Creating Repositories
First of it all, you create a new folder anywhere.
Inside this folder, you create two more folders called files and previews.
Their existence and name do not actualy matter, but they give you an overview about what's going on.
Inside the files folder we place a normal file wich we want to be downloaded afterwards.
Inside the preview folder we place a smaller version of that file so people can have a quick visual feedback on what this file contains when they are searchin in your repository. Icons are limited to a size of 100x100 pixels.
You repeat this with all the files you want to offer in your repository.
Now open GNURPGM and start the built-in repository manager. It is located under tools. Alternatively you can fire up Unity's HUD and just type "reposit..." to open it.'
Do not use the Load File button and start to fill in your repository's pseudo name and your name.
Your last step will be to upload those files to your server. This is where the Source URL and Base URL become important.
I will explain them at the end in more depth. So don't be afraid if the shown URL don't tell you anything!
Go ahead and click the Add Content button.
Fill in the values as you fancy it.
If you wonder about the licenses you can read more details here: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/
So, let's go on and handle the file processing by clicking the Pick button.
Pick the normal file we placed inside the files folder before.
Our problem is that the chosen path is absolute to your local hard drive.
So we have to remove some parts of it to make it relative to the folder you created at the beginning of this tutorial.
This is the absolute file path:
/home/alex/Desktop/my repo/files/rick_astley.png
And this is how it should look:
/home/alex/Desktop/my repo/ files/rick_astley.png
("Arbeitsfläche" is german and stands for "Desktop")
So all you have to do is pressing the button with the scissors next the file path until it
looks like this:
The procedure about adding the preview is pretty much the same. Click the big, textless button on the left and choose the file from the previews folder.
Do the same trimming as we did with the file before.
Hit the top right Save as button and navigate inside the first folder you created at the beginning.
Also, feel free to give it a fancy name.
After you confirmed to save the file your repositor's folder should like this:
That's it. This is the way how you can create and manage repositories.
One last thing remaining is to upload this folder.
Remember when we said that the Source URL and Base Url aren't that important yet?
Now they are.
Let's pretend you are the owner of the website http://mywebsite.org.
On your webspace you have different folders for each of your projects:
»/aunt_marys_hair_dryer
»/my_doghouse_livestream_camera
»/other_stuff
You decide to put your repository into the other_stuff folder (personaly i'd prefered the doghouse folder).
So, your Base URL will be:
http://mywebsite.org/other_stuff/my_repo
And your Source URL will be:
http://mywebsite.org/other_stuff/my_repo/my_first_repository.xml
Got the trick?
For every single download the Base URL will be combined with some content's filename (eg.: "files/rick_astley.png")
so a valid absolute URL results.
Go on, try to open this URL in your browser:
http://handsomebyte.org/my_repo/files/rick_astley.png
If you want to share your repository with the world, you can either tune in on facebook, or send me an email so I will append it to the official list of know repositories.
Either way, have fun! :)
Last but not least, you can test yourself for understanding this.
As you might have noticed http://handsomebyte.org/ is my personal website where
i host a personal repository. The name of the folder, where i placed the repository contents
is called /my_repo/ and the xml file that contains the list of all available resources is
called handsomebyte_gnurpgm_repo.xml.
Now try to guess my Base URL and Source URL:
| Base URL | ||
| Source URL |
Dos and Don'ts
You are going to put this online. So do NEVER USE BLANKS IN FILENAMES!!! - use underscores instead! (as shown in the screenshots)