How to upload a Debian package to a repository when you have only the .deb file?

I have a local Debian repository I run for our organization using reprepro. This local repository hosts custom software we develop ourselves. There are Debian packages from other sources not included in the official Debian repos that I would like to add to our local repository.

Normally when I build a package I upload it to our local repository using dput which requires a .changes file. If I get a Debian package from another source, I get only a .deb file and no .changes file.

How do I upload a .deb file to our local repository without the .changes file?

1 Answer

With reprepro, you don't need a changes file for uploading a deb file. There's the includedeb subcommand:

$ reprepro -b /var/www/repo includedeb xenial grep_3.1-2\~16.04.york0_amd64.deb
Exporting indices...
$ cd /var/www/repo; find pool
pool
pool/main
pool/main/g
pool/main/g/grep
pool/main/g/grep/grep_3.1-2~16.04.york0_amd64.deb

Change -b /var/www/repo to suit wherever your reprepro root directory is located.