git-http-backend(1)
===================

NAME
----
git-http-backend - Server side implementation of Git over HTTP

SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
'git-http-backend'

DESCRIPTION
-----------
A simple CGI program to serve the contents of a Git repository to Git
clients accessing the repository over http:// and https:// protocols.

By default, only the `upload-pack` service is enabled, which serves
'git-fetch-pack' and 'git-ls-remote' clients, which are invoked from
'git-fetch', 'git-pull', and 'git-clone'.

This is ideally suited for read-only updates, i.e., pulling from
git repositories.

URL TRANSLATION
---------------
'git-http-backend' relies on the invoking web server to perform
URL to path translation, and store the repository path into the
PATH_TRANSLATED environment variable.  Most web servers will do
this translation automatically, resolving the suffix after the
CGI name relative to the server's document root.

EXAMPLES
--------

Apache 2.x::
	To serve all Git repositories contained within the '/git/'
	subdirectory of the DocumentRoot, ensure mod_cgi and
	mod_alias are enabled, and create a ScriptAlias to the CGI:
+
----------------------------------------------------------------
ScriptAlias /git/ /usr/libexec/git-core/git-http-backend/git/

<Directory /usr/libexec/git-core>
	Options None
</Directory>
<Files /usr/libexec/git-core/git-http-backend>
	Options ExecCGI
</Files>
----------------------------------------------------------------
+
To require authentication for reads, use a Directory
directive around the repository, or one of its parent directories:
+
----------------------------------------------------------------
<Directory /var/www/git/private>
	AuthType Basic
	AuthName "Private Git Access"
	Require group committers
	...
</Directory>
----------------------------------------------------------------

Accelerated static Apache 2.x::
	Similar to the above, but Apache can be used to return static
	files that are stored on disk.	On many systems this may
	be more efficient as Apache can ask the kernel to copy the
	file contents from the file system directly to the network:
+
----------------------------------------------------------------
DocumentRoot /var/www

ScriptAlias /git/        /usr/libexec/git-core/git-http-backend/git/
Alias       /git_static/ /var/www/git/

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^/git/(.*/objects/[0-9a-f]{2}/[0-9a-f]{38})$    /git_static/$1 [PT]
RewriteRule ^/git/(.*/objects/pack/pack-[0-9a-f]{40}.pack)$ /git_static/$1 [PT]
RewriteRule ^/git/(.*/objects/pack/pack-[0-9a-f]{40}.idx)$  /git_static/$1 [PT]
----------------------------------------------------------------


ENVIRONMENT
-----------
'git-http-backend' relies upon the CGI environment variables set
by the invoking web server, including:

* PATH_TRANSLATED
* REMOTE_USER
* REMOTE_ADDR
* CONTENT_TYPE
* QUERY_STRING
* REQUEST_METHOD

Author
------
Written by Shawn O. Pearce <spearce@spearce.org>.

Documentation
--------------
Documentation by Shawn O. Pearce <spearce@spearce.org>.

GIT
---
Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite