---
stage: Enablement
group: Distribution
info: To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#assignments
---

# Installation from source **(FREE SELF)**

This is the official installation guide to set up a production GitLab server
using the source files. To set up a **development installation** or for many
other installation options, see the [main installation page](index.md).
It was created for and tested on **Debian/Ubuntu** operating systems.
Read [requirements.md](requirements.md) for hardware and operating system requirements.
If you want to install on RHEL/CentOS, we recommend using the
[Omnibus packages](https://about.gitlab.com/install/).

This guide is long because it covers many cases and includes all commands you
need, this is [one of the few installation scripts that actually work out of the box](https://twitter.com/robinvdvleuten/status/424163226532986880).
The following steps have been known to work. **Use caution when you deviate**
from this guide. Make sure you don't violate any assumptions GitLab makes about
its environment. For example, many people run into permission problems because
they changed the location of directories or run services as the wrong user.

If you find a bug/error in this guide, **submit a merge request**
following the
[contributing guide](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md).

## Consider the Omnibus package installation

Since an installation from source is a lot of work and error prone we strongly recommend the fast and reliable [Omnibus package installation](https://about.gitlab.com/install/) (deb/rpm).

One reason the Omnibus package is more reliable is its use of runit to restart any of the GitLab processes in case one crashes.
On heavily used GitLab instances the memory usage of the Sidekiq background worker grows over time.

Omnibus packages solve this by [letting the Sidekiq terminate gracefully](../administration/operations/sidekiq_memory_killer.md) if it uses too much memory.
After this termination runit detects Sidekiq is not running and starts it.
Since installations from source don't use runit for process supervision, Sidekiq
can't be terminated and its memory usage grows over time.

## Select a version to install

Make sure you view [this installation guide](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/doc/install/installation.md) from the branch (version) of GitLab you would like to install (for example, `11-7-stable`).
You can select the branch in the version dropdown in the top left corner of GitLab (below the menu bar).

If the highest number stable branch is unclear, check the [GitLab blog](https://about.gitlab.com/blog/) for installation guide links by version.

## Software requirements

| Software | Minimum version | Notes |
| -------- | --------------- | ----- |
| [Ruby](#2-ruby)     | `2.7`             | From GitLab 13.6, Ruby 2.7 is required. Ruby 3.0 is not supported yet (see [the relevant epic](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/5149) for the current status). You must use the standard MRI implementation of Ruby. We love [JRuby](https://www.jruby.org/) and [Rubinius](https://github.com/rubinius/rubinius#the-rubinius-language-platform), but GitLab needs several Gems that have native extensions. |
| [Go](#3-go) | `1.16` | |
| [Git](#git) | `2.33.x` | From GitLab 14.4, Git 2.33.x and later is required. It's highly recommended that you use the [Git version provided by Gitaly](#git). |
| [Node.js](#4-node) | `12.22.1` | GitLab uses [webpack](https://webpack.js.org/) to compile frontend assets. Node.js 14.x is recommended, as it's faster. You can check which version you're running with `node -v`. You need to update it to a newer version if needed. |

## GitLab directory structure

This is the main directory structure you end up with following the instructions
of this page:

```plaintext
|-- home
|   |-- git
|       |-- .ssh
|       |-- gitlab
|       |-- gitlab-shell
|       |-- repositories
```

- `/home/git/.ssh` - Contains OpenSSH settings. Specifically, the `authorized_keys`
  file managed by GitLab Shell.
- `/home/git/gitlab` - GitLab core software.
- `/home/git/gitlab-shell` - Core add-on component of GitLab. Maintains SSH
  cloning and other functionality.
- `/home/git/repositories` - Bare repositories for all projects organized by
  namespace. This is where the Git repositories which are pushed/pulled are
  maintained for all projects. **This area contains critical data for projects.
  [Keep a backup](../raketasks/backup_restore.md).**

The default locations for repositories can be configured in `config/gitlab.yml`
of GitLab and `config.yml` of GitLab Shell.

For a more in-depth overview, see the [GitLab architecture doc](../development/architecture.md).

## Overview

The GitLab installation consists of setting up the following components:

1. [Packages and dependencies](#1-packages-and-dependencies).
1. [Ruby](#2-ruby).
1. [Go](#3-go).
1. [Node](#4-node).
1. [System users](#5-system-users).
1. [Database](#6-database).
1. [Redis](#7-redis).
1. [GitLab](#8-gitlab).
1. [NGINX](#9-nginx).

