Using Falcon Repository Manager

Introduction

Falcon is a repository management tool. It's URL is http://falcon.kaarsemaker.net/import.html.

Tasks

Installing Falcon

My server is debian stable, but there isn't a stable package of falcon. However, there is a backport of the unstable package. I need to add the backport repository to my /etc/apt/sources.list file:

deb http://hype.sourceforge.jp/f etch backports
deb-src http://hype.sourceforge.jp/f etch backports

Then I can

bash# apt-get install falcon

Creating a ubuntu Repository

First an http server must be running on the host. My server's root document directory is /home/radagast then the repository will be at /home/radagast/ubuntu.

Pocket: gutsy

Components: universe, restricted

So I must make the following directories:

/home/radagast/ubuntu/pool/universe
/home/radagast/ubuntu/pool/restricted

Create a symlink in your (the user's) root directory pointing to the falcon root directory:

bash$ mkdir .falcon
bash$ ln -s /home/radagast/ubuntu .falcon/rootdir

Configuring Falcon

Usually falcon only needs to know the root of the repository, which is set using the .falcon/rootdir symlink. But other properties can be set using the interactive configuration editor:

bash$ falcon configure 

Adding Packages to the Repository

Suppose we want to add the package hello.deb to our repository. First, copy the package to the correct directory:

bash$ cp hello.deb /home/radagast/ubuntu/pool/universe

then execute two falcon commands:

bash$ falcon scan
bash$ falcon export