gerrit Installation Guide Installation Guide

gerrit is a free and open-source code review system. Gerrit provides web-based code review for Git projects

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 2+ cores

RAM: 2GB minimum

Storage: 5GB for repos

Network: HTTP/SSH access

Operating System:

Linux: Any modern distribution (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora, Arch, Alpine, openSUSE)

macOS: 10.14+ (Mojave or newer)

Windows: Windows Server 2016+ or Windows 10

FreeBSD: 11.0+

Network Requirements:

Port 8080 (default gerrit port)

SSH on port 29418

Dependencies:

See official documentation for specific requirements

System Access: root or sudo privileges required

This guide supports installation on:

RHEL 8/9 and derivatives (CentOS Stream, Rocky Linux, AlmaLinux)

Debian 11/12

Ubuntu 20.04/22.04/24.04 LTS

Arch Linux (rolling release)

Alpine Linux 3.18+

openSUSE Leap 15.5+ / Tumbleweed

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15+

macOS 12+ (Monterey and later)

FreeBSD 13+

Windows 10/11/Server 2019+ (where applicable)

bash

# Install EPEL repository if needed
sudo dnf install -y epel-release

# Install gerrit
sudo dnf install -y gerrit

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now gerrit

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=8080/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
gerrit --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install gerrit
sudo apt install -y gerrit

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now gerrit

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 8080

# Verify installation
gerrit --version

bash

# Install gerrit
sudo pacman -S gerrit

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now gerrit

# Verify installation
gerrit --version

bash

# Install gerrit
apk add --no-cache gerrit

# Enable and start service
rc-update add gerrit default
rc-service gerrit start

# Verify installation
gerrit --version

bash

# Install gerrit
sudo zypper install -y gerrit

# Enable and start service
sudo systemctl enable --now gerrit

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=8080/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
gerrit --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install gerrit

# Start service
brew services start gerrit

# Verify installation
gerrit --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install gerrit

# Enable in rc.conf
echo 'gerrit_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service gerrit start

# Verify installation
gerrit --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install gerrit

# Or using Scoop
scoop install gerrit

# Verify installation
gerrit --version

bash

# Create configuration directory
sudo mkdir -p /etc/gerrit

# Set up basic configuration
# See official documentation for detailed configuration options

# Test configuration
gerrit --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable gerrit

# Start service
sudo systemctl start gerrit

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop gerrit

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart gerrit

# Check status
sudo systemctl status gerrit

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u gerrit -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add gerrit default

# Start service
rc-service gerrit start

# Stop service
rc-service gerrit stop

# Restart service
rc-service gerrit restart

# Check status
rc-service gerrit status

bash

# Enable in /etc/rc.conf
echo 'gerrit_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf

# Start service
service gerrit start

# Stop service
service gerrit stop

# Restart service
service gerrit restart

# Check status
service gerrit status

bash

# Using Homebrew services
brew services start gerrit
brew services stop gerrit
brew services restart gerrit

# Check status
brew services list | grep gerrit

powershell

# Start service
net start gerrit

# Stop service
net stop gerrit

# Using PowerShell
Start-Service gerrit
Stop-Service gerrit
Restart-Service gerrit

# Check status
Get-Service gerrit

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream gerrit_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:8080;
}

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name gerrit.example.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name gerrit.example.com;

    ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/certs/gerrit.example.com.crt;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/private/gerrit.example.com.key;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://gerrit_backend;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;
    }
}

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName gerrit.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://gerrit.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName gerrit.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/gerrit.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/gerrit.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:8080/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:8080/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend gerrit_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/gerrit.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend gerrit_backend

backend gerrit_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server gerrit1 127.0.0.1:8080 check

bash

# Set appropriate permissions
sudo chown -R gerrit:gerrit /etc/gerrit
sudo chmod 750 /etc/gerrit

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=8080/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Enable SELinux policies (if applicable)
sudo setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect on

See official documentation for database configuration requirements.

bash

# Basic system tuning
echo 'net.core.somaxconn = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
echo 'net.ipv4.tcp_max_syn_backlog = 65535' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

bash

# Check service status
sudo systemctl status gerrit

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u gerrit -f

# Monitor resource usage
top -p $(pgrep gerrit)

bash

#!/bin/bash
# Basic backup script
BACKUP_DIR="/backup/gerrit"
DATE=$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)

mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
tar -czf "$BACKUP_DIR/gerrit-backup-$DATE.tar.gz" /etc/gerrit /var/lib/gerrit

echo "Backup completed: $BACKUP_DIR/gerrit-backup-$DATE.tar.gz"

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop gerrit

# Restore from backup
tar -xzf /backup/gerrit/gerrit-backup-*.tar.gz -C /

# Start service
sudo systemctl start gerrit

1. Service won't start:

bash

# Check logs
sudo journalctl -u gerrit -n 100
sudo tail -f /var/log/gerrit/gerrit.log

# Check configuration
gerrit --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/gerrit

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 8080

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 8080

# Check firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --list-all

3. Performance issues:

bash

# Check resource usage
top -p $(pgrep gerrit)

# Check disk I/O
iotop -p $(pgrep gerrit)

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 8080

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  gerrit:
    image: gerrit:latest
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/gerrit
      - ./data:/var/lib/gerrit
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

# RHEL/CentOS/Rocky/AlmaLinux
sudo dnf update gerrit

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade gerrit

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu gerrit

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade gerrit

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update gerrit

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade gerrit

# Always backup before updates
tar -czf /backup/gerrit-pre-update-$(date +%Y%m%d).tar.gz /etc/gerrit

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart gerrit

Regular Maintenance

bash

# Log rotation
sudo logrotate -f /etc/logrotate.d/gerrit

# Clean old logs
find /var/log/gerrit -name "*.log" -mtime +30 -delete

# Check disk usage
du -sh /var/lib/gerrit

Official Documentation: https://docs.gerrit.org/

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/gerrit/gerrit

Community Forum: https://forum.gerrit.org/

Best Practices Guide: https://docs.gerrit.org/best-practices

---

Note: This guide is part of the HowToMgr collection. Always refer to official documentation for the most up-to-date information.

1. Prerequisites

2. Supported Operating Systems

3. Installation

RHEL/CentOS/Rocky Linux/AlmaLinux

Debian/Ubuntu

Arch Linux

Alpine Linux

openSUSE/SLES

macOS

FreeBSD

Windows

Initial Configuration

Basic Configuration

5. Service Management

systemd (RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, openSUSE)

OpenRC (Alpine Linux)

rc.d (FreeBSD)

launchd (macOS)

Windows Service Manager

Advanced Configuration

Reverse Proxy Setup

nginx Configuration

Apache Configuration

HAProxy Configuration

Security Configuration

Basic Security Setup

Database Setup

Performance Optimization

System Tuning

Monitoring

Basic Monitoring

9. Backup and Restore

Backup Script

Restore Procedure

6. Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Integration Examples

Docker Compose Example

Maintenance

Update Procedures

Regular Maintenance

Additional Resources

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