## 1. Packages and dependencies

### sudo

`sudo` is not installed on Debian by default. Make sure your system is
up-to-date and install it.

```shell
# run as root!
apt-get update -y
apt-get upgrade -y
apt-get install sudo -y
```

### Build dependencies

Install the required packages (needed to compile Ruby and native extensions to Ruby gems):

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y build-essential zlib1g-dev libyaml-dev libssl-dev libgdbm-dev libre2-dev \
  libreadline-dev libncurses5-dev libffi-dev curl openssh-server libxml2-dev libxslt-dev \
  libcurl4-openssl-dev libicu-dev logrotate rsync python-docutils pkg-config cmake runit-systemd
```

If you want to use Kerberos for user authentication, install `libkrb5-dev`
(if you don't know what Kerberos is, you can assume you don't need it):

```shell
sudo apt-get install libkrb5-dev
```

### Git

From GitLab 13.6, we recommend you use the [Git version provided by
Gitaly](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly/-/issues/2729)
that:

- Is always at the version required by GitLab.
- May contain custom patches required for proper operation.

1. Install the needed dependencies:

   ```shell
   sudo apt-get install -y libcurl4-openssl-dev libexpat1-dev gettext libz-dev libssl-dev libpcre2-dev build-essential git-core
   ```

1. Clone the Gitaly repository and compile Git. Replace `<X-Y-stable>` with the
   stable branch that matches the GitLab version you want to install. For example,
   if you want to install GitLab 13.6, use the branch name `13-6-stable`:

   ```shell
   git clone https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly.git -b <X-Y-stable> /tmp/gitaly
   cd /tmp/gitaly
   sudo make git GIT_PREFIX=/usr/local
   ```

1. Optionally, you can remove the system Git and its dependencies:

   ```shell
   sudo apt remove -y git-core
   sudo apt autoremove
   ```

When [editing `config/gitlab.yml` later](#configure-it), remember to change
the Git path:

- From:

  ```yaml
  git:
    bin_path: /usr/bin/git
  ```

- To:

  ```yaml
  git:
    bin_path: /usr/local/bin/git
  ```

### GraphicsMagick

For the [Custom Favicon](../user/admin_area/appearance.md#favicon) to work, GraphicsMagick
needs to be installed.

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y graphicsmagick
```

### Mail server

In order to receive mail notifications, make sure to install a mail server.
By default, Debian is shipped with `exim4` but this
[has problems](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/issues/12754) while
Ubuntu does not ship with one. The recommended mail server is `postfix` and you
can install it with:

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y postfix
```

Then select 'Internet Site' and press enter to confirm the hostname.

<!-- vale gitlab.Spelling = NO -->

### Exiftool

<!-- vale gitlab.Spelling = YES -->

[GitLab Workhorse](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-workhorse#dependencies)
requires `exiftool` to remove EXIF data from uploaded images.

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y libimage-exiftool-perl
```

## 2. Ruby

The Ruby interpreter is required to run GitLab.
See the [requirements section of this page](#software-requirements) for the minimum
Ruby requirements.

The use of Ruby version managers such as [`RVM`](https://rvm.io/), [`rbenv`](https://github.com/rbenv/rbenv) or [`chruby`](https://github.com/postmodern/chruby) with GitLab
in production, frequently leads to hard to diagnose problems. Version managers
are not supported and we strongly advise everyone to follow the instructions
below to use a system Ruby.

Linux distributions generally have older versions of Ruby available, so these
instructions are designed to install Ruby from the official source code.

Download Ruby and compile it:

```shell
mkdir /tmp/ruby && cd /tmp/ruby
curl --remote-name --location --progress-bar "https://cache.ruby-lang.org/pub/ruby/2.7/ruby-2.7.4.tar.gz"
echo '3043099089608859fc8cce7f9fdccaa1f53a462457e3838ec3b25a7d609fbc5b ruby-2.7.4.tar.gz' | sha256sum -c - && tar xzf ruby-2.7.4.tar.gz
cd ruby-2.7.4

./configure --disable-install-rdoc --enable-shared
make
sudo make install
```

## 3. Go

GitLab has several daemons written in Go. To install
GitLab we need a Go compiler. The instructions below assume you use 64-bit
Linux. You can find downloads for other platforms at the [Go download
page](https://go.dev/dl).

```shell
# Remove former Go installation folder
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/go

curl --remote-name --location --progress-bar "https://go.dev/dl/go1.16.10.linux-amd64.tar.gz"
echo '414cd18ce1d193769b9e97d2401ad718755ab47816e13b2a1cde203d263b55cf  go1.16.10.linux-amd64.tar.gz' | shasum -a256 -c - && \
  sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.16.10.linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo ln -sf /usr/local/go/bin/{go,gofmt} /usr/local/bin/
rm go1.16.10.linux-amd64.tar.gz
```

## 4. Node

GitLab requires the use of Node to compile JavaScript
assets, and Yarn to manage JavaScript dependencies. The current minimum
requirements for these are:

- `node` >= v12.22.1. (We recommend node 14.x as it is faster)
- `yarn` = v1.22.x (Yarn 2 is not supported yet)

In many distributions,
the versions provided by the official package repositories are out of date, so
we need to install through the following commands:

```shell
# install node v14.x
curl --location "https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_14.x" | sudo bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

npm install --global yarn
```

Visit the official websites for [node](https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/) and [yarn](https://classic.yarnpkg.com/en/docs/install/) if you have any trouble with these steps.

## 5. System users

Create a `git` user for GitLab:

```shell
sudo adduser --disabled-login --gecos 'GitLab' git
```

## 6. Database

NOTE:
In GitLab 12.1 and later, only PostgreSQL is supported. In GitLab 14.0 and later, we [require PostgreSQL 12+](requirements.md#postgresql-requirements).

1. Install the database packages.

   For Ubuntu 20.04 and later:

   ```shell
   sudo apt install -y postgresql postgresql-client libpq-dev postgresql-contrib
   ```

   For Ubuntu 18.04 and earlier, the available PostgreSQL doesn't meet the minimum
   version requirement. You need to add PostgreSQL's repository:

   ```shell
   wget --quiet -O - https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | sudo apt-key add -
   sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt $(lsb_release -cs)-pgdg main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pgdg.list'
   sudo apt update
   sudo apt -y install postgresql-12 postgresql-client-12 libpq-dev
   ```

1. Verify the PostgreSQL version you have is supported by the version of GitLab you're
   installing:

   ```shell
   psql --version
   ```

1. Start the PostgreSQL service and confirm that the service is running:

   ```shell
   sudo service postgresql start
   sudo service postgresql status
   ```

1. Create a database user for GitLab:

   ```shell
   sudo -u postgres psql -d template1 -c "CREATE USER git CREATEDB;"
   ```

1. Create the `pg_trgm` extension:

   ```shell
   sudo -u postgres psql -d template1 -c "CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS pg_trgm;"
   ```

1. Create the `btree_gist` extension (required for GitLab 13.1+):

   ```shell
   sudo -u postgres psql -d template1 -c "CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS btree_gist;"
   ```

1. Create the GitLab production database and grant all privileges on the database:

   ```shell
   sudo -u postgres psql -d template1 -c "CREATE DATABASE gitlabhq_production OWNER git;"
   ```

1. Try connecting to the new database with the new user:

   ```shell
   sudo -u git -H psql -d gitlabhq_production
   ```

1. Check if the `pg_trgm` extension is enabled:

   ```sql
   SELECT true AS enabled
   FROM pg_available_extensions
   WHERE name = 'pg_trgm'
   AND installed_version IS NOT NULL;
   ```

   If the extension is enabled this produces the following output:

   ```plaintext
   enabled
   ---------
    t
   (1 row)
   ```

1. Check if the `btree_gist` extension is enabled:

   ```sql
   SELECT true AS enabled
   FROM pg_available_extensions
   WHERE name = 'btree_gist'
   AND installed_version IS NOT NULL;
   ```

   If the extension is enabled this produces the following output:

   ```plaintext
   enabled
   ---------
    t
   (1 row)
   ```

1. Quit the database session:

   ```shell
   gitlabhq_production> \q
   ```

## 7. Redis

See the [requirements page](requirements.md#redis-versions) for the minimum
Redis requirements.

Install Redis with:

```shell
sudo apt-get install redis-server
```

Once done, you can configure Redis:

```shell
# Configure redis to use sockets
sudo cp /etc/redis/redis.conf /etc/redis/redis.conf.orig

# Disable Redis listening on TCP by setting 'port' to 0
sudo sed 's/^port .*/port 0/' /etc/redis/redis.conf.orig | sudo tee /etc/redis/redis.conf

# Enable Redis socket for default Debian / Ubuntu path
echo 'unixsocket /var/run/redis/redis.sock' | sudo tee -a /etc/redis/redis.conf

# Grant permission to the socket to all members of the redis group
echo 'unixsocketperm 770' | sudo tee -a /etc/redis/redis.conf

# Add git to the redis group
sudo usermod -aG redis git
```

### Supervise Redis with systemd

If your distribution uses systemd init and the output of the following command is `notify`,
you do not need to make any changes:

```shell
systemctl show --value --property=Type redis-server.service
```

If the output is **not** `notify`, run:

```shell
# Configure Redis to not daemonize, but be supervised by systemd instead and disable the pidfile
sudo sed -i \
         -e 's/^daemonize yes$/daemonize no/' \
         -e 's/^supervised no$/supervised systemd/' \
         -e 's/^pidfile/# pidfile/' /etc/redis/redis.conf
sudo chown redis:redis /etc/redis/redis.conf

# Make the same changes to the systemd unit file
sudo mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/redis-server.service.d
sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/redis-server.service.d/10fix_type.conf <<EOF
[Service]
Type=notify
PIDFile=
EOF

# Reload the redis service
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

# Activate the changes to redis.conf
sudo systemctl restart redis-server.service
```

### Leave Redis unsupervised

If your system uses SysV init, run these commands:

```shell
# Create the directory which contains the socket
sudo mkdir -p /var/run/redis
sudo chown redis:redis /var/run/redis
sudo chmod 755 /var/run/redis

# Persist the directory which contains the socket, if applicable
if [ -d /etc/tmpfiles.d ]; then
  echo 'd  /var/run/redis  0755  redis  redis  10d  -' | sudo tee -a /etc/tmpfiles.d/redis.conf
fi

# Activate the changes to redis.conf
sudo service redis-server restart
```

## 8. GitLab

```shell
# We'll install GitLab into the home directory of the user "git"
cd /home/git
```

### Clone the Source

Clone Community Edition:

```shell
# Clone GitLab repository
sudo -u git -H git clone https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss.git -b <X-Y-stable> gitlab
```

Clone Enterprise Edition:

```shell
# Clone GitLab repository
sudo -u git -H git clone https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab.git -b <X-Y-stable-ee> gitlab
```

Make sure to replace `<X-Y-stable>` with the stable branch that matches the
version you want to install. For example, if you want to install 11.8 you would
use the branch name `11-8-stable`.

WARNING:
You can change `<X-Y-stable>` to `master` if you want the *bleeding edge* version, but never install `master` on a production server!

### Configure It

```shell
# Go to GitLab installation folder
cd /home/git/gitlab

# Copy the example GitLab config
sudo -u git -H cp config/gitlab.yml.example config/gitlab.yml

# Update GitLab config file, follow the directions at top of the file
sudo -u git -H editor config/gitlab.yml

# Copy the example secrets file
sudo -u git -H cp config/secrets.yml.example config/secrets.yml
sudo -u git -H chmod 0600 config/secrets.yml

# Make sure GitLab can write to the log/ and tmp/ directories
sudo chown -R git log/
sudo chown -R git tmp/
sudo chmod -R u+rwX,go-w log/
sudo chmod -R u+rwX tmp/

# Make sure GitLab can write to the tmp/pids/ and tmp/sockets/ directories
sudo chmod -R u+rwX tmp/pids/
sudo chmod -R u+rwX tmp/sockets/

# Create the public/uploads/ directory
sudo -u git -H mkdir -p public/uploads/

# Make sure only the GitLab user has access to the public/uploads/ directory
# now that files in public/uploads are served by gitlab-workhorse
sudo chmod 0700 public/uploads

# Change the permissions of the directory where CI job logs are stored
sudo chmod -R u+rwX builds/

# Change the permissions of the directory where CI artifacts are stored
sudo chmod -R u+rwX shared/artifacts/

# Change the permissions of the directory where GitLab Pages are stored
sudo chmod -R ug+rwX shared/pages/

# Copy the example Puma config
sudo -u git -H cp config/puma.rb.example config/puma.rb

# Refer to https://github.com/puma/puma#configuration for more information.
# You should scale Puma workers and threads based on the number of CPU
# cores you have available. You can get that number via the `nproc` command.
sudo -u git -H editor config/puma.rb

# Disable 'git gc --auto' because GitLab already runs 'git gc' when needed
sudo -u git -H git config --global gc.auto 0

# Enable packfile bitmaps
sudo -u git -H git config --global repack.writeBitmaps true

# Enable push options
# Refer to https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/push_options.html for more information.
sudo -u git -H git config --global receive.advertisePushOptions true

# Enable fsyncObjectFiles to reduce risk of repository corruption if the server crashes
sudo -u git -H git config --global core.fsyncObjectFiles true

# Configure Redis connection settings
sudo -u git -H cp config/resque.yml.example config/resque.yml
sudo -u git -H cp config/cable.yml.example config/cable.yml

# Change the Redis socket path if you are not using the default Debian / Ubuntu configuration
sudo -u git -H editor config/resque.yml config/cable.yml
```

Make sure to edit both `gitlab.yml` and `puma.rb` to match your setup.

If you want to use HTTPS, see [Using HTTPS](#using-https) for the additional steps.

