sow build

sow build updates local indexes to match Desired membership and current configuration. Run it after add --skip, rm --skip, or a policy change. It recovers unfinished local Repository operations before starting the next build.

Synopsis

sow build [-j|--jobs N] [-C|--workdir DIR] [-r|--repo NAME] [-d|--dist NAME]... [-T|--timeout DUR | -N|--no-wait] [--json]

Without -d, SOW builds every affected Dist in the selected Repository. With -d, only those Dists are built; unselected changes remain dirty.

Result

Without --json, build prints one human-readable summary:

sow build -r demo -d el9
built repository=demo operation=2769214987359113555 dists=el9 revision=4 generation=00000000000000000005 dirty=false

Use --json to read the result in a script.

No-op builds

When membership, relevant policy, renderer settings, and signing configuration already match the Built Generation, build is an idempotent no-op and does not increment the Generation:

sow build -r demo -d el9
build repository=demo dists=el9 already current (noop) revision=4 generation=00000000000000000005 dirty=false

Apply policy changes

build re-evaluates the current exclude and limit policy. Tightening policy may remove Desired Membership. Loosening policy does not reconstruct historical members from leftover pool bytes; run sow add again for packages you want to restore.

Commit and recovery

SOW moves required pending packages into pool/, writes the indexes, then updates client entry points such as repomd.xml and Release. One build can include several Dists. They share the resulting Generation; unselected dirty Dists still need a build.

If a build stops, rerun it. SOW uses the operation journal to finish or roll back the unfinished work. If the journal, database, and files disagree, the command reports an integrity error. Use sow check and sow log to identify the affected state.

Progress events

Long builds append structured build_progress records to the Operation log. Each event contains phase, completed, total, and jobs. Current phases are:

• rendering;
• promoting_payload;
• publishing_dists;
• normalizing_public_tree;
• finalizing.

Inspect the events with sow log OPERATION.

Metadata signing

Configure metadata signing in sow.yml. Changing a configured key reference or fingerprint makes affected Dists dirty, and the next build re-signs their metadata.

• RPM: always writes repodata/repomd.xml; writes repomd.xml.asc when configured.
• DEB: always writes Release; writes InRelease and Release.gpg when configured.

Exit codes

See also

• sow status — determine whether a build is needed
• sow check — verify the resulting tree
• sow changes — inspect the resulting file delta
• Transactions & Recovery — full commit protocol