I'm having trouble translating all the buzzwords on the product page: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/repository/overview/index.html
Is it a document management system? Is it a version control system? etc. I'm not really sure.
I get that it stores the SOA-related things like source code or config files or process definitions or whatnot, but I'm more interested in the physical aspect - how are these fiels/objects stored? Is there a database? Stored in the filesystem? How are they shared, are there access control lists? How do they relate to a deployed application?
I think that Oracle have complicated matters a bit by wanting their repository to perform the traditional registry tasks, and thus confusing matters.
Basically, my opinion is that a registry holds metadata and documentation, whereas a repository holds files and deployable artifacts.
I can refer to others thinking likewise, eg. http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/wikis/display/woolf/Registry+vs.+Repository and http://best-practice-software-engineering.blogspot.com/2008/04/misc-registry-vs-repository.html
I'm working with the OER (Oracle Enterprise Repository), and frankly, there's a lot of registry, and little repository to that, seen from my point of view.
If I am really positive, then I can fit Oracles use of repository into the SearchSOA description, but I wanted you to be aware of the broad use of the definition of the words, which is almost contradicting Oracles buzzwords (and I hope to have clarified things a bit on the way :-))