Using cgit

This is the last post in a three part series about cgit. Previously we saw how to install and configure cgit and then we saw how to make cgit pretty. This last post has to do with actually using cgit.

There are a couple of tools out there to make the process of adding, removing, and modifying git repositories within cgit much simpler but we will focus here on how to do it manually and I will leave it up to you to decide which tools works best for you. cgit does not impose any special requirements for adding, removing, or modifying repositories so the entire process is based around core git functionality.

Below is a workflow that works well for me.

Creating a Git User

Creating a git user that has access to /srv/git just makes good sense. To add a new user in Debian you will need to run the following commands and follow the on screen instructions to complete this process.

adduser git

Adding your public key

In order to authenticate to the server and work with git it is good to add your public key to avoid working with passwords.

If you do not already have a key, go ahead and create one on your local machine.

ssh-keygen -b 8192

Follow the on screen instructions, and be sure to add a password to this key! Once you have create this key, copy the public key over to your git server under the git users .ssh/authorized_keys file.

scp $USER/.ssh/id_rsa.pub [email protected]:/home/git/.ssh/authorized_keys

Creating a new repository

Log into the git server as the git user and create a bare repository

cd /srv/git
mkdir myrepo.git
cd myrepo.git
git init --bare

Push to the new repository

On your local computer

mkdir myrepo
cd myrepo
git init
echo "My Awesome Repo" >> README.md
git add README.md
git commit -m 'initial commit'
git remote add origin [email protected]:/srv/git/myrepo.git
git push origin master

Add the new repository to cgit

Now that your repository is on your server, you can add it cgit by editing /etc/cgitrc and adding it as we did before.

repo.url = myrepo
repo.path = /srv/git/myrepo.git
repo.desc = My Awesome Repo
repo.owner = Your Name

You are all set! Now you will see the new repo and any future changes inside of cgit as well as being able to hack away with git as you normally would.

If you made it this far, you should probably follow me on twitter. 🙂 Follow @levlaz