c54d3eabbc
You can now add your own hooks into src/hooks/ and they get propagated
along with the update hook that is present there now. Please read the
new section in the admin document, and make sure you understand the
security implications of accidentally fiddling with the "update" script.
This also prompted a major rename spree of all the files to be
consistent, etc. Plus people said that the .sh and .pl suffixes should
be avoided (and I was feeling the same way). I've also been
inconsistent with that "gl-" prefix, so I cleaned that up, and the 00-
and 99- were also funny animals.
Time to get all this cleaned up before we get 1.0 :)
So these are the changes, in case you're looking at just the commit
message and not the diffstat:
src/pta-hook.sh -> src/ga-post-update-hook
src/conf-convert.pl -> src/gl-conf-convert
src/00-easy-install.sh -> src/gl-easy-install
src/99-emergency-addkey.sh -> src/gl-emergency-addkey
src/install.pl -> src/gl-install
src/update-hook.pl -> src/hooks/update
|
||
|---|---|---|
| conf | ||
| doc | ||
| src | ||
| .gitignore | ||
| Makefile | ||
| README.mkd | ||
gitolite
[Update 2009-10-28: apart from all the nifty new features, there's now an "easy install" script in the src directory. This script can be used to install as well as upgrade a gitolite install. Please see the INSTALL document in the doc directory for details]
Gitolite is a rewrite of gitosis, with a completely different config file that allows (at last!) access control down to the branch level, including specifying who can and cannot rewind a given branch.
In this document:
- what
- why
- extra features
- security
- contact and license
what
Gitolite allows a server to host many git repositories and provide access to
many developers, without having to give them real userids on the server. The
essential magic in doing this is ssh's pubkey access and the authorized_keys
file, and the inspiration was an older program called gitosis.
Gitolite can restrict who can read from (clone/fetch) or write to (push) a
repository. It can also restrict who can push to what branch or tag, which is
very important in a corporate environment. Gitolite can be installed without
requiring root permissions, and with no additional software than git itself
and perl. It also has several other neat features described below and
elsewhere in the doc/ directory.
why
I have been using gitosis for a while, and have learnt a lot from it. But in a typical $DAYJOB setting, there are some issues:
- it's not always Linux; you can't just "urpmi gitosis" (or yum or apt-get) and be done
- often, "python-setuptools" isn't installed (and on a Solaris9 I was trying to help remotely, we never did manage to install it eventually)
- you don't have root access, or the ability to add users (this is also true for people who have just one userid on a hosting provider)
- the most requested feature (see below) had to be written anyway
All of this pointed to a rewrite. In perl, naturally :-)
extra features
The most important feature I needed was per-branch permissions. This is pretty much mandatory in a corporate environment, and is almost the single reason I started thinking about rolling my own gitosis in the first place.
It's not just "read-only" versus "read-write". Rewinding a branch (aka "non
fast forward push") is potentially dangerous, but sometimes needed. So is
deleting a branch (which is really just an extreme form of rewind). I needed
something in between allowing anyone to do it (the default) and disabling it
completely (receive.denyNonFastForwards or receive.denyDeletes).
Here're some more features. All of them, and more, are documented in detail here.
- simpler, yet far more powerful, config file syntax, including specifying gitweb/daemon access. You'll need this power if you manage lots of users+repos+combinations of access
- config file syntax gets checked upfront, and much more thoroughly
- if your requirements are still too complex, you can split up the config file and delegate authority over parts of it
- easier to specify gitweb/daemon access, and easier to link gitweb authorisation with gitolite
- more comprehensive logging [aka: management does not think "blame" is just a synonym for "annotate" :-)]
- "personal namespace" prefix for each dev
- migration guide and simple converter for gitosis conf file
- "exclude" (or "deny") rights in the config file -- this is the "rebel" branch in the repository, and always will be ;-)
security
Due to the environment in which this was created and the need it fills, I consider this a "security" program, albeit a very modest one. The code is very small and easily reviewable -- the 2 programs that actually control access when a user logs in total about 220 lines of code (about 90 lines according to "sloccount").
For the first person to find a security hole in it, defined as allowing a normal user (not the gitolite admin) to read a repo, or write/rewind a ref, that the config file says he shouldn't, and caused by a bug in code that is in the "master" branch, (not in the other branches, or the configuration file or in Unix, perl, shell, etc.)... well I can't afford 1000 USD rewards like djb, so you'll have to settle for 1000 INR (Indian Rupees) as a "token" prize :-)
contact and license
Gitolite is released under GPL v2. See COPYING for details.