### Configure GitLab DB Settings

```shell
sudo -u git cp config/database.yml.postgresql config/database.yml

# Remove host, username, and password lines from config/database.yml.
# Once modified, the `production` settings will be as follows:
#
#   production:
#     main:
#       adapter: postgresql
#       encoding: unicode
#       database: gitlabhq_production
#
sudo -u git -H editor config/database.yml

# Remote PostgreSQL only:
# Update username/password in config/database.yml.
# You only need to adapt the production settings (first part).
# If you followed the database guide then please do as follows:
# Change 'secure password' with the value you have given to $password
# You can keep the double quotes around the password
sudo -u git -H editor config/database.yml

# Make config/database.yml readable to git only
sudo -u git -H chmod o-rwx config/database.yml
```

### Install Gems

NOTE:
As of Bundler 1.5.2, you can invoke `bundle install -jN` (where `N` is the number of your processor cores) and enjoy parallel gems installation with measurable difference in completion time (~60% faster). Check the number of your cores with `nproc`. For more information, see this [post](https://thoughtbot.com/blog/parallel-gem-installing-using-bundler).

Make sure you have `bundle` (run `bundle -v`):

- `>= 1.5.2`, because some [issues](https://devcenter.heroku.com/changelog-items/411) were [fixed](https://github.com/rubygems/bundler/pull/2817) in 1.5.2.
- `< 2.x`.

Install the gems (if you want to use Kerberos for user authentication, omit
`kerberos` in the `--without` option below):

```shell
sudo -u git -H bundle config set --local deployment 'true'
sudo -u git -H bundle config set --local without 'development test mysql aws kerberos'
sudo -u git -H bundle install
```

### Install GitLab Shell

GitLab Shell is an SSH access and repository management software developed specially for GitLab.

```shell
# Run the installation task for gitlab-shell:
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:shell:install RAILS_ENV=production

# By default, the gitlab-shell config is generated from your main GitLab config.
# You can review (and modify) the gitlab-shell config as follows:
sudo -u git -H editor /home/git/gitlab-shell/config.yml
```

If you want to use HTTPS, see [Using HTTPS](#using-https) for the additional steps.

Make sure your hostname can be resolved on the machine itself by either a proper DNS record or an additional line in `/etc/hosts` ("127.0.0.1 hostname"). This might be necessary, for example, if you set up GitLab behind a reverse proxy. If the hostname cannot be resolved, the final installation check fails with `Check GitLab API access: FAILED. code: 401` and pushing commits are rejected with `[remote rejected] master -> master (hook declined)`.

### Install GitLab Workhorse

GitLab-Workhorse uses [GNU Make](https://www.gnu.org/software/make/). The
following command-line installs GitLab-Workhorse in `/home/git/gitlab-workhorse`
which is the recommended location.

```shell
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake "gitlab:workhorse:install[/home/git/gitlab-workhorse]" RAILS_ENV=production
```

You can specify a different Git repository by providing it as an extra parameter:

```shell
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake "gitlab:workhorse:install[/home/git/gitlab-workhorse,https://example.com/gitlab-workhorse.git]" RAILS_ENV=production
```

### Install GitLab-Elasticsearch-indexer on Enterprise Edition **(PREMIUM SELF)**

GitLab-Elasticsearch-Indexer uses [GNU Make](https://www.gnu.org/software/make/). The
following command-line installs GitLab-Elasticsearch-Indexer in `/home/git/gitlab-elasticsearch-indexer`
which is the recommended location.

```shell
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake "gitlab:indexer:install[/home/git/gitlab-elasticsearch-indexer]" RAILS_ENV=production
```

You can specify a different Git repository by providing it as an extra parameter:

```shell
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake "gitlab:indexer:install[/home/git/gitlab-elasticsearch-indexer,https://example.com/gitlab-elasticsearch-indexer.git]" RAILS_ENV=production
```

The source code first is fetched to the path specified by the first parameter. Then a binary is built under its `bin` directory.
You then need to update `gitlab.yml`'s `production -> elasticsearch -> indexer_path` setting to point to that binary.

