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DistroForge APT sources generator

Generate clean, verifiable Debian and Ubuntu APT sources — entirely in your browser.

DistroForge is a small, static web tool for composing Debian and Ubuntu apt sources directly in the browser.

It helps you build clean, correct sources.list or DEB822 .sources configurations by combining:

• official distribution repositories
• curated third-party sources
• derived distribution entries

No accounts, no backend, no tracking — just a single HTML/CSS/JS bundle served via GitHub Pages.

Live site: https://silentglasses.github.io/distro_forge/

Why use it?

• Avoid manual sources.list errors and outdated examples
• Quickly assemble reproducible APT configurations
• Verify third-party repos with visible key fingerprints
• Stay in control, everything runs client-side, no hidden logic

Built for people who prefer simple, inspectable tools over opaque web apps.

Pages

Path	What it does
/	Emits a ready-to-use sources.list or DEB822 .sources.
/third-party/	Curated catalog of third-party apt repos.
/variants/	Sources for Debian and Ubuntu derived distros
/help/	FAQ / troubleshooting

Features

• Progressive-disclosure UI: options unlock based on upstream selections; nothing is pre-selected.
• Correct Ubuntu architecture routing: non-amd64 architectures automatically use ports.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-ports, including security updates.
• Optional mirror selection with country-grouped lists for Debian and Ubuntu.
• Outputs both traditional sources.list and DEB822 .sources formats.
• Copy-to-clipboard on all outputs; per-page reset to start clean.
• Light/dark theme with persistence via localStorage.
• Third-party entries include keyring paths and full GPG fingerprints for manual verification.

Local preview

Pure static site with ES modules, testing locally:

cd distro_forge
python3 -m http.server 8080
# open http://localhost:8080

Don't open index.html via file://, browsers block ES-module imports from that protocol.

Keeping data fresh

Three datasets are tracked in the repo and refreshed automatically via scheduled GitHub Actions workflows. Every workflow opens a pull request rather than committing straight to main, so changes are reviewable.

Supported releases, assets/data/releases.js

• Source: the canonical distro-info-data CSVs for Debian and Ubuntu.
• Script: scripts/update-releases.mjs regenerates the file and writes a human-readable diff to .release-notes.md (added / removed / status-changed releases).
• Workflow: .github/workflows/update-releases.yml runs every Monday at 06:00 UTC and via workflow_dispatch; opens a PR labelled release-data with the diff as the body.

Mirror list, assets/data/mirrors-list.js

• Script: scripts/update-mirrors.mjs HEADs every mirror URL and drops any that fail within 8 s.
• Workflow: .github/workflows/update-mirrors.yml runs every Wednesday at 06:00 UTC; opens a PR labeled mirror-data with the pruned list and the list of dropped mirrors.
• Adding a new mirror is a manual PR edit, the pruner only removes.

Third-party repos, data/third-party/repos.json + index.txt

• Script: scripts/validate-third-party.mjs checks schema, HEADs homepage / uri / gpg.url, and verifies the declared GPG fingerprint against the actual key (requires gpg; Actions runners have it).
• Workflow: .github/workflows/validate-third-party.yml runs on every push/PR touching third-party data and weekly on Thursdays. Push/PR runs fail the build on any validation error; scheduled runs open or update an issue labeled third-party-validation instead.

Manual regeneration

node scripts/update-releases.mjs
node scripts/update-mirrors.mjs
node scripts/validate-third-party.mjs

All scripts need Node 18+ (for global fetch). The validator also shells out to gpg for fingerprint verification.

Deploying

.github/workflows/pages.yml deploys the repo root to GitHub Pages on every push to main. Source set to GitHub Actions in Settings → Pages. The .nojekyll file keeps Pages from running Jekyll.

Project layout

deb_sources/
├── index.html
├── help/index.html
├── third-party/
│   ├── index.html
│   └── app.js
├── variants/
│   ├── index.html
│   └── app.js
├── assets/
│   ├── styles.css
│   ├── app.js                              # main generator wiring
│   ├── data/
│   │   ├── releases.js                     # AUTO-GENERATED distro/release data
│   │   ├── mirrors-list.js                 # AUTO-PRUNED mirror list
│   │   └── variants.js                     # hand-curated variants data
│   └── lib/
│       ├── generate.js                     # pure generator for main page
│       ├── third-party.js                  # builder for /third-party/
│       ├── variant.js                      # builder for /variants/
│       └── ui.js                           # shared theme + active-nav helpers
├── data/third-party/
│   ├── repos.json                          # curated repos
│   └── index.txt                           # enabled repo IDs
├── scripts/
│   ├── update-releases.mjs
│   ├── update-mirrors.mjs
│   └── validate-third-party.mjs
├── .github/
│   ├── workflows/
│   │   ├── pages.yml
│   │   ├── update-releases.yml
│   │   ├── update-mirrors.yml
│   │   └── validate-third-party.yml
│   ├── ISSUE_TEMPLATE/
│   │   ├── bug_report.yml
│   │   ├── feature_request.yml
│   │   ├── third_party_request.yml
│   │   └── config.yml
│   └── PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
├── CONTRIBUTING.md
├── CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
├── LICENSE
├── .gitignore
├── .nojekyll
├── package.json
└── README.md

Contributing & Support

Contributions are welcome, especially:

• adding or verifying third-party repositories
• improving mirror coverage
• fixing edge cases in source generation

If you find this tool useful, consider:

• opening issues for gaps or inaccuracies
• submitting PRs for data updates or improvements
• sponsoring to support ongoing maintenance and data curation

See CONTRIBUTING.md for the full rundown of data formats, validation scripts, conventions, and what to check before opening a PR. Participation is subject to our CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md.

Issue templates are available for bug reports, feature requests, and new third-party repo requests. The third-party template asks for the upstream docs link and the full GPG fingerprint up-front.

License

MIT, see LICENSE.