GitLab Generic Packages Repository (FREE)

• Introduced in GitLab 13.5 with a flag named generic_packages. Enabled by default.
• Feature flag generic_packages removed in GitLab 14.8.

Publish generic files, like release binaries, in your project's Package Registry. Then, install the packages whenever you need to use them as a dependency.

Authenticate to the Package Registry

To authenticate to the Package Registry, you need either a personal access token, CI/CD job token, or deploy token.

In addition to the standard API authentication mechanisms, the generic package API allows authentication with HTTP Basic authentication for use with tools that do not support the other available mechanisms. The user-id is not checked and may be any value, and the password must be either a personal access token, a CI/CD job token, or a deploy token.

Publish a package file

When you publish a package file, if the package does not exist, it is created.

Prerequisites:

• You must authenticate with the API. If authenticating with a deploy token, it must be configured with the write_package_registry scope. If authenticating with a personal access token or project access token, it must be configured with the api scope.

PUT /projects/:id/packages/generic/:package_name/:package_version/:file_name?status=:status

Provide the file context in the request body.

Example request using a personal access token:

curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
     --upload-file path/to/file.txt \
     "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/24/packages/generic/my_package/0.0.1/file.txt"

Example response without attribute select:

{
  "message":"201 Created"
}

Example response with attribute select = package_file:

{
  "id": 1,
  "package_id": 1,
  "created_at": "2021-10-12T12:05:23.387Z",
  "updated_at": "2021-10-12T12:05:23.387Z",
  "size": 0,
  "file_store": 1,
  "file_md5": null,
  "file_sha1": null,
  "file_name": "file.txt",
  "file": {
    "url": "/6b/86/6b86b273ff34fce19d6b804eff5a3f5747ada4eaa22f1d49c01e52ddb7875b4b/packages/26/files/36/file.txt"
  },
  "file_sha256": "e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855",
  "verification_retry_at": null,
  "verified_at": null,
  "verification_failure": null,
  "verification_retry_count": null,
  "verification_checksum": null,
  "verification_state": 0,
  "verification_started_at": null,
  "new_file_path": null
}

Publishing a package with the same name or version

When you publish a package with the same name and version as an existing package, the new package files are added to the existing package. You can still use the UI or API to access and view the existing package's older files. To delete these older package revisions, consider using the Packages API or the UI.

Do not allow duplicate Generic packages

Introduced in GitLab 13.12.

To prevent users from publishing duplicate generic packages, you can use the GraphQl API or the UI.

In the UI:

1. For your group, go to Settings > Packages & Registries.
2. Expand the Package Registry section.
3. Turn on the Reject duplicates toggle.
4. Optional. To allow some duplicate packages, in the Exceptions box enter a regex pattern that matches the names and/or versions of packages to allow.

Your changes are automatically saved.

Download package file

Download a package file.

If multiple packages have the same name, version, and filename, then the most recent one is retrieved.

Prerequisites:

• You need to authenticate with the API. If authenticating with a deploy token, it must be configured with the read_package_registry and/or write_package_registry scope.

GET /projects/:id/packages/generic/:package_name/:package_version/:file_name

The file context is served in the response body. The response content type is application/octet-stream.

Example request that uses a personal access token:

curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
     "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/24/packages/generic/my_package/0.0.1/file.txt"

Example request that uses HTTP Basic authentication:

curl --user "user:<your_access_token>" \
     "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/24/packages/generic/my_package/0.0.1/file.txt"

Publish a generic package by using CI/CD

To work with generic packages in GitLab CI/CD, you can use CI_JOB_TOKEN in place of the personal access token in your commands.

For example:

image: curlimages/curl:latest

stages:
  - upload
  - download

upload:
  stage: upload
  script:
    - 'curl --header "JOB-TOKEN: $CI_JOB_TOKEN" --upload-file path/to/file.txt "${CI_API_V4_URL}/projects/${CI_PROJECT_ID}/packages/generic/my_package/0.0.1/file.txt"'

download:
  stage: download
  script:
    - 'wget --header="JOB-TOKEN: $CI_JOB_TOKEN" ${CI_API_V4_URL}/projects/${CI_PROJECT_ID}/packages/generic/my_package/0.0.1/file.txt'

When using a Windows runner with PowerShell, you must use Invoke-WebRequest or Invoke-RestMethod instead of curl in the upload and download stages.

For example:

upload:
  stage: upload
  script:
    - Invoke-RestMethod -Headers @{ "JOB-TOKEN"="$CI_JOB_TOKEN" } -InFile path/to/file.txt -uri "${CI_API_V4_URL}/projects/${CI_PROJECT_ID}/packages/generic/my_package/0.0.1/file.txt" -Method put

Generic package sample project

The Write CI-CD Variables in Pipeline project contains a working example you can use to create, upload, and download generic packages in GitLab CI/CD.

It also demonstrates how to manage a semantic version for the generic package: storing it in a CI/CD variable, retrieving it, incrementing it, and writing it back to the CI/CD variable when tests for the download work correctly.