### Install GitLab Pages

GitLab Pages uses [GNU Make](https://www.gnu.org/software/make/). This step is optional and only needed if you wish to host static sites from within GitLab. The following commands install GitLab Pages in `/home/git/gitlab-pages`. For additional setup steps, consult the [administration guide](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/doc/administration/pages/source.md) for your version of GitLab as the GitLab Pages daemon can be run several different ways.

```shell
cd /home/git
sudo -u git -H git clone https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-pages.git
cd gitlab-pages
sudo -u git -H git checkout v$(</home/git/gitlab/GITLAB_PAGES_VERSION)
sudo -u git -H make
```

### Install Gitaly

```shell
# Fetch Gitaly source with Git and compile with Go
cd /home/git/gitlab
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake "gitlab:gitaly:install[/home/git/gitaly,/home/git/repositories]" RAILS_ENV=production
```

You can specify a different Git repository by providing it as an extra parameter:

```shell
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake "gitlab:gitaly:install[/home/git/gitaly,/home/git/repositories,https://example.com/gitaly.git]" RAILS_ENV=production
```

Next, make sure that Gitaly is configured:

```shell
# Restrict Gitaly socket access
sudo chmod 0700 /home/git/gitlab/tmp/sockets/private
sudo chown git /home/git/gitlab/tmp/sockets/private

# If you are using non-default settings, you need to update config.toml
cd /home/git/gitaly
sudo -u git -H editor config.toml
```

For more information about configuring Gitaly see
[the Gitaly documentation](../administration/gitaly/index.md).

### Install the service

GitLab has always supported SysV init scripts, which are widely supported and portable, but now systemd is the standard for service supervision and is used by all major Linux distributions. You should use native systemd services if you can to benefit from automatic restarts, better sandboxing and resource control.

#### Install systemd units

Use these steps if you use systemd as init. Otherwise, follow the [SysV init script steps](#install-sysv-init-script).

Copy the services and run `systemctl daemon-reload` so that systemd picks them up:

```shell
cd /home/git/gitlab
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/lib/systemd/system
sudo cp lib/support/systemd/* /usr/local/lib/systemd/system/
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
```

The units provided by GitLab make very little assumptions about where you are running Redis and PostgreSQL.

If you installed GitLab in another directory or as a user other than the default, you need to change these values in the units as well.

For example, if you're running Redis and PostgreSQL on the same machine as GitLab, you should:

- Edit the Puma service:

  ```shell
  sudo systemctl edit gitlab-puma.service
  ```

  In the editor that opens, add the following and save the file:

  ```plaintext
  [Unit]
  Wants=redis-server.service postgresql.service
  After=redis-server.service postgresql.service
  ```

- Edit the Sidekiq service:

  ```shell
  sudo systemctl edit gitlab-sidekiq.service
  ```

  Add the following and save the file:

  ```plaintext
  [Unit]
  Wants=redis-server.service postgresql.service
  After=redis-server.service postgresql.service
  ```

`systemctl edit` installs drop-in configuration files at `/etc/systemd/system/<name of the unit>.d/override.conf`, so your local configuration is not overwritten when updating the unit files later. To split up your drop-in configuration files, you can add the above snippets to `.conf` files under `/etc/systemd/system/<name of the unit>.d/`.

If you manually made changes to the unit files or added drop-in configuration files (without using `systemctl edit`), run the following command for them to take effect:

```shell
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
```

Make GitLab start on boot:

```shell
sudo systemctl enable gitlab.target
```

#### Install SysV init script

Use these steps if you use the SysV init script. If you use systemd, follow the [systemd unit steps](#install-systemd-units).

Download the init script (is `/etc/init.d/gitlab`):

```shell
cd /home/git/gitlab
sudo cp lib/support/init.d/gitlab /etc/init.d/gitlab
```

And if you are installing with a non-default folder or user, copy and edit the defaults file:

```shell
sudo cp lib/support/init.d/gitlab.default.example /etc/default/gitlab
```

If you installed GitLab in another directory or as a user other than the default, you should change these settings in `/etc/default/gitlab`. Do not edit `/etc/init.d/gitlab` as it is changed on upgrade.

Make GitLab start on boot:

```shell
sudo update-rc.d gitlab defaults 21
# or if running this on a machine running systemd
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable gitlab.service
```

### Set up Logrotate

```shell
sudo cp lib/support/logrotate/gitlab /etc/logrotate.d/gitlab
```

### Start Gitaly

Gitaly must be running for the next section.

- To start Gitaly using systemd:

  ```shell
  sudo systemctl start gitlab-gitaly.service
  ```

- To manually start Gitaly for SysV:

  ```shell
  gitlab_path=/home/git/gitlab
  gitaly_path=/home/git/gitaly

  sudo -u git -H sh -c "$gitlab_path/bin/daemon_with_pidfile $gitlab_path/tmp/pids/gitaly.pid \
    $gitaly_path/_build/bin/gitaly $gitaly_path/config.toml >> $gitlab_path/log/gitaly.log 2>&1 &"
  ```

### Initialize Database and Activate Advanced Features

```shell
cd /home/git/gitlab
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:setup RAILS_ENV=production
# Type 'yes' to create the database tables.

# or you can skip the question by adding force=yes
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:setup RAILS_ENV=production force=yes

# When done, you see 'Administrator account created:'
```

