---
name: "apk-repositories"
section: "5"
platform: "linux"
package: "apk-tools"
version: "3.0.8-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/apk-repositories"
---

# apk-repositories(5)

## NAME

**/etc/apk/repositories**\
 **/etc/apk/repositories.d/\*.list**\
 **/lib/apk/repositories.d/\*.list**\
 list of package repositories

## DESCRIPTION

[**apk**(8)](/apk/8.md) loads repository definitions from the above mentioned files.

The **repositories** file is first loaded. The **repositories.d** paths are then processed if **--repositories-file** option was not used. The directories are enumerated in the above mentioned order. Once a **.list** file of given name is seen, any file of the same name in subsequent directories is ignored.

## FILE FORMAT

Each line follows one of the following syntax:

**# comment**

A comment line which is ignored.

**set \[-default\] key=value**

Set the variable named **key** to given **value**.

The **key** is limited to letters, numbers and the underscore (\_) character, and must start with a letter. The **APK\_** prefixed variable names are reserved for built-in variables and cannot be defined by the user.

A variable expansion is performed on the **value** before assignment.

If the option **-default** is specified, the **key** value is not changed if it already exists.

Currently the following variables are defined:

- •

  **APK\_ARCH**, the primary architecture of the database

**ndx \[@tag\] url**\
 **\[v2\|v3\] \[@tag\] url \[component...\]**

If a repository declaration omits the type field, it defaults to **v2** (or **ndx** if **url** ends with **.adb** or **.tar.gz**). If the format is **v3** or the **ndx** filename ends with **.adb** a v3 format index file required.

The optional **@tag** can be present to indicate that the repository should not be used by default. Refer to [**apk-world**(5)](/apk-world/5.md) on how to enable installation of packages from tagged repositories.

A variable expansion is performed on the **url** and **component** portions individually at the time of parsing the line.

The **url** refers to an index file or a repository path. Currently supported schemes are:

- •

  *http://*

- •

  *https://*

- •

  *file://*

- •

  absolute filesystem path (must start with \`/\`)

The **component** list specifies a list of repository components. If specified, the line is expanded to multiple URLs: one for each component, and the **component** is appended to the **url**. Specifying **component** with **ndx** type is not valid.

## EXAMPLES

To define a distribution provided repository list, the distribution can ship e.g **/lib/apk/repositories.d/distribution.list** with the contents:

set -default distro\_mirror=https://example.com/distro\
 v3 ${distro\_mirror} main community

In **/etc/apk/repositories.d/00-vars.list** the mirror can be overridden with:

set distro\_mirror=https://mirror.example.com/distro

## REPOSITORY LAYOUT

If the **type** is **ndx**, the layout and path resolution is as follows:

- •

  **url** is a URL to the index file

- •

  **base\_url** is **url** with last component stripped off

- •

  default package path: **$base\_url/$name-$version.apk**

Otherwise the **type** is one of the repository types, and the path resolution works as follows:

- •

  **url** is the **base\_url** to the repository

- •

  index (**v3**) is at **$base\_url/$arch/Packages.adb**

- •

  index (**v2**) is at **$base\_url/$arch/APKINDEX.tar.gz**

- •

  default package path: **$base\_url/$arch/$name-$version.apk**

If the index file has a **pkgname-spec** set, it is used to construct the package path. Otherwise the default package path based on above rules is used.

## CREATING INDEXES AND REPOSITORIES

See [**apk-mkndx**(8)](/apk-mkndx/8.md) on how to create index files and [**apk-adbsign**(8)](/apk-adbsign/8.md) on modifying signatures.

For the legacy index format refer to [**apk-index**(8)](/apk-index/8.md) for index files, **abuild-keygen**(1) for information about generating keys, **abuild-sign**(1) for information about using these keys to sign files.

[**apk-verify**(8)](/apk-verify/8.md) can verify both new and old style index and package files.

## CLIENT INDEX UPDATING

[**apk**(8)](/apk/8.md) fetches and stores the index for each repository at a local cache in **/etc/apk/cache** or **/var/cache/apk**. Refer to [**apk-cache**(5)](/apk-cache/5.md) for more details.

Refer to [**apk-keys**(5)](/apk-keys/5.md) on how the client needs to be configured for verifying the index signatures.