git: self-hosted server setup

Prerequisites are git and ssh-server (apt-get install openssh-server).

The installation process is described in the Pro Git book.

Below is the setup process with some comments and updates.

Add the git user and set a password (you will be asked for it):

$ sudo adduser git

Log in as the git user and set up authorized ssh keys:

$ su git
git@localname$ cd ~
git@localname$ mkdir .ssh

For each user who needs access to the server, add the user's public key to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys. To generate a new key pair for the user, use ssh-keygen (see GitHub manual for details).

git@localname$ cat /home/usera/.ssh/id_rsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
git@localname$ cat /home/userb/.ssh/id_rsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Change permissions for the .ssh folder and the authorized_keys file:

git@localname$ chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
git@localname$ chmod 755 ~/.ssh

Make a dir for repositories and init bare repositories:

git@localname$ mkdir ~/server
git@localname$ cd server
git@localname$ mkdir project.git
git@localname$ cd project.git
git@localname$ git --bare init

Security - set git-shell for the git user:

# check where git-shell is
$ which git-shell
/usr/bin/git-shell

# edit /etc/passwd
$ sudo vim /etc/passwd

# find the string for the git user:
git:x:1000:1000::/home/git:/bin/sh
# change the shell for the git user:
git:x:1000:1000::/home/git:/usr/bin/git-shell

On the user side - clone the repository or add a remote to an existing repository:

# clone
$ git clone ssh://git@server.host.name/home/git/server/project.git

# or add a remote
$ cd project
$ git remote add origin ssh://git@server.host.name/home/git/server/project.git

For server.host.name, there are several options:

• if the server has a domain name, just use it
• use the server IP address instead of the host name
• use any host name you like and add it to the local hosts file to map to the IP address

Git already has a script to handle email notifications after a push. Check /usr/share/doc/git/contrib/hooks/post-receive-email for instructions:

$ sudo chmod a+x /usr/share/git-core/contrib/hooks/post-receive-email
$ cd /path/to/your/repository.git
$ ln -sf /usr/share/git-core/contrib/hooks/post-receive-email hooks/post-receive

Configure notifications:

$ cd /path/to/your/repository.git

# who should receive notifications
$ git config hooks.mailinglist "user1@example.com user2@example.com"

# send emails from
$ git config hooks.envelopesender git@myserver.com

# email subject prefix
$ git config hooks.emailprefix "[Git]"

# project name - edit the 'description' file in the git repository folder
$ vim description

The post-receive-email script requires sendmail to work. Below is a description of the sendmail setup process.

Install it:

$ sudo apt-get install sendmail

Check your hosts file - in my case sendmail was incredibly slow, and this was fixed by the following line in /etc/hosts:

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost myhostname <--- order matters!!!

Note that you need to use the same order as above - localhost.localdomain, localhost and then myhostname (replace myhostname with your real host name, check the output of the hostname command).

Send a test email:

$ echo "My test email being sent from sendmail" | /usr/sbin/sendmail myemail@domain.com

If you have problems with emails, check the log: /var/log/mail.log and the error log: /var/log/mail.err.

• gitosis vs gitolite? (and vs simple git server)
• Pro Git: Git on the Server - Setting Up the Server
• git push email notification
• Setting Up Git Commit Email Notifications