This project aims to replace the builtin git-http-backend CGI handler distributed with C Git with a Rack application. This reason for doing this is to allow far more webservers to be able to handle Git smart http requests.
The default git-http-backend only runs as a CGI script, and specifically is only targeted for Apache 2.x usage (it requires PATH_INFO to be set and specifically formatted). So, instead of trying to get it to work with other CGI capable webservers (Lighttpd, etc), we can get it running on nearly every major and minor webserver out there by making it Rack capable. Rack applications can run with the following handlers:
- CGI
- FCGI
- Mongrel (and EventedMongrel and SwiftipliedMongrel)
- WEBrick
- SCGI
- LiteSpeed
- Thin
These web servers include Rack handlers in their distributions:
- Ebb
- Fuzed
- Phusion Passenger (which is mod_rack for Apache and for nginx)
- Unicorn
With Warbler, and JRuby, we can also generate a WAR file that can be deployed in any Java web application server (Tomcat, Glassfish, Websphere, JBoss, etc).
By default, Grack uses calls to git on the system to implement Smart-Http. Since the git-http-backend is really just a simple wrapper for the upload-pack and receive-pack processes with the '--stateless-rpc' option, this does not actually re-implement very much. However, it is possible to use a different backend by specifying a different Adapter. See below for a list.
- Ruby - http://www.ruby-lang.org
- Rack - http://rack.rubyforge.org
- A Rack-compatible web server
- Git >= 1.7 (if using the standard GitAdapter, see below)
- Mocha (only for running the tests)
$ gem install rack
$ (edit config.ru to set git project path)
$ rackup --host 127.0.0.1 -p 8080 config.ru
$ git clone http://127.0.0.1:8080/schacon/grit.git
Grack makes calls to the git binary through the GitAdapter abstraction class. Grack can be made to use a different backend by specifying a different Adapter class in Grack's configuration.
Alternative adapters available:
- rjgit_grack lets Grack use the RJGit gem to implement smart-http in pure jruby.
See below if you are looking to create a custom Adapter.
If you would like to contribute to the Grack project, I prefer to get pull-requests via GitHub. You should include tests for whatever functionality you add. Just fork this project, push your changes to your fork and click the 'pull request' button. To run the tests, you first need to install the 'mocha' mocking library.
$ gem install mocha
Then you should be able to run the tests with a 'rake' command. You can also run coverage tests with 'rake rcov' if you have rcov installed.
Adapters are abstraction classes that handle the actual implementation of the smart-http protocol (advertising refs, uploading and receiving packfiles). Such abstraction classes must have the following methods:
MyAdapter.receive_pack(repository_path, opts = {}, &block)
MyAdapter.upload_pack(repository_path, opts = {}, &block)
MyAdapter.update_server_info(repository_path, opts = {}, &block) # The equivalent of 'git update-server-info'. Optional, for falling back to dump-http mode.
MyAdapter.get_config_setting(repository_path, key) # Always returns a string, e.g. "false" for key "core.bare".Both upload_pack and receive_pack must return a ref-advertisement string if opts[:advertise_refs] is set to true; otherwise, they must yield an IO object that Grack uses to read the client's response from.
(The MIT License)
Copyright (c) 2009 Scott Chacon <schacon@gmail.com>
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
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permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
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The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
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