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Configuration

Packit uses a configuration file in the upstream repository. The config file is written in YAML language.

You should place the file in the root of your upstream repo. Packit accepts these names:

  • .packit.yaml
  • .packit.yml
  • packit.yaml
  • packit.yml

Both Packit Service and Packit CLI use this configuration file.

Top-level keys​

Here you can see a list of options that can be defined at the top-level and shared by all of the jobs.

packages​

(dict) This key was introduced mainly to enable support for monorepositories, upstream repositories mapping to multiple downstream packages. It holds a dictionary of {<package_name>: <package_configuration>} where package configuration consists of the keys introduced in Package-specific keys section (the only exception is the upstream_project_url which can be defined only on the top level).

A configuration utilising the packages key may look like this:

packages:

  python-copr:
    downstream_package_name: python-copr
    upstream_package_name: copr
    paths: 
      - ./python
    specfile_path: python-copr.spec
    files_to_sync: 
      - python-copr.spec

  copr-cli:
    downstream_package_name: copr-cli
    upstream_package_name: copr-cli
    paths: 
      - ./cli
    specfile_path: copr-cli.spec
    files_to_sync: 
      - copr-cli.spec

If the configuration doesn't include the packages key, it is expected that there is only one package and the package-specific options can be defined on the top level:

downstream_package_name: python-copr
upstream_package_name: copr
paths: 
  - ./python
specfile_path: python-copr.spec
files_to_sync: 
  - python-copr.spec

jobs​

(list of dicts) A list of job definitions for Packit Service: see Packit Service jobs configuration for details.

Package-specific keys​

paths​

(list) List of relative paths in the upstream repository, which should be considered for the particular package (used mainly for monorepositories). Defaults to the root of the repository (["./"]). This is the only key that can appear only inside packages dictionary values.

specfile_path​

(string) Relative path to a spec file within the upstream repository. If not specified, defaults to:

  1. <downstream_package_name>.spec if downstream_package_name is set (<downstream_package_name>.spec in all the paths when using paths).
  2. (deprecated) Else recursively search the tree and use the first spec file found (Recursively search all the paths of the package when using paths).

Both in 1. and 2., when paths are defined, they are searched in the order in which they are defined in the configuration.

If there are only test jobs with skip_build option defined (more about it here), spec file doesn't need to be present and its path doesn't need to be defined in the config.

caution

The functionality to recursively search for a specfile is deprecated and it's going to be removed in a future version (>0.64.0) of Packit. We recommend projects to explicitly set specfile_path or rely on the <downstream_package_name>.spec default, by setting downstream_package_name.

upstream_package_name​

(string) Name of the upstream repository (e.g. in PyPI), defaults to the name of the GitHub repository; it's used when working with the upstream project, as a release archive name and as a directory name in that archive.

info

Previously known as upstream_project_name, which has been deprecated since Packit 0.7.0

upstream_project_url​

(string) URL of the upstream git project (e.g. https://github.com/packit/packit).

info

Do not confuse this with the URL of upstream tarball. In case of propose_downstream, pull_from_upstream, koji_build and bodhi_update jobs, upstream tarball URL is taken from spec file or from sources.

This URL is used for cloning the upstream git repository. Furthermore during sync-release runs it can be used to generate changelog for the proposed update from the git log of the upstream repository or release description (specific to GitHub and GitLab).

tip

Using the upstream repository during sync-release runs doesn't imply that the sources from hostings such as PyPI are being ignored.

This setting also allows you to use Packit CLI from the dist-git repository as Packit clones the upstream, if needed.

create_pr (only in CLI)​

(bool) When doing a new update in Fedora dist-git, should packit create a new pull request (defaults to true) or push directly to dist-git (if set to false). This option can be used only locally in the CLI, but can be overriden via --pr/--no-pr option. Deployed Packit (on GitHub or GitLab) ignores this setting, because Packit Team does not endorse automated release from created release to the Bodhi update without any quality assurance.

merge_pr_in_ci​

(bool) When Packit clones your repository while creating RPMs from your pull requests, it by default merges the pull request checkout into the main repository branch to be sure the changes are up to date. You can disable this behaviour by setting this field to false which will make Packit to work with your pull request git ref as it is.

