How to generate the `Release` file on a local package repository?

## *CONTEXT* With a local package repository, I'm able to provide my APT instances with a set of software packages and configurations from a server which I control, allowing any client to install this software using just the normal apt install command (providing the repository is added to their /etc/apt/sources.list{,.d/}). For my attempt at creating a local package repository, I followed this tutorial on bipmedia.com, which roughly consists of: 1. Generate the .deb 2. Store the .deb on an Apache2 web server 3. Generate a Package.gz file ### My Attempt #### Generating the binary package file To generate the .deb, the software files are required, a DEBIAN folder with metadata is generated and the following command compiles the code and assembles the package: dpkg-deb --build [*source code tree with DEBIAN directory*] #### Serve repository files with Apache2 server _I'm skipping this part as it's unrelated to the problem I'm seeking to solve with this question._ #### Generating a Packages.gz file (repository metadata) With the an open shell instance whose working directory is the Apache server root folder containing the .deb file from above, I called: dpkg-scanpackages debian /dev/null | gzip -9c >debian/Packages.gz ## *PROBLEM* Calling apt update on the client machine, it complains with:

W: The repository 'http://example.com  packages/ Release' does not have a Release file.

This necessary file is missing in my local repository. It seems to be a register of package checksums, but after searching on the Internet, my very limited understanding of the topic kept me from being able to find out how to generate it. --- ***Note:*** My /etc/apt/sources.list file does have the following line: deb http://example.com packages/ ## *QUESTION* How do I generate the Release file for a local APT package repository?