Documentation / git-http-backend.txton commit Merge branch 'rr/doc-submitting' (c00cf45)
   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 protocol
  18and the backwards-compatible dumb HTTP protocol, as well as clients
  19pushing using the smart HTTP protocol.
  20
  21It verifies that the directory has the magic file
  22"git-daemon-export-ok", and it will refuse to export any git directory
  23that hasn't explicitly been marked for export this way (unless the
  24GIT_HTTP_EXPORT_ALL environmental variable is set).
  25
  26By default, only the `upload-pack` service is enabled, which serves
  27'git fetch-pack' and 'git ls-remote' clients, which are invoked from
  28'git fetch', 'git pull', and 'git clone'.  If the client is authenticated,
  29the `receive-pack` service is enabled, which serves 'git send-pack'
  30clients, which is invoked from 'git push'.
  31
  32SERVICES
  33--------
  34These services can be enabled/disabled using the per-repository
  35configuration file:
  36
  37http.getanyfile::
  38        This serves Git clients older than version 1.6.6 that are unable to use the
  39        upload pack service.  When enabled, clients are able to read
  40        any file within the repository, including objects that are
  41        no longer reachable from a branch but are still present.
  42        It is enabled by default, but a repository can disable it
  43        by setting this configuration item to `false`.
  44
  45http.uploadpack::
  46        This serves 'git fetch-pack' and 'git ls-remote' clients.
  47        It is enabled by default, but a repository can disable it
  48        by setting this configuration item to `false`.
  49
  50http.receivepack::
  51        This serves 'git send-pack' clients, allowing push.  It is
  52        disabled by default for anonymous users, and enabled by
  53        default for users authenticated by the web server.  It can be
  54        disabled by setting this item to `false`, or enabled for all
  55        users, including anonymous users, by setting it to `true`.
  56
  57URL TRANSLATION
  58---------------
  59To determine the location of the repository on disk, 'git http-backend'
  60concatenates the environment variables PATH_INFO, which is set
  61automatically by the web server, and GIT_PROJECT_ROOT, which must be set
  62manually in the web server configuration.  If GIT_PROJECT_ROOT is not
  63set, 'git http-backend' reads PATH_TRANSLATED, which is also set
  64automatically by the web server.
  65
  66EXAMPLES
  67--------
  68All of the following examples map 'http://$hostname/git/foo/bar.git'
  69to '/var/www/git/foo/bar.git'.
  70
  71Apache 2.x::
  72        Ensure mod_cgi, mod_alias, and mod_env are enabled, set
  73        GIT_PROJECT_ROOT (or DocumentRoot) appropriately, and
  74        create a ScriptAlias to the CGI:
  75+
  76----------------------------------------------------------------
  77SetEnv GIT_PROJECT_ROOT /var/www/git
  78SetEnv GIT_HTTP_EXPORT_ALL
  79ScriptAlias /git/ /usr/libexec/git-core/git-http-backend/
  80----------------------------------------------------------------
  81+
  82To enable anonymous read access but authenticated write access,
  83require authorization with a LocationMatch directive:
  84+
  85----------------------------------------------------------------
  86<LocationMatch "^/git/.*/git-receive-pack$">
  87        AuthType Basic
  88        AuthName "Git Access"
  89        Require group committers
  90        ...
  91</LocationMatch>
  92----------------------------------------------------------------
  93+
  94To require authentication for both reads and writes, use a Location
  95directive around the repository, or one of its parent directories:
  96+
  97----------------------------------------------------------------
  98<Location /git/private>
  99        AuthType Basic
 100        AuthName "Private Git Access"
 101        Require group committers
 102        ...
 103</Location>
 104----------------------------------------------------------------
 105+
 106To serve gitweb at the same url, use a ScriptAliasMatch to only
 107those URLs that 'git http-backend' can handle, and forward the
 108rest to gitweb:
 109+
 110----------------------------------------------------------------
 111ScriptAliasMatch \
 112        "(?x)^/git/(.*/(HEAD | \
 113                        info/refs | \
 114                        objects/(info/[^/]+ | \
 115                                 [0-9a-f]{2}/[0-9a-f]{38} | \
 116                                 pack/pack-[0-9a-f]{40}\.(pack|idx)) | \
 117                        git-(upload|receive)-pack))$" \
 118        /usr/libexec/git-core/git-http-backend/$1
 119
 120ScriptAlias /git/ /var/www/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi/
 121----------------------------------------------------------------
 122
 123Accelerated static Apache 2.x::
 124        Similar to the above, but Apache can be used to return static
 125        files that are stored on disk.  On many systems this may
 126        be more efficient as Apache can ask the kernel to copy the
 127        file contents from the file system directly to the network:
 128+
 129----------------------------------------------------------------
 130SetEnv GIT_PROJECT_ROOT /var/www/git
 131
 132AliasMatch ^/git/(.*/objects/[0-9a-f]{2}/[0-9a-f]{38})$          /var/www/git/$1
 133AliasMatch ^/git/(.*/objects/pack/pack-[0-9a-f]{40}.(pack|idx))$ /var/www/git/$1
 134ScriptAlias /git/ /usr/libexec/git-core/git-http-backend/
 135----------------------------------------------------------------
 136+
 137This can be combined with the gitweb configuration:
 138+
 139----------------------------------------------------------------
 140SetEnv GIT_PROJECT_ROOT /var/www/git
 141
 142AliasMatch ^/git/(.*/objects/[0-9a-f]{2}/[0-9a-f]{38})$          /var/www/git/$1
 143AliasMatch ^/git/(.*/objects/pack/pack-[0-9a-f]{40}.(pack|idx))$ /var/www/git/$1
 144ScriptAliasMatch \
 145        "(?x)^/git/(.*/(HEAD | \
 146                        info/refs | \
 147                        objects/info/[^/]+ | \
 148                        git-(upload|receive)-pack))$" \
 149        /usr/libexec/git-core/git-http-backend/$1
 150ScriptAlias /git/ /var/www/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi/
 151----------------------------------------------------------------
 152
 153
 154ENVIRONMENT
 155-----------
 156'git http-backend' relies upon the CGI environment variables set
 157by the invoking web server, including:
 158
 159* PATH_INFO (if GIT_PROJECT_ROOT is set, otherwise PATH_TRANSLATED)
 160* REMOTE_USER
 161* REMOTE_ADDR
 162* CONTENT_TYPE
 163* QUERY_STRING
 164* REQUEST_METHOD
 165
 166The GIT_HTTP_EXPORT_ALL environmental variable may be passed to
 167'git-http-backend' to bypass the check for the "git-daemon-export-ok"
 168file in each repository before allowing export of that repository.
 169
 170The backend process sets GIT_COMMITTER_NAME to '$REMOTE_USER' and
 171GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL to '$\{REMOTE_USER}@http.$\{REMOTE_ADDR\}',
 172ensuring that any reflogs created by 'git-receive-pack' contain some
 173identifying information of the remote user who performed the push.
 174
 175All CGI environment variables are available to each of the hooks
 176invoked by the 'git-receive-pack'.
 177
 178Author
 179------
 180Written by Shawn O. Pearce <spearce@spearce.org>.
 181
 182Documentation
 183--------------
 184Documentation by Shawn O. Pearce <spearce@spearce.org>.
 185
 186GIT
 187---
 188Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite