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Git Servers

Many are familiar with Github. Gitlab is a good open-sourced alternative. It's also pretty easy to host your own git repositories -- all you really need is a linux server that you have ssh access too!

Running a server

It's pretty much as simple as having an SSH server running and being able to connect over that.

https://www.linux.com/learn/how-run-your-own-git-server How to Run Your Own Git Server | Linux.com | The source for Linux information

https://www.google.com/search?q=linux+git+server linux git server - Google Search

New repository on server

Create your project's repo on your git host and check that out locally

When you're not on the server (e.g. created the repo somewhere else), you need to create a blank repo on the server first:

  • Log into the server machine.
  • Create a bare repo using
ssh [user@host-server]
mkdir -p /srv/git/home-system
cd /srv/git/home-system

git --version 2.28 and up:

git init --initial-branch=main --bare

git --version older than 2.28

git init --bare
git symbolic-ref HEAD refs/heads/main

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Check out the new bare repo on the client:

git clone account@server:/srv/git/project

May get warning: You appear to have cloned an empty repository. Add some content. At that point, check to see what branch you're on. If it's still set to master move it to main and push

git branch -a
git branch -m main
git push origin HEAD

Add server to existing repo

Note: this requires the remote repository to exist on the server first.

If you have an existing repo and want to add a server later

  • On the client machine check for existing origins

    git remote -v
    

    (if you need to delete an existing origin):

    git remote remove origin
    
  • push your repo to the server

    git remote add origin ssh://user@server:/GitRepos/myproject.git
    

    followed by

    git push origin main
    

May also need

 git branch --set-upstream-to origin/main

Try git show-ref to see what refs you have. Is there a refs/heads/master?

You can try git push origin HEAD:master as a more local-reference-independent solution. This explicitly states that you want to push the local ref HEAD to the remote ref master (see the git-push refspec documentation).

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then checkout to any device with:

git clone user@server:/srv/git/repo

If the repo on the server has local files checked out (not bare), when it's time to push changes up to the server, they'll be rejected.

Being able to push is the important option in this scenario.

An alternative solution could use different branches on either the remote device and/or the server. This seems more cumbersome.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2816369/git-push-error-remote-rejected-master-master-branch-is-currently-checked

Template repositories

Some hosts make it easy to designate a repository as a template.

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=gitlab+mark+repostory+as+a+template&ia=web 💤 gitlab mark repostory as a template at DuckDuckGo https://betterprogramming.pub/forget-boilerplate-use-repository-templates-74efebbee8eb Forget Boilerplate, Use Repository Templates! | by Liliana Nuño Silva | Better Programming https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/admin_area/settings/instance_template_repository.html#help-and-feedback Instance template repository | GitLab

Gitlab

Gitlab offers more than just git repository hosting.

https://gitlab.com/users/sign_in

Add SSH keys

https://gitlab.com/profile/keys

Paste your public SSH key, which is usually contained in the file '~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub' or '~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub' and begins with 'ssh-ed25519' or 'ssh-rsa'. Don't use your private SSH key.

Create a new project

Use + sign on nav bar.

Mirror existing projects

Have to decide on push or pull.

Push

SSH Keys are preferred these days. Will need to configure one from gitlab to github.

To set up a mirror from GitLab to GitHub, you need to follow these steps:

Create a GitHub personal access token with the public_repo box checked.
https://docs.github.com/en/free-pro-team@latest/github/authenticating-to-github/creating-a-personal-access-token

In the upper-right corner of any page, click your profile photo, then click Settings. Settings icon in the user bar

In the left sidebar, click Developer settings. Developer settings

In the left sidebar, click Personal access tokens. Personal access tokens

Click Generate new token.

Keep track of the token in your password manager (or you may need to regenerated it again later and then update it in Gitlab)

Fill in the Git repository URL field using this format: https://<your_github_username>@github.com/<your_github_group>/<your_github_project>.git.
Fill in Password field with your GitHub personal access token.
Click the Mirror repository button. 

The mirrored repository will be listed. For example, https://*****:*****@github.com/<your_github_group>/<your_github_project>.git.

The repository will push soon. To force a push, click the Update now () button.

https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/repository/repository_mirroring.html#pushing-to-a-remote-repository

Log in to Gitlab

Navigate to your project’s Settings > Repository and expand the Mirroring repositories section.
Enter a repository URL.
Select Push from the Mirror direction dropdown.
Select an authentication method from the Authentication method dropdown, if necessary.
Check the Only mirror protected branches box, if necessary.
Check the Keep divergent refs box, if desired.
Click the Mirror repository button to save the configuration. 

https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/repository/repository_mirroring.html

Pull

For initial pulls / importing repositories, do that during "Create a new project" steps. (https://gitlab.com/projects/new#import_project)

To pull in changes from github, generate a token, then add it to gitlab for import from github.

https://github.com/settings/tokens

https://gitlab.com/import/github/status

Identity

TODO: way to have a private email address associated with gitlab? Sure!

Default Templates

Looks like this is only possible in a self-hosted instance

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=gitlab+mark+repostory+as+a+template&ia=web gitlab mark repostory as a template at DuckDuckGo https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/admin_area/settings/instance_template_repository.html#help-and-feedback Instance template repository | GitLab

Github

Github is a community organized around developing software.

Acquired / owned by Microsoft.

Packages

This is a new feature:

https://help.github.com/en/github/managing-packages-with-github-packages/about-github-packages#supported-clients-and-formats

Organizations

These are equivalent to Teams in Gitlab

https://docs.github.com/en/organizations/collaborating-with-groups-in-organizations/creating-a-new-organization-from-scratch Creating a new organization from scratch - GitHub Docs

https://docs.github.com/en/organizations/collaborating-with-groups-in-organizations/about-organizations About organizations - GitHub Docs

Template Repositories

https://docs.github.com/en/github/creating-cloning-and-archiving-repositories/creating-a-repository-on-github/creating-a-template-repository