GitLab Generic Packages Repository All tiers All offerings
-
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.
Do not use authentication methods other than the methods documented here. Undocumented authentication methods might be removed in the future.
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 theapi
scope. Project access tokens must have at least the Developer role. - You must call this API endpoint serially when attempting to upload multiple files under the
same package name and version. Attempts to concurrently upload multiple files into
a new package name and version may face partial failures with
HTTP 500: Internal Server Error
responses due to the requests racing to create the package.
PUT /projects/:id/packages/generic/:package_name/:package_version/:file_name?status=:status
Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
---|---|---|---|
id
| integer/string | yes | The ID or URL-encoded path of the project. |
package_name
| string | yes | The package name. It can contain only lowercase letters (a-z ), uppercase letter (A-Z ), numbers (0-9 ), dots (. ), hyphens (- ), or underscores (_ ).
|
package_version
| string | yes | The package version. The following regex validates this: \A(\.?[\w\+-]+\.?)+\z . You can test your version strings on Rubular.
|
file_name
| string | yes | The filename. It can contain only lowercase letters (a-z ), uppercase letter (A-Z ), numbers (0-9 ), dots (. ), hyphens (- ), or underscores (_ ).
|
status
| string | no | The package status. It can be default (default) or hidden . Hidden packages do not appear in the UI or package API list endpoints.
|
select
| string | no | The response payload. By default, the response is empty. Valid values are: package_file . package_file returns details of the package file record created by this request.
|
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 request with attribute select = package_file
:
curl --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <your_access_token>" \
--user "<username>:<Project 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?select=package_file"
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. When you install a generic package that has a duplicate, GitLab downloads the latest version.
You can 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.
- Required role changed from Developer to Maintainer in GitLab 15.0.
To prevent users from publishing duplicate generic packages, you can use the GraphQL API or the UI.
In the UI:
- On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your group.
- Select Settings > Packages and registries.
- In the Generic row of the Duplicate packages table, turn off the Allow duplicates toggle.
- Optional. In the Exceptions text box, enter a regular expression that matches the names and 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/orwrite_package_registry
scope. - Project access tokens require the
read_api
scope and at least theReporter
role.
- If authenticating with a deploy token, it must be configured with the
GET /projects/:id/packages/generic/:package_name/:package_version/:file_name
Attribute | Type | Required | Description |
---|---|---|---|
id
| integer/string | yes | The ID or URL-encoded path of the project. |
package_name
| string | yes | The package name. |
package_version
| string | yes | The package version. |
file_name
| string | yes | The filename. |
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.
Troubleshooting
Internal Server error on large file uploads to S3
S3-compatible object storage limits the size of a single PUT request to 5 GB. If the aws_signature_version
is set to 2
in the object storage connection settings, attempting to publish a package file larger than the 5 GB limit can result in a HTTP 500: Internal Server Error
response.
If you are receiving HTTP 500: Internal Server Error
responses when publishing large files to S3, set the aws_signature_version
to 4
:
# Consolidated Object Storage settings
gitlab_rails['object_store']['connection'] = {
# Other connection settings
'aws_signature_version' => '4'
}
# OR
# Storage-specific form settings
gitlab_rails['packages_object_store_connection'] = {
# Other connection settings
'aws_signature_version' => '4'
}