You can set the Administrator/root password and email by supplying them in environmental variables, `GITLAB_ROOT_PASSWORD` and `GITLAB_ROOT_EMAIL` respectively, as seen below. If you don't set the password (and it is set to the default one), wait to expose GitLab to the public internet until the installation is done and you've logged into the server the first time. During the first login, you'll be forced to change the default password. An Enterprise Edition license may also be installed at this time by supplying a full path in the `GITLAB_LICENSE_FILE` environment variable.

```shell
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:setup RAILS_ENV=production GITLAB_ROOT_PASSWORD=yourpassword GITLAB_ROOT_EMAIL=youremail GITLAB_LICENSE_FILE="/path/to/license"
```

### Secure secrets.yml

The `secrets.yml` file stores encryption keys for sessions and secure variables.
Backup `secrets.yml` someplace safe, but don't store it in the same place as your database backups.
Otherwise, your secrets are exposed if one of your backups is compromised.

### Check Application Status

Check if GitLab and its environment are configured correctly:

```shell
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:env:info RAILS_ENV=production
```

### Compile GetText PO files

```shell
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gettext:compile RAILS_ENV=production
```

### Compile Assets

```shell
sudo -u git -H yarn install --production --pure-lockfile
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:assets:compile RAILS_ENV=production NODE_ENV=production
```

If `rake` fails with `JavaScript heap out of memory` error, try to run it with `NODE_OPTIONS` set as follows.

```shell
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:assets:compile RAILS_ENV=production NODE_ENV=production NODE_OPTIONS="--max_old_space_size=4096"
```

### Start Your GitLab Instance

```shell
# For systems running systemd
sudo systemctl start gitlab.target

# For systems running SysV init
sudo service gitlab start
```

## 9. NGINX

NGINX is the officially supported web server for GitLab. If you cannot or do not want to use NGINX as your web server, see [GitLab recipes](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-recipes/).

### Installation

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y nginx
```

### Site Configuration

Copy the example site configuration:

```shell
sudo cp lib/support/nginx/gitlab /etc/nginx/sites-available/gitlab
sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/gitlab /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/gitlab
```

Make sure to edit the configuration file to match your setup. Also, ensure that you match your paths to GitLab, especially if installing for a user other than the `git` user:

```shell
# Change YOUR_SERVER_FQDN to the fully-qualified
# domain name of your host serving GitLab.
#
# Remember to match your paths to GitLab, especially
# if installing for a user other than 'git'.
#
# If using Ubuntu default nginx install:
# either remove the default_server from the listen line
# or else sudo rm -f /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default
sudo editor /etc/nginx/sites-available/gitlab
```

If you intend to enable GitLab Pages, there is a separate NGINX configuration you need
to use. Read all about the needed configuration at the
[GitLab Pages administration guide](../administration/pages/index.md).

If you want to use HTTPS, replace the `gitlab` NGINX configuration with `gitlab-ssl`. See [Using HTTPS](#using-https) for HTTPS configuration details.

For the NGINX to be able to read the GitLab-Workhorse socket, you need to make sure, that the `www-data` user can read the socket, which will be owned by the GitLab user. This is most easily achieved, if it is world-readable, for example that it has permissions `0755`, which is the default. `www-data` also needs to be able to list the parent directories.

### Test Configuration

Validate your `gitlab` or `gitlab-ssl` NGINX configuration file with the following command:

```shell
sudo nginx -t
```

You should receive `syntax is okay` and `test is successful` messages. If you
receive error messages, check your `gitlab` or `gitlab-ssl` NGINX configuration
file for typos, as indicated in the provided error message.

Verify that the installed version is greater than 1.12.1:

```shell
nginx -v
```

If it's lower, you may receive the error below:

```plaintext
nginx: [emerg] unknown "start$temp=[filtered]$rest" variable
nginx: configuration file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf test failed
```

### Restart

```shell
# For systems running systemd
sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

# For systems running SysV init
sudo service nginx restart
```

## Post-install

### Double-check Application Status

To make sure you didn't miss anything run a more thorough check with:

