GitLab Generic Packages Repository

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• 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 the api 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

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:

1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to and find your group.
2. Select Settings > Packages and registries.
3. In the Generic row of the Duplicate packages table, turn off the Allow duplicates toggle.
4. 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/or write_package_registry scope.
  • Project access tokens require the read_api scope and at least the Reporter role.

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.

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'
}