Chapter 7. Chart Repositories
No package manager is complete without a way to share and distribute the packages themselves. Organizations and vendors must have a way to publish packages for end users to download and consume. Likewise, end users must have a common way to fetch packages from a variety of sources.
Helm enables package distribution though a system called chart repositories. Chart repositories are simple HTTP(S) web services from which users can discover and download available charts. Conceptually, chart repositories are similar in design to Debian package repositories, Fedora package databases, or the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN).
In this chapter, we will first dive deep into the internals of a chart repository. We will discuss the repository index and how to update it with new chart versions. After that, we will show how to set up a chart repository from scratch, how to secure one, and also show a real-world example of how to host a public chart repository using GitHub Pages for open source projects. After this, we will walk through the various helm repo commands and how to use them effectively.
Toward the end of the chapter, we will cover the next generation of chart repositories using Helm’s experimental Open Container Initiative (OCI) support. This bleeding-edge functionality added in Helm 3 allows users to store Helm charts in container registries alongside their container images.
Lastly, we will briefly describe some of the projects in the Helm ...
Get Learning Helm now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
