channels_and_repositories.html

<title>Channels and Repositories</title>

<a class="context" href="/docs">Docs</a>
<h1>Channels and Repositories</h1>

<p>
	Channels are JSON files hosted on a URL that contains a list of repository
	URLs. See
	<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wbond/package_control/master/example-channel.json">example-channel.json</a>
	for the format. When a user requests to install a package, their channels
	are queried for a list of repositories. By default, a single channel is
	included with Package Control,
	<a href="https://packagecontrol.io/channel_v3.json">https://packagecontrol.io/channel_v3.json</a>.
	The only reason to create another channel is if you want to create a private
	distribution for a closed group of people.
</p>

<p>
	Repositories are JSON files hosted on a URL that contain a list of one or
	more packages. See
	<a href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wbond/package_control/master/example-repository.json">example-repository.json</a>
	for the format. The JSON structure allows for specifying platforms (windows,
	osx, linux), compatible versions of Sublime Text, labels, URLs and more. The
	default channel includes a number of third-party repositories, but also a
	<a href="https://github.com/wbond/package_control_channel/tree/master/repository">single, centralized repository</a>
	for developers who are using GitHub or BitBucket tag-based releases. This
	way a package only ever needs to be added to the repository once and almost
	all further updates to the package can be performed via the GitHub or
	BitBucket user interfaces.
</p>

<h2 id="Upgrading">Upgrading Repositories to the Newest Schema Version</h2>

<p>
	The package <a href="/packages/ChannelRepositoryTools">ChannelRepositoryTools</a>
	includes a command <em>Upgrade Repository Schema (Current File)</em> that
	will upgrade the currently open repository JSON to the newest
	<tt>schema_version</tt>.
</p>

<p>
	Once the file has been upgraded, most packages can then be migrated into
	the <a href="https://github.com/wbond/package_control_channel/tree/master/repository">default repository</a>.
	Most uses of custom repository JSON files were due to deficiencies with
	<tt>schema_version</tt> <tt>1.2</tt> and <tt>2.0</tt>.
</p>