Installing GitLab

GitLab is a software development platform with wiki, issue tracking, code review, continuous integration and deployment…

It is possible to install it in Private Cloud - dedicated and Gold servers, here are the steps to follow.

PostgreSQL and Redis must be installed on the server. If it’s not the case, contact the support.

The installation must be done on an empty account. We consider the following information for our example:

  • Account name: foobar
  • Ruby version: 2.7
  • Node.js version: 14.17

GitLab needs these versions which must be defined in the Environment menu.

Installation

  1. Create the PostgreSQL database in the menu Databases > PostgreSQL and enable pg_trgm and btree_gist extensions.

  2. If you are using a RAM limit of less than 10 GB, increase it in the Advanced > Resources menu.

  3. Launch the following commands in SSH at the root of the account:

npm install --global yarn

git clone https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly.git -b 14-4-stable gitaly
cd gitaly/
mkdir ~/local
make git GIT_PREFIX=~/local/
export PATH=~/local/bin/:$PATH
cd
rm -fr ~/gitaly

git clone https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss.git -b 14-4-stable gitlab
cd gitlab/

cp config/gitlab.yml.example config/gitlab.yml
sed -i "s,/home/git/,/home/$(whoami)/,g" config/gitlab.yml
sed -i "s,# user: git,user: $(whoami)," config/gitlab.yml
sed -i "s,bin_path: /usr/bin/git,bin_path: /home/$(whoami)/local/bin/git," config/gitlab.yml

File modification - config/gitlab.yml

nano config/gitlab.yml

In the production > gitlab section change:

  • the host: localhost string to fill in the desired address of the GitLab site. This can be for example the account address: foobar.alwaysdata.net.
  • the email paragraph with the desired email information. For example:
email_from: foobar@alwaysdata.net
email_reply_to: foobar@alwaysdata.net
cp config/secrets.yml.example config/secrets.yml
chmod 0600 config/secrets.yml
mkdir -p public/uploads
chmod 0700 public/uploads

cp config/puma.rb.example config/puma.rb
sed -i "s,/home/git/,/home/$(whoami)/,g" config/puma.rb

git config --global gc.auto 0
git config --global repack.writeBitmaps true
git config --global receive.advertisePushOptions true
git config --global core.fsyncObjectFiles true

cp config/resque.yml.example config/resque.yml

cp config/database.yml.postgresql config/database.yml

File modification - config/database.yml

nano config/database.yml

Replace the database, username , host and password keys and the first section (production) with those of your account. Example:

database: foobar_gitlab
username: foobar
password: "its password"
host: postgresql-foobar.alwaysdata.net

The database is the one created earlier in this guide.

bundle config set --local deployment 'true'
bundle config set --local without 'development test mysql aws kerberos'
bundle install

bundle exec rake gitlab:shell:install RAILS_ENV=production

bundle exec rake "gitlab:workhorse:install[/home/$(whoami)/gitlab-workhorse]" RAILS_ENV=production

cd
git clone https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-pages.git
cd gitlab-pages
git checkout v$(<~/gitlab/GITLAB_PAGES_VERSION)
make

cd ~/gitlab
bundle exec rake "gitlab:gitaly:install[/home/$(whoami)/gitaly,/home/$(whoami)/repositories]" RAILS_ENV=production
~/gitlab/bin/daemon_with_pidfile ~/gitlab/tmp/pids/gitaly.pid ~/gitaly/_build/bin/gitaly ~/gitaly/config.toml >> ~/gitlab/log/gitaly.log 2>&1 &

bundle exec rake gitlab:db:configure RAILS_ENV=production

cp lib/support/init.d/gitlab ~/init
cp lib/support/init.d/gitlab.default.example ~/default
sed -i "s,/etc/default/gitlab,~/default,g" ~/init
sed -i 's,^exit$,[ "$2" = "-f" ] \&\& sleep infinity,g' ~/init
sed -i "s,app_user=\"git\",app_user=\"$(whoami)\"," ~/default
sed -i 's,-listenNetwork unix -listenAddr $socket_path/gitlab-workhorse.socket,-listenNetwork tcp -listenAddr [::]:8100,' ~/default

bundle exec rake gettext:compile RAILS_ENV=production
yarn install --production --pure-lockfile

bundle exec rake gitlab:assets:compile RAILS_ENV=production NODE_ENV=production

It is this last command that requires a significant amount of RAM. The amount needed depends on the number of cores and it may be necessary to increase it if you encounter errors at this stage.

Service creation

Create a service with the following details:

  • Name: GitLab
  • Command: ~/init restart -f

Website creation

Create a website with the following details:

  • Name: GitLab
  • Type: User program
  • Addresses: the address specified in the config.yml file - In our example foobar.alwaysdata.net
  • Command: true

This site must listen on port 8100, check in the explanatory text of the Command field. This is normally the case, since it is the only site.

Note

The default account’s username is root. You will choose its password at the first website connection and will be able to change the username afterwards.