registry help topic

2 files changed, 91 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/man1/faq.1 b/man1/faq.1
index d603feb88..64861c20d 100644
--- a/man1/faq.1
+++ b/man1/faq.1
@@ -65,8 +65,6 @@ b) a gzipped tarball containing (a)
 .
 .IP "\(bu" 4
 c) a url that resolves to (b)
-.
-.IP "\(bu" 4
 d) a \fB<name>@<version>\fR that is published on the registry with (c)
 .
 .IP "\(bu" 4
@@ -140,6 +138,9 @@ lot of use cases, and is very easy to maintain\.
 .SH "How do I symlink to a dev folder so that I don\'t have to keep re\-installing?"
 \fBnpm link\fR
 .
+.SH "The package registry website\.  What is that exactly?"
+See \fBnpm help registry\fR for more info\.
+.
 .SH "What\'s up with the insecure channel warnings?"
 As of this writing, node has problems uploading files over HTTPS\.  That
 means that publishes go over HTTP\.
diff --git a/man1/registry.1 b/man1/registry.1
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9f0b47abd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man1/registry.1
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+.\" Generated with Ronnjs/v0.1
+.\" http://github.com/kapouer/ronnjs/
+.
+.TH "NPM\-REGISTRY" "1" "December 2010" "" ""
+.
+.SH "NAME"
+\fBnpm-registry\fR \-\- The JavaScript Package Registry
+.
+.SH "DESCRIPTION"
+To resolve packages by name and version, npm talks to a registry website
+that implements the CommonJS Package Registry specification for reading
+package info\.
+.
+.P
+Additionally, npm\'s package registry implementation supports several
+write APIs as well, to allow for publishing packages and managing user
+account information\.
+.
+.P
+The official public npm registry is at \fIhttp://registry\.npmjs\.org/\fR\|\.  It
+is powered by a CouchDB database at \fIhttp://isaacs\.couchone\.com/jsregistry\fR\|\.  The code for the couchapp is
+available at \fIhttp://github\.com/isaacs/js\-registry\fR\|\.  npm user accounts
+are CouchDB users, stored in the \fIhttp://isaacs\.couchone\.com/_users\fR
+database\.
+.
+.P
+The registry URL is supplied by the \fBregistry\fR config parameter\.  See \fBnpm help config\fR for more on managing npm\'s configuration\.
+.
+.SH "Can I run my own private registry?"
+Yes!
+.
+.P
+The easiest way is to replicate the couch database, and use the same (or
+similar) design doc to implement the APIs\.
+.
+.P
+If you set up continuous replication from the official CouchDB, and then
+set your internal CouchDB as the registry config\.  Then, you\'ll be able
+to read any published packages, in addition to your private ones, and by
+default will only publish internally\.  If you then want to publish a
+package for the whole world to see, you can simply override the \fB\-\-registry\fR config for that command\.
+.
+.SH "Will you replicate from my registry into the public one?"
+No\.  If you want things to be public, then publish them into the public
+registry using npm\.  What little security there is would be for nought
+otherwise\.
+.
+.SH "Do I have to use couchdb to build a registry that npm can talk to?"
+No, but it\'s way easier\.
+.
+.SH "I published something elsewhere, and want to tell the npm registry about it\."
+That is supported, but not using the npm client\.  You\'ll have to get
+your hands dirty and do some HTTP\.  The request looks something like
+this:
+.
+.IP "" 4
+.
+.nf
+PUT /my\-foreign\-package
+content\-type:application/json
+accept:application/json
+authorization:Basic $base_64_encoded
+{ "name":"my\-foreign\-package"
+, "maintainers":["owner","usernames"]
+, "description":"A package that is hosted elsewhere"
+, "keywords":["nih","my cheese smells the best"]
+, "url":"http://my\-different\-registry\.com/blerg/my\-local\-package"
+}
+.
+.fi
+.
+.IP "" 0
+.
+.P
+(Keywords and destription are optional, but recommended\.  Name,
+maintainers, and url are required\.)
+.
+.P
+Then, when a user tries to install "my\-foreign\-package", it\'ll redirect
+to your registry\.  If that doesn\'t resolve to a valid package entry,
+then it\'ll fail, so please make sure that you understand the spec, and
+ask for help on the \fInpm\-@googlegroups\.com\fR mailing list\.
+.
+.SH "Is there a website or something to see package docs and such?"
+No, but such a thing is planned, and a tiny bit developed\.
+.
+.P
+Stay tuned!