• Enabling the Conan Repository
• Authenticating to the GitLab Conan Repository
• Setting the Conan remote to the GitLab Package Registry
• Supported CLI commands
• Uploading a package
  • Package recipe naming convention
• Installing a package
• Removing a package
• Searching the GitLab Package Registry for Conan packages
• Fetching Conan package info from the GitLab Package Registry

GitLab Conan Repository

With the GitLab Conan Repository, every project can have its own space to store Conan packages.

Enabling the Conan Repository

After the Conan Repository is enabled, it will be available for all new projects by default. To enable it for existing projects, or if you want to disable it:

1. Navigate to your project’s Settings > General > Permissions.
2. Find the Packages feature and enable or disable it.
3. Click on Save changes for the changes to take effect.

You should then be able to see the Packages section on the left sidebar.

Before proceeding to authenticating with the GitLab Conan Repository, you should get familiar with the package naming convention.

Authenticating to the GitLab Conan Repository

You will need to generate a personal access token for repository authentication.

Now you can run conan commands using your token.

CONAN_LOGIN_USERNAME=<gitlab-username> CONAN_PASSWORD=<personal_access_token> conan upload Hello/0.2@user/channel --remote=gitlab CONAN_LOGIN_USERNAME=<gitlab-username> CONAN_PASSWORD=<personal_access_token> conan search Hello* --all --remote=gitlab

Alternatively, you can set the CONAN_LOGIN_USERNAME and CONAN_PASSWORD in your local conan config to be used when connecting to the gitlab remote. The examples here show the username and password inline.

Next, you’ll need to set your Conan remote to point to the GitLab Package Registry.

Setting the Conan remote to the GitLab Package Registry

After you authenticate to the GitLab Conan Repository, you can set the Conan remote:

conan remote add gitlab https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/packages/conan

Once the remote is set, you can use the remote when running Conan commands:

conan search Hello* --all --remote=gitlab

Supported CLI commands

The GitLab Conan repository supports the following Conan CLI commands:

• conan upload: Upload your recipe and package files to the GitLab Package Registry.
• conan install: Install a conan package from the GitLab Package Registry, this includes using the conan.txt file.
• conan search: Search the GitLab Package Registry for public packages, and private packages you have permission to view.
• conan info: View the info on a given package from the GitLab Package Registry.
• conan remove: Delete the package from the GitLab Package Registry.

Uploading a package

First you need to create your Conan package locally. In order to work with the GitLab Package Registry, a specific naming convention must be followed.

Ensure you have a project created on GitLab and that the personal access token you are using has the correct permissions for write access to the container registry by selecting the api scope.

You can upload your package to the GitLab Package Registry using the conan upload command:

CONAN_LOGIN_USERNAME=<gitlab-username> CONAN_PASSWORD=<personal_access_token> conan upload Hello/0.1@my-group+my-project/beta --all --remote=gitlab

Package recipe naming convention

Standard Conan recipe convention looks like package_name/version@username/channel.

Recipe usernames must be the + separated project path. The package name may be anything, but it is preferred that the project name be used unless it is not possible due to a naming collision. For example:

Installing a package

Add the conan package to the [requires] section of your conan.txt file and they will be installed when you run conan install within your project.

Removing a package

There are two ways to remove a Conan package from the GitLab Package Registry.

• Using the Conan client in the command line:

  CONAN_LOGIN_USERNAME=<gitlab-username> CONAN_PASSWORD=<personal_access_token> conan remove Hello/0.2@user/channel -r gitlab
  

  Note: This command will remove all recipe and binary package files from the Package Registry.

• GitLab project interface: in the packages view of your project page, you can delete packages by clicking the red trash icons.

Searching the GitLab Package Registry for Conan packages

The conan search command can be run searching by full or partial package name, or by exact recipe.

To search using a partial name, use the wildcard symbol *, which should be placed at the end of your search (e.g., my-packa*):

CONAN_LOGIN_USERNAME=<gitlab-username> CONAN_PASSWORD=<personal_access_token> conan search Hello --all --remote=gitlab
CONAN_LOGIN_USERNAME=<gitlab-username> CONAN_PASSWORD=<personal_access_token> conan search He* --all --remote=gitlab
CONAN_LOGIN_USERNAME=<gitlab-username> CONAN_PASSWORD=<personal_access_token> conan search Hello/1.0.0@my-group+my-project/stable --all --remote=gitlab

The scope of your search will include all projects you have permission to access, this includes your private projects as well as all public projects.

Fetching Conan package info from the GitLab Package Registry

The conan info command will return info about a given package:

CONAN_LOGIN_USERNAME=<gitlab-username> CONAN_PASSWORD=<personal_access_token> conan info Hello/1.0.0@my-group+my-project/stable -r gitlab