Documentation / git-http-backend.txton commit http-backend: reword some documentation (b9af4ab)
   1git-http-backend(1)
   2===================
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-http-backend - Server side implementation of Git over HTTP
   7
   8SYNOPSIS
   9--------
  10[verse]
  11'git-http-backend'
  12
  13DESCRIPTION
  14-----------
  15A simple CGI program to serve the contents of a Git repository to Git
  16clients accessing the repository over http:// and https:// protocols.
  17The program supports clients fetching using both the smart HTTP protcol
  18and the backwards-compatible dumb HTTP protocol, as well as clients
  19pushing using the smart HTTP protocol.
  20
  21By default, only the `upload-pack` service is enabled, which serves
  22'git-fetch-pack' and 'git-ls-remote' clients, which are invoked from
  23'git-fetch', 'git-pull', and 'git-clone'.  If the client is authenticated,
  24the `receive-pack` service is enabled, which serves 'git-send-pack'
  25clients, which is invoked from 'git-push'.
  26
  27SERVICES
  28--------
  29These services can be enabled/disabled using the per-repository
  30configuration file:
  31
  32http.uploadpack::
  33        This serves 'git-fetch-pack' and 'git-ls-remote' clients.
  34        It is enabled by default, but a repository can disable it
  35        by setting this configuration item to `false`.
  36
  37http.receivepack::
  38        This serves 'git-send-pack' clients, allowing push.  It is
  39        disabled by default for anonymous users, and enabled by
  40        default for users authenticated by the web server.  It can be
  41        disabled by setting this item to `false`, or enabled for all
  42        users, including anonymous users, by setting it to `true`.
  43
  44URL TRANSLATION
  45---------------
  46To determine the location of the repository on disk, 'git-http-backend'
  47concatenates the environment variables PATH_INFO, which is set
  48automatically by the web server, and GIT_PROJECT_ROOT, which must be set
  49manually in the web server configuration.  If GIT_PROJECT_ROOT is not
  50set, 'git-http-backend' reads PATH_TRANSLATED, which is also set
  51automatically by the web server.
  52
  53EXAMPLES
  54--------
  55All of the following examples map 'http://$hostname/git/foo/bar.git'
  56to '/var/www/git/foo/bar.git'.
  57
  58Apache 2.x::
  59        Ensure mod_cgi, mod_alias, and mod_env are enabled, set
  60        GIT_PROJECT_ROOT (or DocumentRoot) appropriately, and
  61        create a ScriptAlias to the CGI:
  62+
  63----------------------------------------------------------------
  64SetEnv GIT_PROJECT_ROOT /var/www/git
  65ScriptAlias /git/ /usr/libexec/git-core/git-http-backend/
  66----------------------------------------------------------------
  67+
  68To enable anonymous read access but authenticated write access,
  69require authorization with a LocationMatch directive:
  70+
  71----------------------------------------------------------------
  72<LocationMatch ".*/git-receive-pack$">
  73        AuthType Basic
  74        AuthName "Git Access"
  75        Require group committers
  76        ...
  77</LocationMatch>
  78----------------------------------------------------------------
  79+
  80To require authentication for both reads and writes, use a Location
  81directive around the repository, or one of its parent directories:
  82+
  83----------------------------------------------------------------
  84<Location /git/private>
  85        AuthType Basic
  86        AuthName "Private Git Access"
  87        Require group committers
  88        ...
  89</Location>
  90----------------------------------------------------------------
  91
  92Accelerated static Apache 2.x::
  93        Similar to the above, but Apache can be used to return static
  94        files that are stored on disk.  On many systems this may
  95        be more efficient as Apache can ask the kernel to copy the
  96        file contents from the file system directly to the network:
  97+
  98----------------------------------------------------------------
  99SetEnv GIT_PROJECT_ROOT /var/www/git
 100
 101ScriptAlias /git/        /usr/libexec/git-core/git-http-backend/
 102Alias       /git_static/ /var/www/git/
 103
 104RewriteEngine on
 105RewriteRule ^/git/(.*/objects/[0-9a-f]{2}/[0-9a-f]{38})$    /git_static/$1 [PT]
 106RewriteRule ^/git/(.*/objects/pack/pack-[0-9a-f]{40}.pack)$ /git_static/$1 [PT]
 107RewriteRule ^/git/(.*/objects/pack/pack-[0-9a-f]{40}.idx)$  /git_static/$1 [PT]
 108----------------------------------------------------------------
 109
 110
 111ENVIRONMENT
 112-----------
 113'git-http-backend' relies upon the CGI environment variables set
 114by the invoking web server, including:
 115
 116* PATH_INFO (if GIT_PROJECT_ROOT is set, otherwise PATH_TRANSLATED)
 117* REMOTE_USER
 118* REMOTE_ADDR
 119* CONTENT_TYPE
 120* QUERY_STRING
 121* REQUEST_METHOD
 122
 123The backend process sets GIT_COMMITTER_NAME to '$REMOTE_USER' and
 124GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL to '$\{REMOTE_USER}@http.$\{REMOTE_ADDR\}',
 125ensuring that any reflogs created by 'git-receive-pack' contain some
 126identifying information of the remote user who performed the push.
 127
 128All CGI environment variables are available to each of the hooks
 129invoked by the 'git-receive-pack'.
 130
 131Author
 132------
 133Written by Shawn O. Pearce <spearce@spearce.org>.
 134
 135Documentation
 136--------------
 137Documentation by Shawn O. Pearce <spearce@spearce.org>.
 138
 139GIT
 140---
 141Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite