GitHub released on its blog a new service called GitHub Package Registry, released in beta version. The announcement made by Simina pasat, Director of Product Management at GitHub and formerly employed by Microsoft, describes the new service as fully integrated with GitHub.
For those who are still unfamiliar with GitHub, you should know that this is a collaborative development platform to host projects using the Git version control system.
It is used primarily for creating source code for programs. The code of projects hosted on GitHub are typically stored publicly, although using a paid account, it also allows to host private repositories.
Thanks to the popularity of GitHub, it has come to be classified as a social network for developers.
GitHub Package Registration
A registry is a service for hosting and indexing deliverables. When a developer (or team) publishes a new version of their application or library, they don't publish the source code in its original form or even the binary if there is a binary.
Source code (or the corresponding binary) it is packed in a package (the deliverable) that is published in a registry. This deliverable is then used as a dependency in a project or deployed directly to a server.
A registry goes hand in hand with a package manager. This is a command line interface tool (CLI) that allows developers to manipulate the registry.
This CLI / registry pair allows you to manage the dependencies of a project by downloading them in the desired versions and publishing your projects to serve as a dependency or for the purpose of being deployed.
Until before the GitHub announcement from Package Registry, each repository had one or more dedicated registries and one or more CLI tools:
- JavaScript has the npm registry and CLI npm and yarn
- Java has Maven Central and Maven CLI
- PHP Packagist
- NuGet .NET
- Inter alia
We can find a non-exhaustive but very extensive list of existing administrator packages on the site libraries.ioas well as a search engine between records.
About the GitHub Package Registry service
GitHub Package Registry is fully integrated with existing GitHub user experience to manage repositories, This new service manages the deliverables associated with these repositories.
Now with GitHub Package Registry, you will find a new tab called "Packages", which is available on your GitHub profile, listing the different hosted deliverables.
In the same way, a new button «Packages» It is available in the «Release» part from your repository.
This new service is compatible with the main existing registries. At the moment the supported registers are:
- npm (JavaScript)
- Maven (Java)
- NuGet (.NET)
- RubyGems (Ruby)
The service documentation describes how to configure your existing CLI tools to allow them to manipulate the new GitHub registry deliverables.
Competitive Advantage
The new GitHub service is naturally inherited from all GitHub user management. Allow development teams to save this management by unifying it on GitHub.
It is not necessary to have multiple accreditations and accounts to manage the records of that project in that language, everything can be focused on GitHub.
For example, the source code, the deliverable for the reference record, and the corresponding image for the docker can be in the same place.
This is a major benefit for GitHub, which is in competition with all other registries.
Try Service Package Registryand, under previous registration
Currently, the Service Package Registry, is currently in beta testing phase, in which, prior to request, access is provided free of charge for all types of repositories.
After the test is finished, free access will be restricted only to public repositories and open source repositories.
For developers of open source projects, the proposed service can be useful to organize pre-release testing before forming final releases that fall into the main repositories.