When your pull request can not be fast-forward-merged into the target branch, setting this key to false can be especially useful not to generate RPM packages with an NVR referencing an unknown hash (the one created by the Packit merge commit).

sync_changelog​

(bool) When doing a new update in Fedora dist-git, the specfile changelog is synchronized when set to true. By default (false), everything but the changelog part is synchronized. Use this only when your changelogs are in sync since this overwrites the changelog in the downstream.

update_release​

(bool) Packit by default modifies Release in the spec file when creating a SRPM. If you don't want this, you can prevent it with

update_release: false

This option only applies to SRPM creation and doesn't affect propose_downstream and pull_from_upstream jobs.

upload_sources​

(bool) . By setting this option to false, Packit does not upload the archive to lookaside cache when synchronising the release (either via propose_downstream or pull_from_upstream jobs) before creating a pull request. Disable this if you are not sure if the archive can be stored in the lookaside cache because of licensing or other reasons. Just don't forget to upload the archive manually. When disabled, the CI in dist-git might fail because of the missing archive in the lookaside cache.

release_suffix​

(templated string) String that can be used to override the default release suffix generated by Packit. The suffix will be expanded, and you can use following variables:

  • PACKIT_PROJECT_VERSION - version from git describe
  • PACKIT_RPMSPEC_RELEASE - release from specfile
  • PACKIT_PROJECT_COMMIT - commit SHA from which the SRPM is built
  • PACKIT_PROJECT_BRANCH - branch from which the SRPM is built

Example usage:

release_suffix: "dev.{PACKIT_PROJECT_BRANCH}"

When unset, default release suffix that is generated by Packit is following:

{original_release_number}.{current_time}.{sanitized_current_branch}{git_desc_suffix}

It is also possible to define release_suffix at the top-level of your packit config. In that situation all jobs and SRPM, Copr, Koji and RPM build from CLI will inherit the release_suffix that you have set. We advise caution when doing such thing, because inheriting the release suffix value by Copr or Koji build may easily cause confusion, break the ordering of the NVRs of the RPMs and also may cause usage of RPMs that are not meant for production use. In such scenarios, please try to make sure RPMs built by Packit are easily distinguishable from the RPMs meant for production use. To prevent the inheritance, you can define:

release_suffix: null

If you don't want the release to be modified at all, see update_release.

This option only applies to SRPM creation and doesn't affect propose_downstream and pull_from_upstream jobs.

files_to_sync​

(list of strings or dicts) A list of relative paths to files in the upstream repo which are meant to be copied to dist-git during an update.

Spec file path and config file path are always included by packit init but can be manually removed from the list.

Under the hood this will use rsync --archive to synchronise the paths between the upstream and the dist-git repo.

The fields for a dictionary item in the list are the following:

  • src: A single path or a list of paths in the upstream repo that should be synced to dist-git.
  • dest: Path in the dist-git repo, where paths in src should be synced to.
  • mkpath: Flag to indicate if missing path components in dest should be created or not (default: false).
  • delete: Flag to indicate if extra content from dest should be deleted (default: false).
  • filters: List of rsync filter rules to be used during syncing. Note that the rules apply relative to the source and/or destination path (e.g. a protect filter applies relative to dest path)
Examples:​

Copy a file from root of the upstream repo to dist-git:

files_to_sync:
  - packit.spec

If you copy packit.yaml downstream, you can then take advantage of sync-from-downstream command:

files_to_sync:
  - .packit.yaml

Rename or change the path of the synced file in dist-git:

files_to_sync:
  - src: packit.spec
    dest: redhat/packit.spec

Paths also support globs. Copy everything from fedora-packaging folder and put it to the root of the dist-git repo:

files_to_sync:
  - src: fedora-packaging/*
    dest: .

Sync the entire content of the fedora-packaging directory, and delete extra content found in the root of the dist-git repo; protect .git* files and the sources file from deletion:

files_to_sync:
  - src: fedora-packaging/
    dest: .
    delete: true
    filters:
    - "protect .git*"
    - "protect sources"

Specify multiple source files to copy:

files_to_sync:
  - src:
    - package.spec
    - some-file
    dest: .

