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gitolite files and directories#

directories#

Gitolite creates and uses the following files and directories:

  • ~/repositories -- the actual (bare) repositories are here
  • ~/.gitolite.rc -- configuration parameters that must be done directly on the server
  • ~/.gitolite -- gitolite's "working" directory. This contains everything else that gitolite needs. (Warning: you're not supposed to fiddle with the files and directories within; instead, make changes in a clone of the gitolite-admin repository and push, and those appear magically here).

Once the install/setup is done, any (or all) of these may be moved elsewhere and replaced by symlinks. The most common reason for locating ~/repositories somewhere else is disk space, but FHS compliance could also be a reason.

In addition, the following are of interest:

  • ~/.ssh -- if you're using ssh (as opposed to http), since this is where the authorized_keys file is kept

special files#

You may want to backup the contents of ~/.gitolite/logs if you care about auditability etc.

inside a "gitolite repo"#

A gitolite repo is just like a normal bare repo on any normal git server. There are a few extra files placed in the repo directory whose names start with "gl-", and there is also an update hook placed in the hooks subdirectory, but that's about it, for the most part.

In other words, you can treat a gitolite-managed repo just like any other bare repo as long as you leave those files alone.

gitolite software#

The above list does not include the gitolite software itself.

Gitolite offers you 3 ways to install software. After cloning the gitolite sources, run the install command in it with a -h argument to see what they are. Where the actual software is found depends on that.