# Gitweb

Gitweb is the default web interface provided with git itself and is the basis for other git scripts like cgit, gitosis and others.

Gitweb actually supports fcgi natively, so you do not need to wrap it as a cgi script. [1][2]

## Installation

To install gitweb you first have to install git and a webserver. Now, if you want to quickly test it, see the help of `git instaweb`. Otherwise, if you want a comprehensive setup, keep reading.

For this example we use apache but you can also use nginx, lighttpd or others.

For all the examples below, you need to install the perl-cgi package. (FS#45431)

## Configuration

### Apache

Create `/etc/httpd/conf/extra/gitweb.conf`

    gitweb.conf

    Alias /gitweb "/usr/share/gitweb"
    <Directory "/usr/share/gitweb">
        DirectoryIndex gitweb.cgi
        Options ExecCGI
        Require all granted
        <Files gitweb.cgi>
        SetHandler cgi-script
        </Files>
        SetEnv  GITWEB_CONFIG  /etc/gitweb.conf
    </Directory>

Add the following line to the end of `/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf`

    # gitweb configuration
    Include conf/extra/gitweb.conf

### Lighttpd

Add the following to `/etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf`:

    server.modules += ( "mod_alias", "mod_cgi", "mod_redirect", "mod_setenv" )
    url.redirect += ( "^/gitweb$" => "/gitweb/" )
    alias.url += ( "/gitweb/" => "/usr/share/gitweb/" )
    $HTTP["url"] =~ "^/gitweb/" {
           setenv.add-environment = (
                   "GITWEB_CONFIG" => "/etc/gitweb.conf",
                   "PATH" => env.PATH
           )
           cgi.assign = ( ".cgi" => "" )
           server.indexfiles = ( "gitweb.cgi" )
    }

You may also need to add `".css" => "text/css"` to the `mimetype.assign` line for GitWeb to display properly.

### Nginx

Append this location to your nginx configuration (you might want to change the location):

    /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

    location /gitweb.cgi {
        include fastcgi_params;
        gzip off;
        fastcgi_param   SCRIPT_FILENAME  /usr/share/gitweb/gitweb.cgi;
        fastcgi_param   GITWEB_CONFIG  /etc/gitweb.conf;
        fastcgi_pass    unix:/var/run/fcgiwrap.sock;
    }

    location / {
        root /usr/share/gitweb;
        index gitweb.cgi;
    }

If you follow Nginx#CGI implementation, try replacing `include fastcgi_params;` with `include fastcgi.conf;`.

Additionally, we have to install fcgiwrap and spawn-fcgi and modify the fcgiwrap service file:

    /usr/lib/systemd/system/fcgiwrap.service

    [Unit]
    Description=Simple server for running CGI applications over FastCGI
    After=syslog.target network.target

    [Service]
    Type=forking
    Restart=on-abort
    PIDFile=/var/run/fcgiwrap.pid
    ExecStart=/usr/bin/spawn-fcgi -s /var/run/fcgiwrap.sock -P /var/run/fcgiwrap.pid -u http -g http -- /usr/sbin/fcgiwrap
    ExecStop=/usr/bin/kill -15 $MAINPID

    [Install]
    WantedBy=multi-user.target

In the end, enable and restart the services:

    systemctl enable nginx fcgiwrap
    systemctl start nginx fcgiwrap

### Gitweb config

Next we need to make a gitweb config file. Open (or create if it does not exist) the file `/etc/gitweb.conf` and place this in it:

    /etc/gitweb.conf

    # The directories where your projects are. Must not end with a slash.
    our $projectroot = "/path/to/your/repositories";

    # Base URLs for links displayed in the web interface.
    our @git_base_url_list = qw(git://<your_server> http://git@<your_server>);

To enable "blame" view (showing the author of each line in a source file), add the following line:

    $feature{'blame'}{'default'} = [1];

Now the the configuration is done, please restart your webserver. For apache:

    systemctl restart httpd

Or for lighttpd:

    systemctl restart lighttpd

### Syntax highlighting

To enable syntax highlighting with Gitweb, you have to first install the highlight package:

When highlight has been installed, simply add this line to your `gitweb.conf`:

    $feature{'highlight'}{'default'} = [1];

Save the file and highlighting should now be enabled.

## Adding repositories

To add a repository go to your repository folder, make your repository like so:

    mkdir my_repository.git
    git init --bare my_repository.git/
    cd my_repository.git/
    touch git-daemon-export-ok
    echo "Short project's description" > description

Next open the `config` file and add this:

    [gitweb]
            owner = Your Name

This will fill in the "Owner" field in gitweb. It is not required.

This assumes that you want to have this repository as "central" repository storage where you push your commits to so the git-daemon-export-ok and --bare are here to have minimal overhead and to allow the git daemon to be used on it.

That is all for making a repository. You can now see it on your http://localhost/gitweb (assuming everything went fine). You do not need to restart apache for new repositories since the gitweb cgi script simply reads your repository folder.

## See also

- How To Install A Public Git Repository On A Debian Server — HowtoForge page used as the main source for this article.

Category:

- Version Control System