GitLab package registry administration

DETAILS: Tier: Free, Premium, Ultimate Offering: Self-managed

To use GitLab as a private repository for a variety of common package managers, use the package registry. You can build and publish packages, which can be consumed as dependencies in downstream projects.

Supported formats

The package registry supports the following formats:

Accepting contributions

The below table lists formats that are not supported, but are accepting Community contributions for. Consider contributing to GitLab. This development documentation guides you through the process.

Rate limits

When downloading packages as dependencies in downstream projects, many requests are made through the Packages API. You may therefore reach enforced user and IP rate limits. To address this issue, you can define specific rate limits for the Packages API. For more details, see package registry rate limits.

Enable or disable the package registry

The package registry is enabled by default. To disable it:

::Tabs

:::TabTitle Linux package (Omnibus)

1. Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb:

   # Change to true to enable packages - enabled by default if not defined
   gitlab_rails['packages_enabled'] = false

2. Save the file and reconfigure GitLab:

   sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure

:::TabTitle Helm chart (Kubernetes)

1. Export the Helm values:

   helm get values gitlab > gitlab_values.yaml

2. Edit gitlab_values.yaml:

   global:
     appConfig:
       packages:
         enabled: false

3. Save the file and apply the new values:

   helm upgrade -f gitlab_values.yaml gitlab gitlab/gitlab

:::TabTitle Docker

1. Edit docker-compose.yml:

   version: "3.6"
   services:
     gitlab:
       environment:
         GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG: |
           gitlab_rails['packages_enabled'] = false

2. Save the file and restart GitLab:

   docker compose up -d

:::TabTitle Self-compiled (source)

1. Edit /home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml:

   production: &base
     packages:
       enabled: false

2. Save the file and restart GitLab:

   # For systems running systemd
   sudo systemctl restart gitlab.target
   
   # For systems running SysV init
   sudo service gitlab restart

::EndTabs

Change the storage path

By default, the packages are stored locally, but you can change the default local location or even use object storage.

Change the local storage path

By default, the packages are stored in a local path, relative to the GitLab installation:

• Linux package (Omnibus): /var/opt/gitlab/gitlab-rails/shared/packages/
• Self-compiled (source): /home/git/gitlab/shared/packages/

To change the local storage path:

::Tabs

:::TabTitle Linux package (Omnibus)

1. Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb and add the following line:

   gitlab_rails['packages_storage_path'] = "/mnt/packages"

2. Save the file and reconfigure GitLab:

   sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure

:::TabTitle Self-compiled (source)

1. Edit /home/git/gitlab/config/gitlab.yml:

   production: &base
     packages:
       enabled: true
       storage_path: /mnt/packages

2. Save the file and restart GitLab:

   # For systems running systemd
   sudo systemctl restart gitlab.target
   
   # For systems running SysV init
   sudo service gitlab restart

::EndTabs

If you already had packages stored in the old storage path, move everything from the old to the new location to ensure existing packages stay accessible:

mv /var/opt/gitlab/gitlab-rails/shared/packages/* /mnt/packages/

Docker and Kubernetes do not use local storage.

• For the Helm chart (Kubernetes): Use object storage instead.
• For Docker: The /var/opt/gitlab/ directory is already mounted in a directory on the host. There's no need to change the local storage path inside the container.

Use object storage

Instead of relying on the local storage, you can use an object storage to store packages.

For more information, see how to use the consolidated object storage settings.

Migrate local packages to object storage

After configuring the object storage, use the following task to migrate existing packages from the local storage to the remote storage. The processing is done in a background worker and requires no downtime.

1. Migrate the packages.

   ::Tabs

   :::TabTitle Linux package (Omnibus)

   sudo gitlab-rake "gitlab:packages:migrate"

   :::TabTitle Self-compiled (source)

   RAILS_ENV=production sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:packages:migrate

   ::EndTabs

2. Track the progress and verify that all packages migrated successfully using the PostgreSQL console.

   ::Tabs

   :::TabTitle Linux package (Omnibus) 14.1 and earlier

   sudo gitlab-rails dbconsole

   :::TabTitle Linux package (Omnibus) 14.2 and later

   sudo gitlab-rails dbconsole --database main

   :::TabTitle Self-compiled (source)

   RAILS_ENV=production sudo -u git -H psql -d gitlabhq_production

   ::EndTabs

3. Verify that all packages migrated to object storage with the following SQL query. The number of objectstg should be the same as total:

   gitlabhq_production=# SELECT count(*) AS total, sum(case when file_store = '1' then 1 else 0 end) AS filesystem, sum(case when file_store = '2' then 1 else 0 end) AS objectstg FROM packages_package_files;
   
   total | filesystem | objectstg
   ------+------------+-----------
    34   |          0 |        34

4. Finally, verify that there are no files on disk in the packages directory:

   ::Tabs

   :::TabTitle Linux package (Omnibus)

   sudo find /var/opt/gitlab/gitlab-rails/shared/packages -type f | grep -v tmp | wc -l

   :::TabTitle Self-compiled (source)

   sudo -u git find /home/git/gitlab/shared/packages -type f | grep -v tmp | wc -l

   ::EndTabs