Substitute for the `library.json` API (for private and ssh-based remote registries)

[muffato]

#576 adds support for remote registries. Two assets are retrieved via https:

• the git repository itself via git clone
• a library.json file, that must be available on GitHub/GitLab pages (to mimic an API)

This works as long as the repository is public. For private repositories, git clone prompts the user for username/password, but library.json couldn't be available. Similarly, registries that need to be accessed via ssh may not have a Page with library.json.

This issue is about alleviating the need for the registry to be public and expose a library.json

[vsoch]

Going to work on this next - @muffato @marcodelapierre do you have such a registry? E.g., a repository somewhere I can access without a library.json? It would greatly help for development! If not, I can make a dummy one.

[marcodelapierre]

@vsoch unfortunately I don't have such a registry.

[muffato]

Hi @vsoch . Ours is on an internal GitLab, but essentially it's just a registry without the CI to build library.json