Notes

Appearance

Remotes and Package Management

Copy page

About 1233 wordsAbout 4 min

2025-12-22

Remotes in Conan are servers that store packages - think of them as "app stores" for C++ libraries. Just like you have different app stores (Apple App Store, Google Play Store, etc.), Conan has different package repositories where you can download and upload libraries.

What are Remotes?

A remote is essentially a Conan package server that:

  • Stores packages (binaries and recipes)
  • Handles package uploads from developers
  • Serves packages to consumers
  • Manages package metadata and search

Default Remotes

ConanCenter (The Main Repository)

# ConanCenter is pre-configured and contains thousands of packages
conan remote list

# Output shows something like:
# conancenter: https://center.conan.io [Verify SSL: True, Enabled: True]

Searching ConanCenter

# Search for packages
conan search fmt
conan search boost
conan search "opengl*" --remote=conancenter

# Get package information
conan show fmt/10.0.0

Custom Remotes

Why Create Custom Remotes?

  1. Private Libraries - Your company's internal libraries
  2. Third-party Integration - Libraries from partners/customers
  3. Offline Development - Mirror of packages for air-gapped environments
  4. Performance - Local mirrors for faster downloads
  5. Control - Curated package repositories with security reviews

Setting Up Your Own Conan Server

JFrog Artifactory is the most popular Conan repository server.

# Add Artifactory remote
conan remote add mycompany https://mycompany.jfrog.io/artifactory/api/conan/conan-local

# Authenticate
export CONAN_LOGIN_USERNAME=myuser
export CONAN_PASSWORD=mypassword
conan remote auth mycompany

Features of Artifactory:

  • User management and permissions
  • Package promotion between environments
  • Replication and backup
  • Analytics and monitoring
  • Integration with CI/CD

Option 2: Conan Server (Simple Setup)

Conan Server is a lightweight option for small teams:

# Install conan server
pip install conan-server

# Start the server
conan_server

# This starts a server on http://localhost:9300

Option 3: Cloud Solutions

GitHub Packages

# Add GitHub Packages as remote
conan remote add github-packages https://npm.pkg.github.com/@your-org

# Authenticate with GitHub token
export CONAN_LOGIN_USERNAME=your-github-username
export CONAN_PASSWORD=your-github-token
conan remote auth github-packages

GitLab Package Registry

# Add GitLab Packages
conan remote add gitlab-packages https://gitlab.com/api/v4/packages/conan

# Authenticate
export CONAN_LOGIN_USERNAME=your-gitlab-username
export CONAN_PASSWORD=your-gitlab-token
conan remote auth gitlab-packages

AWS CodeArtifact

# Add AWS CodeArtifact
conan remote add codeartifact https://your-domain-123456789.d.codeartifact.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/conan/your-repo/

# Authenticate with AWS
aws codeartifact login --tool conan --repository your-repo --domain your-domain --domain-owner 123456789

Creating a Local Conan Server

Quick Setup for Development

# 1. Create a working directory
mkdir conan-server && cd conan-server

# 2. Initialize Conan server
conan server

# 3. This creates a server configuration in the current directory
# 4. Access at http://localhost:9300

Configuration File

Create server.conf:

[server]
jwt_secret=your-secret-key
jwt_expire_minutes=60

write_permissions = */*@*/*
read_permissions = */*@*/*

[users]
admin=password123
developer1=devpassword1

Starting the Server

# Start with custom configuration
conan server --server_file server.conf --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8080

# Server is now available at http://your-server:8080

Adding and Managing Remotes

Add a Remote

# Basic remote
conan remote add myremote https://my-conan-server.com

# Remote with specific name
conan remote add mycompany-remote https://artifactory.mycompany.com/conan

# Add remote with disabled SSL verification (not recommended for production)
conan remote add insecure-remote http://insecure-server.com --insecure

Update Remote

# Change remote URL
conan remote update myremote https://new-url.com

# Disable/enable remote
conan remote disable myremote
conan remote enable myremote

# Remove remote
conan remote remove myremote

List and Show Remotes

# List all remotes
conan remote list

# Show remote details
conan remote show myremote

# Check remote connectivity
conan ping myremote

Authentication and Security

Username/Password Authentication

# Set authentication for remote
conan remote auth myremote --username=jdoe --password=secret123

# Or use interactive prompt
conan remote auth myremote

Token-Based Authentication

# For JFrog Artifactory
conan remote auth myremote --username=jdoe --password=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9...

