gitolite/doc/http-backend.mkd
2010-09-08 19:34:38 +05:30

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# how to setup gitolite to use smart http mode
In this document:
* <a href="#_WARNINGS_plus_stuff_I_need_help_with">WARNINGS, plus stuff I need help with</a>
* <a href="#_additional_requirements">additional requirements</a>
* <a href="#_detailed_instructions">detailed instructions</a>
* <a href="#_install_gitolite_under_apache_">install gitolite under "apache"</a>
* <a href="#_setup_the_http_backend">setup the http-backend</a>
* <a href="#_usage">usage</a>
----
<a name="_WARNINGS_plus_stuff_I_need_help_with"></a>
### WARNINGS, plus stuff I need help with
* I have NOT converted the test suite to use this mode. Volunteers to
convert it to http access are welcome :-)
* I have no idea how to handle the password issue other than creating a
`~/.netrc` file and making it `chmod 600`. Anyway, http based access is
inherently less secure than pubkeys so not much point worrying about it.
* I have not tested any of the ancillary standalone programs (like
gl-dont-panic) in this mode. They're most likely going to crash and burn
because `$HOME` is not defined or in the wrong place; manually set
`HOME=$GITOLITE_HTTP_HOME` and hope for the best. Luckily most of them
have to do with sshkeys so this may not matter. YMMV.
* tested on stock Fedora 13; if you test on other environments please let me
know how it worked out and if we need to adjust this document
* tested https with dummy certs and `GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY`; no reason why it
shouldn't work on a proper setup with everything in place
* have not tried making repos available to both ssh *and* http mode clients;
(I'd guess it ought to work fine if the "apache" user was made login-able
and given a proper $HOME and `~/.ssh/authorized_keys` and all that). If
anyone has the energy to try that please let me know how that went.
<a name="_additional_requirements"></a>
### additional requirements
* requires `GIT_PROJECT_ROOT` (see "man git-http-backend" for what this is)
set explicitly (i.e., it is no longer optional). Please set it to some
place outside apache's `DOCUMENT_ROOT`.
<a name="_detailed_instructions"></a>
### detailed instructions
I assume you've installed apache 2.x and git on the server.
I assume your httpd runs under the "apache" userid; adjust instructions below
if it does not. Similarly for "/var/www" and other file names/locations.
<a name="_install_gitolite_under_apache_"></a>
#### install gitolite under "apache"
* follow the "non-root" method, but since you can't even "su - apache", make
the following variations when doing this as root:
* `cd ~apache` first; this is `/var/www` on Fedora 13
* do this in the shell
mkdir gitolite-home
export GITOLITE_HTTP_HOME
GITOLITE_HTTP_HOME=/var/www/gitolite-home
PATH=$PATH:$GITOLITE_HTTP_HOME/bin
* now run the first 3 install steps for "non-root" method (clone, mkdir,
and gl-system-install), but **substitute `GITOLITE_HTTP_HOME` in place of
`HOME`** in the mkdir and gl-system-install steps.
**Do NOT run the gl-setup step yet**.
* after the gl-system-install step, add these to the **top** of
/var/www/gitolite-home/share/gitolite/conf/example.gitolite.rc
$ENV{GIT_HTTP_BACKEND} = "/usr/libexec/git-core/git-http-backend";
# or wherever you have that file; not NO trailing slash
$ENV{PATH} .= ":$ENV{GITOLITE_HTTP_HOME}/bin";
# note the ".=" here, not "="
* run gl-setup with the name of your admin user
gl-setup sitaram
* IMPORTANT: fix up ownerships
chown -R apache.apache $GITOLITE_HTTP_HOME
<a name="_setup_the_http_backend"></a>
#### setup the http-backend
* when you setup the apache config according to "man git-http-backend",
change these two as below (please note the trailing slash on the
ScriptAlias line):
SetEnv GIT_PROJECT_ROOT /var/www/gitolite-home/repositories
ScriptAlias /git/ /var/www/gitolite-home/bin/gl-auth-command/
You also need this new variable:
SetEnv GITOLITE_HTTP_HOME /var/www/gitolite-home
And that's it... you're done for the setup!
<a name="_usage"></a>
### usage
Git URLs look like `http://user:password@server/git/reponame.git`.
The custom commands, like "info", "expand" should be handled as follows. The
command name will come just after the `/git/`, followed by a `?`, followed by
the arguments, with `+` representing a space. Here are some examples:
# ssh git@server info
curl http://user:password@server/git/info
# ssh git@server info repopatt
curl http://user:password@server/git/info?repopatt
# ssh git@server info repopatt user1 user2
curl http://user:password@server/git/info?repopatt+user1+user2
It gets even more interesting for the `setperms` command, which expects STDIN.
I didn't want to get too much into the code here, so I found that the
following works and I'm leaving it at that:
(echo R user1 user2; echo RW user3 user4) |
curl --data-binary @- http://user:password@server/git/setperms?reponame.git
With a few nice shell aliases, you won't even notice the horrible convolutions
here ;-)
Enjoy!