/gitpod

local caching server for git when the actual server is on the other side of a (possibly slow) WAN link

Primary LanguageShell

complete rewrite (Feb 2019)

This is a complete rewrite of the code, to accommodate the fact that the old code no longer works under git v2.18 and above, due to fundamental changes in how git runs upload-pack. Basically, I am unable to fool it into executing gitpod's wrapper instead of the real "git-upload-pack", something that is required for the old version to do its thing. Luckily, I realised that git-daemon has (and apparently always had!), an "access hook" option, which gives us an "in".

hardcoded stuff (customisation TBD!) and other backward incompatibilities

The script currently has some hardcodings; please let me know if you need any of them made more flexible/customisable

  • hardcoded to github.com
  • hardcoded "lazy" duration (just under 2.5 hours)

Also, there is also no support for ssh mode now; if authenticated access to cached repos is needed, it's best done using gitolite, and enabling the "upstream" trigger.

install and use

  • best to create a special userid only for this

  • put this program in ~/bin in that userid

  • run this command

    git daemon                              \
    --access-hook=$HOME/bin/gitpod      \
    --informative-errors                \
    --max-connections=1                 \
    --base-path=$HOME                   \
    --export-all                        \
    --reuseaddr                         \
    --verbose                           \
    --detach

    The "max-connections" is optional; I am running this on a very low-RAM box, so it helps me. (Sadly, git-daemon produces a cryptic "Connection reset by peer" when the limit is exceeded; be sure to inform your users that if they see that message they should try again after some time!)

  • add repos using this command:

    bin/gitpod add GITHUB_USER/GITHUB_REPO

  • (OPTIONAL) add the "status" repo

    cd
git init status
cd status
git commit --allow-empty -m empty

for "users"

Users use this as git://this.host/GITHUB_USER/GITHUB_REPO (for example git clone git://127.0.0.1/sitaramc/gitolite)

finding the status

There's a very kludgey method to check what repos have recently been "fetched" from github.com: just run an ls-remote on a repo called "status":

git ls-remote git://this.host.name/status

A list of tags will show up, each of which is a carefully formatted set of date, time, IP address, and repo name.

Yes, it's a kludge, as I already said, but if you can think of a better way to show users something, I'd be happy to hear it.