Repository

A Cave Repository is a container for:

OSGi bundles (jar files)
OBR (OSGi Bundle Repository) metadata (aka a repository.xml file)

By default, a repository uses a filesystem backend for the storage, the directory used is KARAF_BASE/cave.

You can change the storage location in the etc/org.apache.karaf.cave.server.storage.cfg configuration file:

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#
# Storage location where Apache Karaf Cave create repositories by default
#
storage.location=cave

For instance, you can define /var/cave/store for the storage.location property.

Create

The cave:repository-create command creates a new repository:

karaf@root()> cave:repository-create my-repository

A repository is identified by a name, my-repository in our example.

Apache Karaf Cave creates the repository storage for you.

If you want to use an existing directory, and avoid Cave to create one in the storage location, you can use the -l (--location) option:

karaf@root()> cave:repository-create -l /home/user/.m2/repository m2

By default, Apache Karaf Cave scans the repository storage and create the OBR metadata. You can use the -no (--no-obr-generate) option to avoid this step:

karaf@root()> cave:repository-create -no -l /home/user/.m2/repository m2

By default, Apache Karaf Cave registers (installs) a new repository into the OBR service. You can use the -ni (--no-install) option to avoid this step:

karaf@root()> cave:repository-create -ni -l /home/user/m2/repository m2

Note	The `-no` and `-ni` options are interesting when you use an existing location for the repository. If you create a new empty repository, these options don’t have really any effect.

List

You can list the repositories using the cave:repositories command:

karaf@root()> cave:repositories
Name          | Location
--------------------------------------------------------------------
my-repository | /home/jbonofre/apache-karaf-3.0.1/cave/my-repository
m2            | /home/jbonofre/.m2/repository

You can find the repository name and location.

Repository and OBR service

By default, Apache Karaf Cave installs the repository in the Apache Karaf OBR service.

You can see the installed repositories using the obr:url-list command:

karaf@root()> obr:url-list
Index | OBR URL
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0     | file:/home/jbonofre/.m2/repository/repository.xml
1     | file:/home/jbonofre/apache-karaf-3.0.1/cave/my-repository/repository.xml

You can refresh a repository or install a repository in the OBR service using the cave:repository-install command:

karaf@root()> cave:repository-install my-repository

You can uninstall a repository from the Apache Karaf OBR service using the cave:repository-uninstall command:

karaf@root()> cave:repository-uninstall my-repository

You can see with the obr:url-list command that the repository is no more known by the OBR service:

karaf@root()> obr:url-list
Index | OBR URL
---------------------------------------------------------
0     | file:/home/jbonofre/.m2/repository/repository.xml

You can "re-install" the repository at any time using the cave:repository-install command again:

karaf@root()> cave:repository-install my-repository
karaf@root()> obr:url-list
Index | OBR URL
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0     | file:/home/jbonofre/.m2/repository/repository.xml
1     | file:/home/jbonofre/apache-karaf-3.0.1/cave/my-repository/repository.xml

At any time, you can force the generation and update of the OBR metadata using the cave:repository-update command:

karaf@root()> cave:repository-update my-repository

This command scan the repository storage location, seeking all OSGi bundles, and generate the OBR metadata (aka a repository.xml).

Note	If you add or remove any artifact in the repository storage location by hand (for instance, using cp, rm, etc on Unix), you have to update the repository OBR metadata using the `cave:repository-update` command.

Destroy

The cave:repository-destroy command deletes the repository storage location:

karaf@root()> cave:repository-destroy my-repository

Note	Be aware that this command completely deletes the repository storage. By extremely careful when using this command with repository using "custom" location.

What’s next

Apache Karaf Cave provides a HTTP service to expose the repositories. It allows you to use the repositories remotely. You can find details in the HTTP wrapper service section of the user guide.

If repositories are installed in the OBR service, you can use the OBR command as explained in the OBR commands section of the user guide.