Set mkpath to true to create missing path components in dist-git. In the example below, subdir is created if missing.

files_to_sync:
  - src: some.file
    dest: subdir/some.file
    mkpath: true
info

This option is a successor to synced_files that has been already deprecated.

create_sync_note​

(bool) Create or update a README.packit file in dist-git when doing a new update, telling that the repository is maintained by Packit and marking the version of packit creating the update. By default, this option is set to true. When set to false, README.packit is not created or updated. (A previously created README.packit needs to be removed manually).

upstream_ref​

(string) Git reference to last upstream git commit (for source-git repos). Can be set to commit hash, tag or a branch name. You can also use globbing pattern to find a tag. In case you want to use globbing pattern for a branch, prefix the pattern with branches/, e.g. for a branch matching *-release set to branches/*-release.

downstream_package_name​

(string) Name of the RPM package in Fedora, defaults to the name of the GitHub repository. In case of using the packages key, the defaults are the keys of the dictionary.

dist_git_namespace​

(string) Namespace in dist-git URL (defaults to rpms).

dist_git_base_url​

(string) URL of dist-git server, defaults to https://src.fedoraproject.org/ (has to end with a slash).

create_tarball_command (deprecated)​

Please use create-archive action

current_version_command (deprecated)​

Please use get-current-version action

actions​

(string) Custom actions/hooks overwriting the default behavior of packit (more in Actions).

allowed_gpg_keys​

(list of string) A list of gpg-key fingerprints; if specified, one of the configured keys have to sign the last commit when updating in downstream; add GitHub key (5DE3E0509C47EA3CF04A42D34AEE18F83AFDEB23) if you want to use this on code merged via GitHub web interface.

spec_source_id​

(int or string) Numeric ID of Source inside spec file which packit should change when setting path to the newly generated tarball, can be also full name of the macro. Defaults to Source0 or Source, whichever is found first in the spec file.

upstream_tag_template​

(string) Packit by default expects git tags to match versions (e.g. when doing the propose-downstream command) - if you are using a different tagging scheme, let's say v1.2.3 you can then set this parameter to v{version} and packit will fill in the version argument.

archive_root_dir_template​

(string) In the fix-spec-file action Packit changes first %setup (or %autosetup) macro in %prep and adds -n so the generated tarball can be unpacked. For this purpose, it requires the name of the directory in the source archive. For tar archives with one directory, Packit gets it automatically. If Packit is not able to extract it from the archive with the tar python module, it is possible to specify it explicitly with this option.

Default value is {upstream_pkg_name}-{version}.

You can use following tags in string:

  • {upstream_pkg_name} - name of the upstream package
  • {version} - package version

patch_generation_ignore_paths​

(list of strings) In a source-git repo, when packit is generating patches, it excludes changes to the spec file and packit.yaml by default: with this option you can precisely specify paths to exclude.

patch_generation_patch_id_digits​

(integer) The number of digits (minimum width) used for patch IDs when adding PatchN tags to a spec-file while updating dist-git from a source-git repository. Defaults to 4, that is, patches will look like PatchNNNN: <patch_name>, and leading zeros are added, if needed. A value of 0 means "no minimum width".

notifications​

pull_request​
successful_build​

(bool) Enable comment with instructions how to install a package with the change implemented in the pull request. This comment will be posted by Packit after a successful build of a pull request is done.

The default behaviour is not to send the comment. To enable the comment, this should be the configuration:

notifications:
  pull_request:
    successful_build: true
failure_comment​
message​

(string) A message that will be posted as a comment in case of a job failure. Same as for other keys, you can define this option at the top-level, applying it to all jobs, or configure it on a job level, enabling you to have specific messages for each job or opt not to have a message for certain jobs. By default, no message is posted on job failure.

