# gitolite triggers

## intro and sample rc excerpt

Gitolite fires off external commands at six different times.  The [rc][] file
specifies what commands to run at each trigger point, but for illustration,
here's an excerpt:

    %RC = (

        <...several lines later...>

        # comment out or uncomment as needed
        # these will run in sequence after post-update
        POST_COMPILE                =>
            [
                'post-compile/ssh-authkeys',
                'post-compile/update-git-configs',
                'post-compile/update-gitweb-access-list',
                'post-compile/update-git-daemon-access-list',
            ],

        # comment out or uncomment as needed
        # these will run in sequence after a new wild repo is created
        POST_CREATE                 =>
            [
                'post-compile/update-git-configs',
                'post-compile/update-gitweb-access-list',
                'post-compile/update-git-daemon-access-list',
            ],

(As you can see, post-create runs 3 programs that also run from post-compile.
This is perfectly fine, by the way)

## manually firing triggers

...from the server command line is easy.  For example:

    gitolite trigger POST_COMPILE

However if the triggered code depends on arguments (see next section) this
won't work.  (The `POST_COMPILE` trigger programs all just happen to not
require any arguments, so it works).

## common arguments

Triggers receive the following arguments:

1.  any arguments mentioned in the rc file (for an example, see the renice
    command in the PRE_GIT trigger sequence),

2.  the name of the trigger as a string (example, `"POST_COMPILE"`), so you
    can call the same program from multiple triggers and know where it was
    called from,

3.  followed by zero or more arguments specific to the trigger, as given in
    the next section.

## trigger-specific details

Here's all you need to know about each specific trigger.

  * `ACCESS_CHECK`: this fires once after each access check.  The first is
    just before invoking git-receive-pack or git-upload-pack.  The second,
    which only applies to "write" operations, is from git's own 'update' hook.

    Arguments: repo name, user name, [attempted access][perm], the ref being
    updated, and the result of the access check.

    The 'ref' is `any` for the first check, because at that point we don't
    know what the actual ref is.  For the second check it could be, say,
    `refs/heads/master` or some such.

    The result is a text field that the `access()` function returned.
    Programmatically, the only thing you should rely on is that if it contains
    the upper case word "DENIED" then access was denied, otherwise it was
    allowed.

  * `PRE_GIT`: before running the git command.

    Arguments: repo name, user name, [attempted access][perm], the string
    `any`, and the git command ('git-receive-pack', 'git-upload-pack', or
    'git-upload-archive') being invoked.

  * `POST_GIT`: after the git command returns.

    Arguments: same as for `PRE_GIT`, followed by the output of the perl
    function "times" (i.e., 4 CPU times: user, system, cumulative user,
    cumulative system)

  * `POST_COMPILE`: after an admin push has successfully "compiled" the config
    file.  By default, the next thing is to update the ssh authkeys file, then
    all the 'git-config's, gitweb access, and daemon access.

    Programs run by this trigger receive no extra arguments.

  * `PRE_CREATE` and `POST_CREATE`: before and after a new "[wild][]" repo is
    created by user action.

    Arguments: repo name, user name.