How to Install Git over HTTP on CentOS x

There is already a bunch of posts about setting up Git over HTTP(S), but this one is specificaly targeted at setting it up under CentOS as cleanly as possible. There was bunch of errors that I saw along the way, so I will try to explain the process step by step.

First, you have to install Apache and Git.:

# yum -y install httpd git

# /etc/init.d/httpd start

Now, let’s create directories for git and create our first repo:

# mkdir /var/www/html/gitrepos

# cd /var/www/html/gitrepos

# mkdir repo01 && cd repo01

# git --bare init

# git update-server-info

# cd /var/www/html

# chown -R apache: gitrepos

We are using ‘git –bare’, so that online repository doesn’t have files but only git metadata. That will enable users to push directly to online repository, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to push thier changes. This was the first error I did, I created repo with ‘git init’ and was not able to push later. After the repo is set up and chowned, lets set up apache.

This is my configuration for vhost:

#

# vhost for git repositories (http)

#

<VirtualHost *:80>

    ServerName     git

    DocumentRoot    /var/www/html/gitrepos

    <Location />

        DAV on

        # general auth settings

        AuthName "Git login:"

        AuthType Basic

        # file authentication

        AuthUserFile  /var/www/html/.htpasswd

        AuthGroupFile /var/www/html/.htgroup

        <LimitExcept PROPFIND>

            Require valid-user

        </LimitExcept>

    </Location>

    <Location /repo01>

        <LimitExcept PROPFIND>

            Require group adminlinux

        </LimitExcept>

    </Location>

    LogLevel warn

    ErrorLog  /var/log/httpd/git_error.log

    CustomLog /var/log/httpd/git_access.log combined

</VirtualHost>

#

We can fill up htpasswd file with – htpasswd command

# htpasswd -c /var/www/html/.htpasswd user1

# htpasswd -c /var/www/html/.htpasswd user2

# htpasswd -c /var/www/html/.htpasswd user3

And htgroup with:

# echo "adminlinux: user1 user2" >> /var/www/html/.htgroup

Now, on the client side, do a:

% git clone http://user1@git/repo01

After the first change/commit you do, be careful when you push those changes for the first time.

This is the command I used for the first push:

% git push --set-upstream origin master

And that’s it!...