To prevent duplication, Packit posts a comment only when its content differs from the previous comment in the specific pull request or commit. To include dynamic content, you can use multiple placeholders which will be automatically replaced (consider using this in relation to the duplication of comments):

  • {commit_sha}: replaced with the actual commit SHA provided by Packit
  • {logs_url}: replaced with the url to the service's logs, the service can be Copr, Koji or Testing Farm depending on the Packit job
  • {packit_dashboard_url}: replaced with the Packit dashboard url for the job
  • {external_dashboard_url}: url to the service dashboard, the service can be Copr or Koji depending on the Packit job

You can use this also e.g. to tag a user/namespace that should be notified about the failure.

Configuration example:

jobs:
  - job: copr_build
    trigger: pull_request
    targets:
      - fedora-rawhide
    notifications:
      failure_comment:
        message: "One of the tests failed for {commit_sha}. @admin check logs {logs_url}, packit dashboard {packit_dashboard_url} and external service dashboard {external_dashboard_url}"

  - job: tests
    trigger: pull_request
    targets:
      - fedora-rawhide

Notified failure comment example using the above configuration:

One of the tests failed for e6baab8. @admin check logs https://download.copr.fedorainfracloud.org/results/packit-stg/majamassarini-teamcity-messages-7/fedora-rawhide-x86_64/06606596-python-teamcity-messages/builder-live.log, packit dashboard https://dashboard.stg.packit.dev/results/copr-builds/40742 and external service dashboard https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/build/6606596/

For jobs related to the release automation (propose_downstream, pull_from_upstream, koji_build and bodhi_update), this message is used as an extension of the comment added by default by Packit. For these, the commit_sha is not provided.

issue_repository​

Use this key to be notified about errors of the downstream jobs (Koji build, Bodhi update, pull from upstream). The value can be a URL of any GitHub/GitLab/Pagure project where issues are enabled and Packit has an identity on that git forge instance. Alternatively, you can set up a dedicated project for receiving such notifications. (Let us know if you need another instance to be supported.) It does not need to be an upstream repository (and in case you do not maintain it, it also should not be).

By default, no issue will be created so Packit doesn't unintentionally spam any repository. (E.g. Since those jobs are defined in downstream, upstream project does not need to be aware of Packit.)

By enabling this setting, Packit will either create a new issue or add a comment to an already existing issue. In that case, the issue will be reused and a new comment will be added.

When a downstream job (e.g. Koji build or Bodhi update) fails, you can re-trigger the failed job by
/packit koji-build or /packit create-update comment in the opened issue by Packit. The Packit app has to be installed in the issue repository and the user, who commented, needs to have write permissions into the repository in order for the retriggering to work.

copy_upstream_release_description​

(bool) When doing a new update in Fedora dist-git, the GitHub or GitLab upstream release description is copied to the specfile changelog when set to true. By default (false), Update to version <version> is set as a changelog entry instead (in both cases, Packit also adds a reference to the bugzilla about a new upstream release if there is one). But be aware that the release description is copied as is, without any processing and the result needs to fulfill the spec-file syntax. Be specially careful when using characters like % that can be interpreted as macros. Also, use - for bullet points instead of * so the line is not interpreted as a new changelog entry.

e.g.

  • copy_upstream_release_description = True:
%changelog
* Thu Oct 15 2020 Packit Service <user-cont-team+packit-service@redhat.com> - 0.18.0-1
Packit got new archive_root_dir_template config option to get custom archive root dir.
You can find more info in the documentation.
  • copy_upstream_release_description = False (default):
%changelog
* Thu Oct 15 2020 Packit Service <user-cont-team+packit-service@redhat.com> - 0.18.0-1
- Update to version 0.18.0

sources​

(list of dicts) A list of sources to override the URLs of SourceX entries in the spec-file.

sources:
  - path: rsync-3.1.3.tar.gz
    url: https://git.centos.org/sources/rsync/c8s/82e7829c0b3cefbd33c233005341e2073c425629

path is the path relative to the directory with sources where the source will be placed. If a SourceX entry with corresponding basename exists in the spec-file, the source will be downloaded from the url found in the configuration instead of the location defined in the spec-file.

srpm_build_deps​

(list of strings) A list of RPM dependencies that are needed for your actions to be run when building a SRPM. The dependencies are installed into the Copr build environment each time the build is triggered.

packit_instances​

(list of strings) If you want to help us with catching issues or need some feature sooner than other users, you can use our staging instance that has the freshest code we have. For that, you can specify the instance(s) that will react to your jobs by using this configuration option. It uses ["prod"] as the default, but you can set both (["prod", "stg"]) or just stage (["stg"]). You can also have a different setup for each job -- see how the overriding works in the config file.

