---
name: "ostree.repo"
section: "5"
platform: "linux"
package: "ostree"
version: "2026.4-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/ostree.repo"
---

# ostree.repo(5)

OSTree repository configuration and layout

## NAME

ostree.repo - OSTree repository configuration and layout

## DESCRIPTION

An OSTree repository is structurally similar to a git repository; it is a content-addressed object store containing filesystem trees. However, unlike git, ostree is designed to store operating system binaries. It records the Unix uid and gid, permissions, as well as extended attributes.

A repository can be in one of three modes; bare, which is designed as a hard link source for operating system checkouts, bare-user, which is like bare but works on systems that run as non-root as well as non-root containers, and archive-z2, which is designed for static HTTP servers.

There is a system repository located at /ostree/repo. If no repository is specified -- either by a command-line option or the **OSTREE\_REPO** environment variable -- the **ostree** as well as many API calls will use it by default.

## COMPONENTS OF A REPOSITORY

The only user-editable component is the config file. For more information, see [**ostree.repo-config**(5)](/ostree.repo-config/5.md).

## SEE ALSO

[**ostree**(1)](/ostree/1.md), **ostree.repo-config**(1)