Repositories

Repositories are the heart of the XBPS package system. Repositories can be local or remote. A repository contains binary package files, which may have signatures, and a data file named $ARCH-repodata (e.g. x86_64-repodata), which may also be signed.

Note that, while local repositories do not require signatures, remote repositories must be signed.

The main repository

The locations of the main repository in relation to a base mirror URL are:

  • glibc: /current
  • musl: /current/musl
  • aarch64 and aarch64-musl: /current/aarch64

Subrepositories

In addition to the main repository, which is enabled upon installation, Void provides other official repositories maintained by the Void project, but not enabled by default:

  • nonfree: contains software packages with non-free licenses
  • multilib: contains 32-bit libraries for 64-bit systems (glibc only)
  • multilib/nonfree: contains non-free multilib packages
  • debug: contains debugging symbols for packages

These repositories can be enabled via the installation of the relevant package. These packages only install a repository configuration file in /usr/share/xbps.d.

nonfree

Void has a nonfree repository for packages that don't have free licenses. It can be enabled by installing the void-repo-nonfree package.

Packages can end up in the nonfree repository for a number of reasons:

  • Non-free licensed software with released source-code.
  • Software released only as redistributable binary packages.
  • Patented technology, which may or may not have an (otherwise) open implementation.

multilib

The multilib repository provides 32-bit packages as a compatibility layer inside a 64-bit system. It can be enabled by installing the void-repo-multilib package.

These repositories are only available for x86_64 systems running the glibc C library.

multilib/nonfree

The multilib/nonfree repository provides additional 32-bit packages which have non-free licenses. It can be enabled by installing the void-repo-multilib-nonfree package.

debug

Void Linux packages come without debugging symbols. If you want to debug software or look at a core dump you will need the debugging symbols. These packages are contained in the debug repository. It can be enabled by installing the void-repo-debug package.

Once enabled, symbols may be obtained for <package> by installing <package>-dbg.

Finding debug dependencies

The xtools package contains the xdbg(1) utility to retrieve a list of debug packages, including dependencies, for a package:

$ xdbg bash
bash-dbg
glibc-dbg
# xbps-install -S $(xdbg bash)