For the details on how to enable staging instance, please see the onboarding guide.

upstream_tag_include​

(string) This field requires a Python regex pattern. It's used with re.match to:

  • include tags: When identifying the latest upstream tag, this pattern filters in specific tags.
  • in Packit Service: In propose_downstream and pull_from_upstream jobs, it determines whether a specific release should trigger a reaction.

upstream_tag_exclude​

(string) This field requires a Python regex pattern. It's used with re.match to:

  • exclude tags: When identifying the latest upstream tag, this pattern omits certain tags.
  • in Packit Service: In propose_downstream and pull_from_upstream jobs, it determines whether a specific release should trigger a reaction.

prerelease_suffix_pattern​

(string) This field requires a partial Python regex pattern. It is used to match recognized pre-release suffixes. The first capturing group must capture the delimiter between a base version and a pre-release suffix and can be empty in case there is no delimiter. It defaults to ([.\-_~^]?)(alpha|beta|rc|pre(view)?)([.\-_]?\d+)?. This is a safe default that shouldn't produce any false positives and you may need to adjust it if your project uses a different versioning scheme.

For example, you can use the following regex to conform to PEP440:

prerelease_suffix_pattern: "([.\\-_]?)(a(lpha)?|b(eta)?|r?c|pre(view)?)([.\\-_]?\\d+)?"

Or you can undefine the option to opt-out from pre-release processing:

prerelease_suffix_pattern: null

prerelease_suffix_macro​

(string) Name of a macro that controls whether spec file version is a pre-release and contains the pre-release suffix. If Packit detects, based on prerelease_suffix_pattern, a pre-release version, this macro will be uncommented, otherwise it will be commented out. See pre-releases with Packit for more details.

version_update_mask​

(string) This field can be used to filter upstream versions when syncing the releases e.g. to avoid main version bump on the stable Fedora version. This check does not run for the rawhide branch, if you want to skip releases in rawhide use upstream_tag_exclude. The value requires a Python regex pattern and is used with re.match function. The old version contained in the dist-git target branch specfile and the newly released version in upstream have both to match this reg exp and the matching value has to be the same otherwise Packit will not sync the release downstream. Take as an example a version_update_mask set to \d+\.\d+\., 3.8.0 as specfile version and 3.9.0 as a new upstream release tag, the versions are matching but the matched values are not the same, thus Packit will not create a 3.9.0 pull request release on dist-git target branch. If there is an 3.8.1 release, the matched values (=3.8) are the same and pull request is created.

test_command​

default_identifier​

The identifier (refer to identifier) utilised by default when the /packit test comment command is invoked without arguments (see related docs). This allows commonly used job to be triggered without the need for manual specification. For instance, rather than specifying frequently used job via --identifier each time, such as /packit test --identfier my-id, you can configure the following:

test_command:
  default_identifier: my-id

As a result, invoking /packit test will be automatically interpreted as /packit test --identfier my-id.

default_labels​

A list of labels (refer to labels) utilised by default when the /packit test comment command is invoked without arguments (see related docs). This allows commonly used job combinations to be triggered without the need for manual specification. For instance, rather than specifying frequently used jobs via --labels each time, such as /packit test --labels regression,upgrade, you can configure the following:

test_command:
  default_labels:
    - regression
    - upgrade

As a result, invoking /packit test will be automatically interpreted as /packit test --labels regression,upgrade.

info

default_identifier and default_labels are not supposed to be used simultaneously. You should configure only one of these options.

parse_time_macros​

(dict) Macros to be explicitly defined or undefined at spec file parse time. To undefine a macro, set its value to null. This can be useful for instance when the spec file is OS-specific and Packit runs on a different OS (Packit Service currently runs on CentOS Stream 9).

