# rare or one-time activities

## #existing moving existing repos into gitolite

On the server:

  * Move the repos to `$HOME/repositories`.

  * Make sure that:

      * They are all *bare* repos.
      * All the repo names end in ".git".
      * All the files and directories are owned and writable by the gitolite
        hosting user (especially true if you copied them as root).

  * Run `gitolite setup`.  **If you forget this step, you can also forget
    about write access control!**

Back on your workstation:

  * [Add them][repos] to conf/gitolite.conf in your clone of the admin repo,
    then commit and push the change.

    If the repos are already covered by some [wild][] pattern, this is
    optional.

## #moving moving servers

This is adapted from the "migrating" section of the [install][] page; if
you're actually *migrating* from g2 please go there!

Nothing in any of the gitolite install/setup/etc will ever touch the *data* in
any repository except the gitolite-admin repo.  The only thing it will
normally touch is the `update` hook.  So one fool-proof way of "moving"
servers is this (untested but should work; feedback appreciated):

1.  Install gitolite on the new server, using the same key for the admin as
    for the old server.

2.  Copy the [rc][] file from the old server, overwriting this one.

3.  [Disable][writable] the old server so people won't push to it.

4.  Copy all the repos over from the old server, including gitolite-admin.
    Make sure the files end up with the right ownership and permissions; if
    not, chown/chmod them.

5.  Run `gitolite setup`.

6.  On a clone of the old gitolite-admin, add a new remote (or change an
    existing one) to point to the new server.  Then `git push -f` to this
    remote.