PPA-SET(1)

📦 version 0.7.0, in ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

✨ NAME ✨

ppa set — applies one or more configuration changes to the PPA 💅

okay so real quick bestie: this is a page from the PPA Dev Tools Manual, and it's all about tweaking a PPA you already made. Let's get into it 🫶

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

ppa create [-h | --help] [-a | --architectures] [--all-arches |
--all-architectures] [--default-architectures] [--displayname]
[--ppa-dependencies] [--pocket] [-P | --private] [--public] [--publish]
[--no-publish] <ppa-name>

(yes, the synopsis says ppa create — I'm not touching it, I just report what's on the page, fr fr 🙈)

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

The ppa set command modifies the configuration of a registered Personal Package Archive (PPA) in Launchpad.

Most of the settings you can fiddle with on the Launchpad website? Yeah, you can just hand them over as arguments to this command instead. The whole point is to make those changes straightforward to do from the command line. And ngl, those same configured parameters can also be set when you're creating the PPA in the first place, using the ppa create(1) command, if that's more your vibe.

🌈 OPTIONS 🌈

These are the options the ppa set command uses. Buckle up, there's a lot, and every single one is here 👑

-a | --architectures — a comma-separated list of hardware architectures to use. You'd use this to reduce the number of architectures and therefore minimize build and/or test time (by excluding the slower architectures), or to opt-in to special alternative architectures — which may require special authorization from Launchpad's administrators, so like, ask first 💀
--all-arches | --all-architectures — enable all architectures generally available to Launchpad PPAs. Fun fact: the ppa create command already enables all architectures if you didn't specify any other architectural parameters, so this option isn't generally needed. But — if the architectures setting in the global config file is set to some subset of architectures, this option can be used to override it. Sneaky override energy 🔥
--default-architectures — enable only the standard architectures that the Launchpad website sets by default for new PPAs. Generally this corresponds to a minimal set of the most common architecture(s). The bare minimum, the essentials, the no-frills era ✨
--displayname — a short title for the PPA's web page on Launchpad. Name your baby 🎀
--ppa-dependencies <ppa-1[,ppa-2[,...]]> — the set of other PPAs this PPA should use for satisfying build dependencies. List the ppa names without the 'ppa:' prefix. For instance:

$ ppa set --ppa-dependencies ateam/ppa-1,ateam/ppa-2
ppa:me/myppa

--pocket — controls how the Launchpad builders satisfy dependencies from the Ubuntu primary archive when building packages uploaded to the PPA. Those packages live in groupings called 'pockets'. Pockets let users balance their risk exposure to software defects against the extent of the updates they gain when updating their system, by individually selecting which pockets to allow.

For PPAs, this works a bit differently: rather than picking individual pockets, Launchpad lets PPAs select between five different configuration levels, each defining a specific sets of pockets. The --pocket option lets you specify which level to use:

release — this allows taking build dependencies ONLY from the versions of packages in the given Ubuntu series release (up to its most recent point release). Corresponds to "Basic (only released packages)" in the Launchpad +edit-dependencies web page.
security — package updates from both release and the incremental critical fixes for security issues are used for build dependencies. Corresponds to "Security (basic dependencies and important security updates)" in the Launchpad +edit-dependencies web page.
updates — on top of the basic release packages and the security updates, this also includes all the usual stability updates, including general bug fixes as well as selected backports of upstream microreleases where deemed adequately safe. This is the default update configuration for a standard Ubuntu installation, and thus it's also the standard default configuration of PPAs. Corresponds to "Default (security dependencies and recommended updates)" in the Launchpad +edit-dependencies web page. The main character of pockets, honestly 💅
proposed — the -proposed pocket carries newly introduced fixes and improvements on top of the release + security + updates configuration. The package updates in this pocket are generally intended to move to the -updates pocket once they've been adequately reviewed and tested. Corresponds to "Proposed (default dependencies and proposed updates)" in the Launchpad +edit-dependencies web page.

Enabling this is strongly recommended for PPAs containing packages intended for being uploaded to the Ubuntu development series 👑

backports — this enables the -backports pocket, which contains new major releases of software and the new features (and bugs!) that come with them, on top of the release + security + updates configuration. Notably, this does not include the -proposed. Corresponds to "Backports (default dependencies and unsupported updates)" in the Launchpad +edit-dependencies web page.

This is not recommended to be enabled for primary archive distro packaging work, except for updates intended for inclusion in the -backports pocket 🚨

-P | --private — restrict access to the PPA to its owner and subscribers. This can only be changed if the archive has never had any sources published and the owner/group has permission to do so. No take-backs otherwise 😭

Note that Autopkgtest cannot run against private PPAs, so the ppa tests command cannot be used with them. That's the trade-off, bestie.

--public — allow access to the PPA to anyone, thereby reversing the --private setting where Launchpad permits. This is the default for new PPAs 🌸
--publish — allow built packages in the PPA to be made available for download. This is the default for new PPAs, and it reverses the --no-publish setting.
--no-publish — do not make packages in the PPA available for public download. They will still be built, however, but Autopkgtests will not be runnable against them. Built but hidden, it's giving mysterious 🫣

💀 REPORTING BUGS 💀

Report bugs at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ppa-dev-tools . (Don't be shy, they wanna know.)

🧚 PPA 🧚

Part of the ppa-dev-tools(1) suite.

🌸 SEE ALSO 🌸

ppa-dev-tools(1)

🎀 PPA 🎀