For example, %cargo_prep macro used in Rust packages accepts -V option on EL but not on Fedora. To make sure Packit is able to parse a spec file that uses %cargo_prep -V on both OSes, you can undefine the macro at parse time:

specfile_path: some-rust-package.spec
parse_time_macros:
  cargo_prep: null
info

This has no effect at build time, any macros overriden or undefined using this option will have their usual values during SRPM and RPM build.

require​

label​

In this section, you can specify the label requirements for a pull request. It is used to define conditions for jobs that should be triggered based on the presence or absence of specific labels. You can specify 2 nested options:

present​

(list) Labels that must be present (at least one of them) on the PR for the specified job to be triggered.

absent​

(list) Labels that must be absent (none of these can be present) on the PR for the specified job to be triggered.

Example for the require section configuration:

require:
  label:
    present:
      - bug
      - enhancement
    absent:
      - WIP
      - on-hold

Aliases​

To not need to change the config file when the new system version is released, Packit provides multiple aliases to reference a subset of the active releases:

  • fedora-all - all active releases, which includes released and branched versions and Rawhide (e.g. fedora-34, fedora-35, fedora-36, fedora-rawhide).
  • fedora-stable — the current (two or three) released and supported versions (e.g. fedora-34, fedora-35).
  • fedora-development — development versions of Fedora; the branched version is used only when available (e.g. fedora-36, fedora-rawhide)
  • fedora-latest — the last versioned Fedora (not a Rawhide), regardless if it's released or still under development.
  • fedora-latest-stable — the latest released Fedora version (e.g. fedora-35).
  • fedora-branched — all branched releases, that is: everything, except Rawhide (e.g. fedora-34, fedora-35, fedora-36).
  • epel-all - current active EPEL versions (e.g. epel-7, epel-8, epel-9)

The aliases above can be used both to specify targets when building in Copr or running tests, and to reference dist-git branches of different system versions (e.g. for propose_downstream job or downstream jobs like koji_build or bodhi_update).

info

You can combine aliases with architecture where appropriate (e.g. in Copr targets). You can do this by suffixing the alias with an architecture (e.g. fedora-stable-aarch64). By default, the x86_64 architecture is used.

The information about releases is retrieved from Bodhi and because of the cache and required availability on Copr, it might take a while to get the newest state.

User configuration file​

danger

Since API tokens are a very sensitive information, please DO NOT ever store them in a public (such as a GitHub repository). The configuration file here is located on your workstation, please DO NOT confuse it with a config file for your project - that one is described above in the first section of this document.

When running Packit as a tool locally, it is convenient to use a configuration file to provide data such as API tokens. Packit respects XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable. If not set, it looks inside ~/.config/ directory.

The acceptable names are the same as for the package config:

  • .packit.yaml
  • .packit.yml
  • packit.yaml
  • packit.yml

Values​

Key nameTypeDescription
debugboolenable debug logs
fas_userstringusername in Fedora account system; this is utilized when authenticating with Bodhi using Kerberos
kerberos_realmstringKerberos realm to use for authentication, example "FEDORAPROJECT.ORG"
authenticationdicttokens for services (GitHub, Pagure)
upstream_git_remotestringname of the git remote to discover upstream project URL from
redhat_api_refresh_tokenstringRed Hat API token, can be obtained here

Authentication dictionary​

The authentication is a dictionary where:

  • key is a hostname, url or name that can be mapped to a service-type, for example github.com or pagure
  • value is a dictionary with keys: token and instance_url (optional)
Example​
authentication:
    github.com:
        token: mnbvcxz123456
    pagure:
        token: qwertyuiop098765
        instance_url: https://src.fedoraproject.org

The GitHub token is needed when packit interacts with GitHub API, get it at https://github.com/settings/tokens (getting full read & write repo scope should be enough). The Pagure token is needed to access REST API, get it at https://src.fedoraproject.org/settings#nav-api-tab (you need at least fork_project, modify_project, pull_request_comment and pull_request_create ACLs).

Specifying tokens as direct keys github_token and pagure_user_token has been deprecated and will be removed in future versions.