Support for git, the distributed version control system

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  • ZYV
    Senior Member
    • Sep 2005
    • 315

    Support for git, the distributed version control system

    Hi!

    I am looking for Dathorn to supporting git on their servers. I guess I don't have to introduce the system since everybody knows about its unique advantages and spend everybody's time praising its speed, flexibility etc.

    The deal is that it's not supported at the moment. What I mean by support is that the git client and tools are not installed on the servers. Of course, it is still possible to mount a Dathorn account as sshfs and do clones from there, but you can't init and clone the repositories on the server side. Another major inconvenience is that if I manually install gitweb for an account it will simply not work, because git command-line utilities are missing.

    I am not sure whether it is possible to provide us with a way of running git-daemon to make things easy, but having the utilities installed will be already of huge help, because then, not only the repos can be trivially served over HTTP, but also it would be possible to install a local instance of gitweb.

    By the way, it is possible to grant commit rights via WebDAV, so if there are any plans to make WebDAV available, then git-daemon really becomes unnecessary.

    The backported Fedora git packages for RHEL are available here: http://jupiterrise.com/blog/jrpms/ . EPEL packages are an option, although they suck. We are working into getting good packages into RPMForge, but it's yet unclear when this will happen.

    To summarize, I think that initial support for git will not practically cost anything but will be of great benefit for the customers. Why wouldn't we give it a whirl?

    Thanks.
  • ZYV
    Senior Member
    • Sep 2005
    • 315

    #2
    It might be that my post was in a way misleading: somehow you might have got an impression that it is not possible to provide write access to the repository without having some special support for git, such as git-daemon or DAV.

    This is not true. Plain SSH protocol would still do the trick, and you can add users by adding more keys to a specifically designated cPanel account for your git repo(s).



    So, basically, all we need at this point are command-line client utilities

    Comment

    • AndrewT
      Administrator
      • Mar 2004
      • 3653

      #3
      Sorry, I'm afraid we do not have any immediate plans to offer this on our servers. If you are interested I can compile the source on the server for you so that you have built binaries that can be used from within your own account. However, you'll be limited to use over SSH.

      Comment

      • ZYV
        Senior Member
        • Sep 2005
        • 315

        #4
        Hi!

        Thanks for the offer, but I have already compiled the binaries on my own and it works quite well I suspect that some opaque stuff such as git-svn or git-cvs bridges are broken, but who needs them on a server anyway...

        My point was, of course, that it is easier for the users to have a proper package installed server-wide so that I won't have to update the stuff manually when a new version comes out. I guess you did exactly this with the svn client to make people's life easier.

        However, it's up to you. It might very well be the case that there are some reasons why our packages can not be used that I am not aware of. Also, I am not sure of how big is the demand for git. One of the reasons to post this thread was to find out whether anybody else apart from me is interested or not.

        Thanks!

        --Z.

        Comment

        • AndrewT
          Administrator
          • Mar 2004
          • 3653

          #5
          I've never been a fan of using 3rd party repositories or packages. IMO, installing from source is usually trivial and a bit safer. The main issue is that there is little demand for this yet the work required to install, maintain, and support the software is obviously there. As for VCS hosting itself, that is not something that we currently want to get into. There are plenty of free and cheap providers that specialize in offering this alone.

          Comment

          • ZYV
            Senior Member
            • Sep 2005
            • 315

            #6
            I didn't imply that you have to use or rely on any third-party repository, it's just that you don't have to build a package from scratch, but rather can use freely published and regularly updated SPEC files and reshape them to suit your needs

            Hats off for installing stuff from source, considering the number of machines, that you have to manage We always create an infrastructure repository into which the packages that we build or those from trusted third-parties are cherry-picked and the racks are updated from there.

            It's true that github is out there for Open Source stuff, but it's a bit counter-intuitive to pay for private repositories if you can get it for free with some DIY

            Let's put it this way then. Whomever wants git please post in this thread If you have any questions on how to get it running on Dathorn I would try to clear this up.

            Comment

            • icycle
              Junior Member
              • Apr 2004
              • 15

              #7
              Originally posted by ZYV
              ...it's a bit counter-intuitive to pay for private repositories if you can get it for free with some DIY

              Let's put it this way then. Whomever wants git please post in this thread If you have any questions on how to get it running on Dathorn I would try to clear this up.
              ZYV, I am a Dathorn customer looking to host a git repo. If you're still around I'd welcome some instructions.
              thanks!

              Comment

              • ZYV
                Senior Member
                • Sep 2005
                • 315

                #8
                Hi,

                Basically, all you need is git installed in your home directory and put it on your PATH. There is no compiler available on the servers, so you have to compile on an identical system and upload the binaries, or ask Andrew for assistance. Having that done, you can use git+ssh transport to host repositories on your account.

                HTH.

                Comment

                • icycle
                  Junior Member
                  • Apr 2004
                  • 15

                  #9
                  Thanks. The first thing I thought of when I read your reply was the issue of one ssh user and how that impacts the model I'd like to adopt, which is to have a git repo(s) shared amongst a small group. Some googling showed me gitolite:

                  which solves this very problem and allows mapping of specific ssh keys to unique "virtual" usernames for git authorization purposes.

                  I'll be looking into this soon.
                  Thanks again.

                  Comment

                  • ZYV
                    Senior Member
                    • Sep 2005
                    • 315

                    #10
                    Hi,

                    Yes, I'm using gitolite on my servers with great success, but on Dathorn I'm only using git for publishing with my single public key. If you want to go the gitolite road, I would recommend you dedicating the whole cPanel account to git hosting (you can create accounts as subdomains, by the way, like git.yoursite.com), because gitolite doesn't particularly like it when you mix up git and shell accounts. Then, you can also set up gitweb integration without too much trouble...

                    Z.

                    Comment

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