Your First Workspace

Initialize the workspace

sow init /srv/sow
cd /srv/sow

init creates:

/srv/sow/
├── sow.yml   # configuration; schema: sow/v3
└── .sow/     # private state managed by SOW

Edit sow.yml when you need to change configuration. SOW manages the private .sow/ directory. You can repeat init without resetting existing packages or state.

Create a Repository and two Dists

sow repo new local
sow dist new el9 --format rpm
sow dist new bookworm --format deb

Each Dist has one package format. dist new creates empty indexes for x86_64 and aarch64 by default. Both Dists share the Repository’s pool/ directory.

The public layout is now:

/srv/sow/local/
├── pool/
└── dists/
    ├── el9/
    │   ├── x86_64/repodata/
    │   └── aarch64/repodata/
    └── bookworm/
        ├── Release
        └── main/
            ├── binary-amd64/{Packages,Packages.gz,by-hash/}
            └── binary-arm64/{Packages,Packages.gz,by-hash/}

Add packages

Select the target Dist explicitly:

sow add /path/to/packages/*.rpm -d el9
sow add /path/to/packages/*.deb -d bookworm

Replace the input paths with real package files. SOW reads package identity and architecture, stores each accepted file in local/pool/, updates membership, and builds the affected Dists. Later builds use the pool, so the original input files are no longer needed by SOW.

Inspect and verify

sow status
sow ls -d el9
sow ls -d bookworm
sow check

ls lists the packages in each Dist. status should report clean and ready_to_copy=true. A successful check confirms that the files match the recorded build.

Serve the Repository

Publish the complete /srv/sow/local directory so clients can reach both indexes and package files. Keep the workspace configuration and .sow/ outside the server root.

Follow Serve Repositories to publish with Nginx. The YUM and APT tutorials show client configuration, including the trust settings for unsigned repositories.