gitolite Installation Guide Installation Guide

gitolite is a free and open-source Git repository hosting. Gitolite provides fine-grained access control for Git repositories

Hardware Requirements:

CPU: 1 core minimum

RAM: 256MB minimum

Storage: 1GB for repos

Network: 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 22 (default gitolite port)

Git protocol 9418

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 gitolite
sudo dnf install -y gitolite

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

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=22/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
gitolite --version

bash

# Update package index
sudo apt update

# Install gitolite
sudo apt install -y gitolite

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

# Configure firewall
sudo ufw allow 22

# Verify installation
gitolite --version

bash

# Install gitolite
sudo pacman -S gitolite

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

# Verify installation
gitolite --version

bash

# Install gitolite
apk add --no-cache gitolite

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

# Verify installation
gitolite --version

bash

# Install gitolite
sudo zypper install -y gitolite

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

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=22/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

# Verify installation
gitolite --version

bash

# Using Homebrew
brew install gitolite

# Start service
brew services start gitolite

# Verify installation
gitolite --version

bash

# Using pkg
pkg install gitolite

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

# Start service
service gitolite start

# Verify installation
gitolite --version

bash

# Using Chocolatey
choco install gitolite

# Or using Scoop
scoop install gitolite

# Verify installation
gitolite --version

bash

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

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

# Test configuration
gitolite --version

bash

# Enable service
sudo systemctl enable gitolite

# Start service
sudo systemctl start gitolite

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop gitolite

# Restart service
sudo systemctl restart gitolite

# Check status
sudo systemctl status gitolite

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u gitolite -f

bash

# Enable service
rc-update add gitolite default

# Start service
rc-service gitolite start

# Stop service
rc-service gitolite stop

# Restart service
rc-service gitolite restart

# Check status
rc-service gitolite status

bash

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

# Start service
service gitolite start

# Stop service
service gitolite stop

# Restart service
service gitolite restart

# Check status
service gitolite status

bash

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

# Check status
brew services list | grep gitolite

powershell

# Start service
net start gitolite

# Stop service
net stop gitolite

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

# Check status
Get-Service gitolite

See the official documentation for advanced configuration options.

nginx

upstream gitolite_backend {
    server 127.0.0.1:22;
}

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

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

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

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://gitolite_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 gitolite.example.com
    Redirect permanent / https://gitolite.example.com/
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName gitolite.example.com
    
    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/gitolite.example.com.crt
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/gitolite.example.com.key
    
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPreserveHost On
    
    ProxyPass / http://127.0.0.1:22/
    ProxyPassReverse / http://127.0.0.1:22/
</VirtualHost>

haproxy

frontend gitolite_frontend
    bind *:80
    bind *:443 ssl crt /etc/ssl/certs/gitolite.pem
    redirect scheme https if !{ ssl_fc }
    default_backend gitolite_backend

backend gitolite_backend
    balance roundrobin
    server gitolite1 127.0.0.1:22 check

bash

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

# Configure firewall
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=22/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 gitolite

# View logs
sudo journalctl -u gitolite -f

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

bash

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

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

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

bash

# Stop service
sudo systemctl stop gitolite

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

# Start service
sudo systemctl start gitolite

1. Service won't start:

bash

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

# Check configuration
gitolite --version

# Check permissions
ls -la /etc/gitolite

2. Connection issues:

bash

# Check if service is listening
sudo ss -tlnp | grep 22

# Test connectivity
telnet localhost 22

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

3. Performance issues:

bash

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

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

# Check connections
ss -an | grep 22

yaml

version: '3.8'
services:
  gitolite:
    image: gitolite:latest
    ports:
      - "22:22"
    volumes:
      - ./config:/etc/gitolite
      - ./data:/var/lib/gitolite
    restart: unless-stopped

Maintenance

bash

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

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

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -Syu gitolite

# Alpine Linux
apk update && apk upgrade gitolite

# openSUSE
sudo zypper update gitolite

# FreeBSD
pkg update && pkg upgrade gitolite

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

# Restart after updates
sudo systemctl restart gitolite

Regular Maintenance

bash

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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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