git-daemon.txt

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

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

SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
'git daemon' [--verbose] [--syslog] [--export-all]
 [--timeout=<n>] [--init-timeout=<n>] [--max-connections=<n>]
 [--strict-paths] [--base-path=<path>] [--base-path-relaxed]
 [--user-path | --user-path=<path>]
 [--interpolated-path=<pathtemplate>]
 [--reuseaddr] [--detach] [--pid-file=<file>]
 [--enable=<service>] [--disable=<service>]
 [--allow-override=<service>] [--forbid-override=<service>]
 [--inetd | [--listen=<host_or_ipaddr>] [--port=<n>] [--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 ls-remote' clients, which are invoked
from 'git fetch', 'git pull', and 'git clone'.

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

An `upload-archive` also exists to serve 'git archive'.

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=<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'.

--base-path-relaxed::
If --base-path is enabled and repo lookup fails, with this option
'git daemon' will attempt to lookup without prefixing the base path.
This is useful for switching to --base-path usage, while still
allowing the old paths.

--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 but
converted to all lowercase, %CH for the canonical hostname,
%IP for the server's IP address, %P for the port number,
and %D for the absolute path of the named repository.
After interpolation, the path is validated against the directory
whitelist.

--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.
Incompatible with --detach, --port, --listen, --user and --group
options.

--listen=<host_or_ipaddr>::
Listen on a specific IP address or hostname. IP addresses can
be either an IPv4 address or an IPv6 address if supported. If IPv6
is not supported, then --listen=hostname is also not supported and
--listen must be given an IPv4 address.
Can be given more than once.
Incompatible with '--inetd' option.

--port=<n>::
Listen on an alternative port. Incompatible with '--inetd' option.

--init-timeout=<n>::
Timeout (in seconds) 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=<n>::
Timeout (in seconds) for specific client sub-requests. This includes
the time it takes for the server to process the sub-request and the
time spent waiting for the next client's request.

--max-connections=<n>::
Maximum number of concurrent clients, defaults to 32. Set it to
zero for no limit.

--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 {tilde}user notation to be used in requests. When
specified with no parameter, requests to
git://host/{tilde}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'. Ignored when the daemon
is run under `--inetd`.

--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 a configuration
item.

--allow-override=<service>::
--forbid-override=<service>::
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
--------

These services can be globally enabled/disabled using the
command line options of this command. If a finer-grained
control is desired (e.g. to allow 'git archive' to be run
against only in a few selected repositories the daemon serves),
the per-repository configuration file can be used to enable or
disable them.

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

upload-archive::
This serves 'git archive --remote'. It is disabled by
default, but a repository can enable it by setting
`daemon.uploadarch` configuration item to `true`.

receive-pack::
This serves 'git send-pack' clients, allowing anonymous
push. It is disabled by default, as there is _no_
authentication in the protocol (in other words, anybody
can push anything into the repository, including removal
of refs). This is solely meant for a closed LAN setting
where everybody is friendly. This service can be
enabled by `daemon.receivepack` configuration item to
`true`.

EXAMPLES
--------
We assume the following in /etc/services::
+
------------
$ grep 9418 /etc/services
git	9418/tcp	# Git Version Control System
------------

'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
git daemon --inetd --verbose --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
git daemon --inetd --verbose --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.


'git daemon' as regular daemon for virtual hosts::
To set up 'git daemon' as a regular, non-inetd service that
handles repositories for multiple virtual hosts based on
their IP addresses, start the daemon like this:
+
------------------------------------------------
git daemon --verbose --export-all
--interpolated-path=/pub/%IP/%D
/pub/192.168.1.200/software
/pub/10.10.220.23/software
------------------------------------------------
+
In this example, the root-level directory `/pub` will contain
a subdirectory for each virtual host IP address supported.
Repositories can still be accessed by hostname though, assuming
they correspond to these IP addresses.

selectively enable/disable services per repository::
To enable 'git archive --remote' and disable 'git fetch' against
a repository, have the following in the configuration file in the
repository (that is the file 'config' next to 'HEAD', 'refs' and
'objects').
+
----------------------------------------------------------------
[daemon]
uploadpack = false
uploadarch = true
----------------------------------------------------------------


ENVIRONMENT
-----------
'git daemon' will set REMOTE_ADDR to the IP address of the client
that connected to it, if the IP address is available. REMOTE_ADDR will
be available in the environment of hooks called when
services are performed.

GIT
---
Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite