git-daemon.txt

git-daemon(1)
=============

NAME
----
git-daemon - A really simple server for git repositories

SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
'git-daemon' [--verbose] [--syslog] [--inetd | --port=n] [--export-all]
 [--timeout=n] [--init-timeout=n] [--strict-paths]
 [--base-path=path] [--user-path | --user-path=path]
 [--interpolated-path=pathtemplate]
 [--enable=service] [--disable=service]
 [--allow-override=service] [--forbid-override=service]
 [--reuseaddr] [--detach] [--pid-file=file]
 [--user=user [--group=group]] [directory...]

DESCRIPTION
-----------
A really simple TCP git daemon that normally listens on port "DEFAULT_GIT_PORT"
aka 9418. It waits for a connection asking for a service, and will serve
that service if it is enabled.

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 '--export-all' parameter is specified). If you
pass some directory paths as 'git-daemon' arguments, you can further restrict
the offers to a whitelist comprising of those.

By default, only `upload-pack` service is enabled, which serves
`git-fetch-pack` and `git-peek-remote` clients that are invoked
from `git-fetch`, `git-ls-remote`, and `git-clone`.

This is ideally suited for read-only updates, i.e., pulling from
git repositories.

OPTIONS
-------
--strict-paths::
Match paths exactly (i.e. don't allow "/foo/repo" when the real path is
"/foo/repo.git" or "/foo/repo/.git") and don't do user-relative paths.
git-daemon will refuse to start when this option is enabled and no
whitelist is specified.

--base-path::
Remap all the path requests as relative to the given path.
This is sort of "GIT root" - if you run git-daemon with
'--base-path=/srv/git' on example.com, then if you later try to pull
'git://example.com/hello.git', `git-daemon` will interpret the path
as '/srv/git/hello.git'.

--interpolated-path=pathtemplate::
To support virtual hosting, an interpolated path template can be
used to dynamically construct alternate paths. The template
supports %H for the target hostname as supplied by the client,
and %D for the absolute path of the named repository.

--export-all::
Allow pulling from all directories that look like GIT repositories
(have the 'objects' and 'refs' subdirectories), even if they
do not have the 'git-daemon-export-ok' file.

--inetd::
Have the server run as an inetd service. Implies --syslog.

--port::
Listen on an alternative port.

--init-timeout::
Timeout between the moment the connection is established and the
client request is received (typically a rather low value, since
that should be basically immediate).

--timeout::
Timeout for specific client sub-requests. This includes the time
it takes for the server to process the sub-request and time spent
waiting for next client's request.

--syslog::
Log to syslog instead of stderr. Note that this option does not imply
--verbose, thus by default only error conditions will be logged.

--user-path, --user-path=path::
Allow ~user notation to be used in requests. When
specified with no parameter, requests to
git://host/~alice/foo is taken as a request to access
'foo' repository in the home directory of user `alice`.
If `--user-path=path` is specified, the same request is
taken as a request to access `path/foo` repository in
the home directory of user `alice`.

--verbose::
Log details about the incoming connections and requested files.

--reuseaddr::
Use SO_REUSEADDR when binding the listening socket.
This allows the server to restart without waiting for
old connections to time out.

--detach::
Detach from the shell. Implies --syslog.

--pid-file=file::
Save the process id in 'file'.

--user=user, --group=group::
Change daemon's uid and gid before entering the service loop.
When only `--user` is given without `--group`, the
primary group ID for the user is used. The values of
the option are given to `getpwnam(3)` and `getgrnam(3)`
and numeric IDs are not supported.
+
Giving these options is an error when used with `--inetd`; use
the facility of inet daemon to achieve the same before spawning
`git-daemon` if needed.

--enable-service, --disable-service::
Enable/disable the service site-wide per default. Note
that a service disabled site-wide can still be enabled
per repository if it is marked overridable and the
repository enables the service with an configuration
item.

--allow-override, --forbid-override::
Allow/forbid overriding the site-wide default with per
repository configuration. By default, all the services
are overridable.

<directory>::
A directory to add to the whitelist of allowed directories. Unless
--strict-paths is specified this will also include subdirectories
of each named directory.

SERVICES
--------

upload-pack::
This serves `git-fetch-pack` and `git-peek-remote`
clients. It is enabled by default, but a repository can
disable it by setting `daemon.uploadpack` configuration
item to `false`.

EXAMPLES
--------
git-daemon as inetd server::
To set up `git-daemon` as an inetd service that handles any
repository under the whitelisted set of directories, /pub/foo
and /pub/bar, place an entry like the following into
/etc/inetd all on one line:
+
------------------------------------------------
git stream tcp nowait nobody /usr/bin/git-daemon
git-daemon --inetd --verbose
--syslog --export-all
/pub/foo /pub/bar
------------------------------------------------


git-daemon as inetd server for virtual hosts::
To set up `git-daemon` as an inetd service that handles
repositories for different virtual hosts, `www.example.com`
and `www.example.org`, place an entry like the following into
`/etc/inetd` all on one line:
+
------------------------------------------------
git stream tcp nowait nobody /usr/bin/git-daemon
git-daemon --inetd --verbose
--syslog --export-all
--interpolated-path=/pub/%H%D
/pub/www.example.org/software
/pub/www.example.com/software
/software
------------------------------------------------
+
In this example, the root-level directory `/pub` will contain
a subdirectory for each virtual host name supported.
Further, both hosts advertise repositories simply as
`git://www.example.com/software/repo.git`. For pre-1.4.0
clients, a symlink from `/software` into the appropriate
default repository could be made as well.


Author
------
Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>, YOSHIFUJI Hideaki
<yoshfuji@linux-ipv6.org> and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>

Documentation
--------------
Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.

GIT
---
Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite