opt/aptly/public/public.key

Then include --distribution, --component, and signing options in your aptly publish commands. See https://www.aptly.info/doc/aptly/publish/snapshot/ for details.

Notes

• GPG keys and all aptly data (database, package pool, published repos) are stored on the persistent volume at /opt/aptly.
• The REST API (port 8080) and the nginx file server (port 80) both run inside the pod via supervisord. The ingress routes to nginx (port 80).
• storage defaults to 50Gi. A full Debian mirror for a single architecture is ~50–100 GiB; plan accordingly.