GIT-HTTP-BACKEND(1) Git Manual GIT-HTTP-BACKEND(1)
NAME
git-http-backend - Server side implementation of Git over HTTP
SYNOPSIS
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. The program supports clients fetching using both the smart HTTP protocol and
the backwards-compatible dumb HTTP protocol, as well as clients pushing using the smart HTTP protocol.
It verifies that the directory has the magic file "git-daemon-export-ok", and it will refuse to export any Git
directory that hasn’t explicitly been marked for export this way (unless the GIT_HTTP_EXPORT_ALL environmental
variable is set).
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. If the client is authenticated, the receive-pack
service is enabled, which serves git send-pack clients, which is invoked from git push.
SERVICES
These services can be enabled/disabled using the per-repository configuration file:
http.getanyfile
This serves Git clients older than version 1.6.6 that are unable to use the upload pack service. When
enabled, clients are able to read any file within the repository, including objects that are no longer
reachable from a branch but are still present. It is enabled by default, but a repository can disable it
by setting this configuration item to false.
http.uploadpack
This serves git fetch-pack and git ls-remote clients. It is enabled by default, but a repository can
disable it by setting this configuration item to false.
http.receivepack
This serves git send-pack clients, allowing push. It is disabled by default for anonymous users, and
enabled by default for users authenticated by the web server. It can be disabled by setting this item to
false, or enabled for all users, including anonymous users, by setting it to true.
URL TRANSLATION
To determine the location of the repository on disk, git http-backend concatenates the environment variables
PATH_INFO, which is set automatically by the web server, and GIT_PROJECT_ROOT, which must be set manually in
the web server configuration. If GIT_PROJECT_ROOT is not set, git http-backend reads PATH_TRANSLATED, which is
also set automatically by the web server.
EXAMPLES
All of the following examples map http://$hostname/git/foo/bar.git to /var/www/git/foo/bar.git.
Apache 2.x
Ensure mod_cgi, mod_alias, and mod_env are enabled, set GIT_PROJECT_ROOT (or DocumentRoot) appropriately,
and create a ScriptAlias to the CGI:
SetEnv GIT_PROJECT_ROOT /var/www/git
SetEnv GIT_HTTP_EXPORT_ALL
ScriptAlias /git/ /usr/libexec/git-core/git-http-backend/
To enable anonymous read access but authenticated write access, require authorization for both the initial
AuthName "Git Access"
Require group committers
Satisfy Any
...
</LocationMatch>
If you do not have mod_rewrite available to match against the query string, it is sufficient to just
protect git-receive-pack itself, like:
<LocationMatch "^/git/.*/git-receive-pack$">
AuthType Basic
AuthName "Git Access"
Require group committers
...
</LocationMatch>
In this mode, the server will not request authentication until the client actually starts the object
negotiation phase of the push, rather than during the initial contact. For this reason, you must also
enable the http.receivepack config option in any repositories that should accept a push. The default
behavior, if http.receivepack is not set, is to reject any pushes by unauthenticated users; the initial
request will therefore report 403 Forbidden to the client, without even giving an opportunity for
authentication.
To require authentication for both reads and writes, use a Location directive around the repository, or
one of its parent directories:
<Location /git/private>
AuthType Basic
AuthName "Private Git Access"
Require group committers
...
</Location>
To serve gitweb at the same url, use a ScriptAliasMatch to only those URLs that git http-backend can
handle, and forward the rest to gitweb:
ScriptAliasMatch \
"(?x)^/git/(.*/(HEAD | \
info/refs | \
objects/(info/[^/]+ | \
[0-9a-f]{2}/[0-9a-f]{38} | \
pack/pack-[0-9a-f]{40}\.(pack|idx)) | \
git-(upload|receive)-pack))$" \
/usr/libexec/git-core/git-http-backend/$1
ScriptAlias /git/ /var/www/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi/
To serve multiple repositories from different gitnamespaces(7) in a single repository:
SetEnvIf Request_URI "^/git/([^/]*)" GIT_NAMESPACE=$1
ScriptAliasMatch ^/git/[^/]*(.*) /usr/libexec/git-core/git-http-backend/storage.git$1
Accelerated static Apache 2.x
SetEnv GIT_PROJECT_ROOT /var/www/git
AliasMatch ^/git/(.*/objects/[0-9a-f]{2}/[0-9a-f]{38})$ /var/www/git/$1
AliasMatch ^/git/(.*/objects/pack/pack-[0-9a-f]{40}.(pack|idx))$ /var/www/git/$1
ScriptAliasMatch \
"(?x)^/git/(.*/(HEAD | \
info/refs | \
objects/info/[^/]+ | \
git-(upload|receive)-pack))$" \
/usr/libexec/git-core/git-http-backend/$1
ScriptAlias /git/ /var/www/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi/
Lighttpd
Ensure that mod_cgi, mod_alias, `mod_auth, mod_setenv are loaded, then set GIT_PROJECT_ROOT appropriately
and redirect all requests to the CGI:
alias.url += ( "/git" => "/usr/lib/git-core/git-http-backend" )
$HTTP["url"] =~ "^/git" {
cgi.assign = ("" => "")
setenv.add-environment = (
"GIT_PROJECT_ROOT" => "/var/www/git",
"GIT_HTTP_EXPORT_ALL" => ""
)
}
To enable anonymous read access but authenticated write access:
$HTTP["querystring"] =~ "service=git-receive-pack" {
include "git-auth.conf"
}
$HTTP["url"] =~ "^/git/.*/git-receive-pack$" {
include "git-auth.conf"
}
where git-auth.conf looks something like:
auth.require = (
"/" => (
"method" => "basic",
"realm" => "Git Access",
"require" => "valid-user"
)
)
# ...and set up auth.backend here
To require authentication for both reads and writes:
$HTTP["url"] =~ "^/git/private" {
include "git-auth.conf"
}
ENVIRONMENT
· REQUEST_METHOD
The GIT_HTTP_EXPORT_ALL environmental variable may be passed to git-http-backend to bypass the check for the
"git-daemon-export-ok" file in each repository before allowing export of that repository.
The backend process sets GIT_COMMITTER_NAME to $REMOTE_USER and GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL to
${REMOTE_USER}@http.${REMOTE_ADDR}, ensuring that any reflogs created by git-receive-pack contain some
identifying information of the remote user who performed the push.
All CGI environment variables are available to each of the hooks invoked by the git-receive-pack.
AUTHOR
Written by Shawn O. Pearce <[email protected][1]>.
DOCUMENTATION
Documentation by Shawn O. Pearce <[email protected][1]>.
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite
NOTES
1. [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]
Git 1.8.3.1 03/23/2016 GIT-HTTP-BACKEND(1)
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