# For GitHub/GitLab
conan remote auth myremote --username=jdoe --password=ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Environment-Based Authentication

# Set environment variables
export CONAN_LOGIN_USERNAME=jdoe
export CONAN_PASSWORD=your_token_here

# Conan will use these for authentication
conan install . --remote=myremote

Certificate-Based Authentication

# For self-signed certificates
conan remote add my-https-remote https://self-signed-server.com --verify-ssl=false

# For specific CA certificates
export REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE=/path/to/ca-bundle.crt
export SSL_CERT_FILE=/path/to/ca-bundle.crt

Publishing Packages to Custom Remotes

Upload Packages

# Upload a single package
conan upload mylib/1.0.0@user/channel --remote=myremote

# Upload with all binaries
conan upload mylib/1.0.0@user/channel --remote=myremote --all

# Upload specific packages only
conan upload mylib/1.0.0@user/channel --remote=myremote --package-folder=mybinary

# Upload with confirmation
conan upload mylib/1.0.0@user/channel --remote=myremote --confirm

Upload Patterns

# Upload all packages matching pattern
conan upload "*@user/channel" --remote=myremote

# Upload with specific versioning
conan upload "mylib/1.*" --remote=myremote

# Upload only if package doesn't exist
conan upload mylib/1.0.0@user/channel --remote=myremote --skip-uploaded

Upload with Retry and Error Handling

# Retry on failures
conan upload mylib/1.0.0@user/channel --remote=myremote --retry=3 --retry-wait=10

# Upload with query conditions
conan upload mylib/1.0.0@user/channel --remote=myremote --query "arch=x86_64 AND build_type=Release"

Working with Package Repositories

Repository Structure

my-company-remote/
├── libraries/
│   ├── mylib/1.0.0/
│   │   ├── user1/channel/
│   │   └── user2/stable/
│   └── otherlib/2.1.0/
│       └── user1/testing/
├── internal/
│   └── proprietary/1.0.0/
└── third-party/
    └── vendor-lib/3.0.0/

Package Promotion Workflow

# 1. Develop and test in testing channel
conan create . mylib/1.0.0@user/testing

# 2. Upload to testing remote
conan upload mylib/1.0.0@user/testing --remote=testing-remote

# 3. Promote to staging after QA approval
conan copy mylib/1.0.0@user/testing mylib/1.0.0@user/staging --remote=testing-remote --destination=staging-remote

# 4. Promote to production
conan copy mylib/1.0.0@user/staging mylib/1.0.0@user/stable --remote=staging-remote --destination=prod-remote

Mirroring and Replication

Local Mirror Setup

# Add ConanCenter as a mirror
conan remote add conan-center-mirror https://center.conan.io

# Mirror specific packages
conan download fmt/10.0.0 --remote=conan-center-mirror
conan upload fmt/10.0.0 --remote=local-mirror

Artifactory Remote Replication

# Artifactory replication configuration
replications:
  - url: "https://local-artifactory.company.com/artifactory/api/conan/conan-local"
    cronExp: "0 0 2 * * ?" # Daily at 2 AM
    repoKey: conan-local
    proxy: true

Troubleshooting Remote Issues

Common Problems

Authentication Failures

# Check authentication
conan remote auth myremote --username=test --password=test

# Clear authentication cache
conan remote logout myremote

Package Not Found

# Search for packages
conan search --remote=myremote mylib

# Check if package exists
conan search --remote=myremote "*mylib*"

# Download recipe only
conan download mylib/1.0.0@user/channel --remote=myremote --recipe-only

SSL/TLS Issues

# Disable SSL verification (development only)
conan remote add my-remote http://insecure-server.com --insecure

# Update CA certificates
sudo apt update && sudo apt install ca-certificates

# Check SSL certificate
openssl s_client -connect myremote.com:443

Debug Remote Operations

# Verbose output
conan install . --remote=myremote --verbose

# Check package info before downloading
conan info mylib/1.0.0@user/channel --remote=myremote

# Download and show progress
conan download mylib/1.0.0@user/channel --remote=myremote --progress

Remote Best Practices

Security

  1. Use HTTPS - Never use unencrypted HTTP in production
  2. Authentication tokens - Use API tokens instead of passwords
  3. Certificate validation - Don't disable SSL verification in production
  4. User permissions - Configure proper access controls

Performance

  1. Local mirrors - Set up mirrors close to your developers
  2. Concurrent downloads - Enable parallel package downloads
  3. Package retention - Clean up old versions to save space
  4. Bandwidth throttling - Configure limits for large teams

Organization

  1. Naming conventions - Use clear, descriptive remote names
  2. Environment separation - Separate dev/staging/production remotes
  3. Package promotion - Implement proper promotion workflows
  4. Monitoring - Track usage and package metrics

Key Points: Remotes and Package Management

  • Remotes are package servers - Like app stores for C++ libraries
  • Multiple options - Artifactory, Conan Server, cloud providers
  • Authentication required - Username/password, tokens, certificates
  • Upload/download workflow - Share packages across teams
  • Security best practices - HTTPS, proper authentication, permissions
  • Performance optimization - Local mirrors, concurrent operations
  • Enterprise features - Replication, analytics, package promotion
© 2026 Vasu Grover. All rights reserved.