```shell
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:check RAILS_ENV=production
```

If all items are green, congratulations on successfully installing GitLab!

NOTE:
Supply the `SANITIZE=true` environment variable to `gitlab:check` to omit project names from the output of the check command.

### Initial Login

Visit YOUR_SERVER in your web browser for your first GitLab login.

If you didn't [provide a root password during setup](#initialize-database-and-activate-advanced-features),
you'll be redirected to a password reset screen to provide the password for the
initial administrator account. Enter your desired password and you'll be
redirected back to the login screen.

The default account's username is **root**. Provide the password you created
earlier and login. After login, you can change the username if you wish.

**Enjoy!**

To start and stop GitLab when using:

- systemd units: use `sudo systemctl start gitlab.target` or `sudo systemctl stop gitlab.target`.
- The SysV init script: use `sudo service gitlab start` or `sudo service gitlab stop`.

## Advanced Setup Tips

### Relative URL support

See the [Relative URL documentation](relative_url.md) for more information on
how to configure GitLab with a relative URL.

### Using HTTPS

To use GitLab with HTTPS:

1. In `gitlab.yml`:
   1. Set the `port` option in section 1 to `443`.
   1. Set the `https` option in section 1 to `true`.
1. In the `config.yml` of GitLab Shell:
   1. Set `gitlab_url` option to the HTTPS endpoint of GitLab (for example, `https://git.example.com`).
   1. Set the certificates using either the `ca_file` or `ca_path` option.
1. Use the `gitlab-ssl` NGINX example configuration instead of the `gitlab` configuration.
   1. Update `YOUR_SERVER_FQDN`.
   1. Update `ssl_certificate` and `ssl_certificate_key`.
   1. Review the configuration file and consider applying other security and performance enhancing features.

Using a self-signed certificate is discouraged. If you must use one,
follow the normal directions and generate a self-signed SSL certificate:

   ```shell
   mkdir -p /etc/nginx/ssl/
   cd /etc/nginx/ssl/
   sudo openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -x509 -nodes -days 3560 -out gitlab.crt -keyout gitlab.key
   sudo chmod o-r gitlab.key
   ```

WARNING:
The `self_signed_cert` variable is
[deprecated and redundant](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-shell/-/issues/120).
It is set to `false` by default, but still accepts self-signed certificates. Setting
this value to `true` allows any certificate to be accepted, and can make
machine-in-the-middle attacks possible.

### Enable Reply by email

See the ["Reply by email" documentation](../administration/reply_by_email.md) for more information on how to set this up.

### LDAP Authentication

You can configure LDAP authentication in `config/gitlab.yml`. Restart GitLab after editing this file.

### Using Custom OmniAuth Providers

See the [OmniAuth integration documentation](../integration/omniauth.md).

### Build your projects

GitLab can build your projects. To enable that feature, you need runners to do that for you.
See the [GitLab Runner section](https://about.gitlab.com/stages-devops-lifecycle/continuous-integration/#gitlab-runner) to install it.

### Adding your Trusted Proxies

If you are using a reverse proxy on a separate machine, you may want to add the
proxy to the trusted proxies list. Otherwise users appear signed in from the
proxy's IP address.

You can add trusted proxies in `config/gitlab.yml` by customizing the `trusted_proxies`
option in section 1. Save the file and [reconfigure GitLab](../administration/restart_gitlab.md)
for the changes to take effect.

### Custom Redis Connection

If you'd like to connect to a Redis server on a non-standard port or a different host, you can configure its connection string via the `config/resque.yml` file.

```yaml
# example
production:
  url: redis://redis.example.tld:6379
```

If you want to connect the Redis server via socket, use the `unix:` URL scheme and the path to the Redis socket file in the `config/resque.yml` file.

```yaml
# example
production:
  url: unix:/path/to/redis/socket
```

Also, you can use environment variables in the `config/resque.yml` file:

```yaml
# example
production:
  url: <%= ENV.fetch('GITLAB_REDIS_URL') %>
```

### Custom SSH Connection

If you are running SSH on a non-standard port, you must change the GitLab user's SSH configuration.

```plaintext
# Add to /home/git/.ssh/config
host localhost          # Give your setup a name (here: override localhost)
    user git            # Your remote git user
    port 2222           # Your port number
    hostname 127.0.0.1; # Your server name or IP
```

You also need to change the corresponding options (for example, `ssh_user`, `ssh_host`, `admin_uri`) in the `config\gitlab.yml` file.

### Additional Markup Styles

Apart from the always supported Markdown style, there are other rich text files that GitLab can display. But you might have to install a dependency to do so. See the [`github-markup` gem README](https://github.com/gitlabhq/markup#markups) for more information.

### Using Sidekiq instead of Sidekiq Cluster

As of GitLab 12.10, Source installations are using `bin/sidekiq-cluster` for managing Sidekiq processes.
Using Sidekiq directly is still supported until 14.0. So if you're experiencing issues, please:

1. Edit the system `init.d` script to remove the `SIDEKIQ_WORKERS` flag. If you have `/etc/default/gitlab`, then you should edit it instead.
1. Restart GitLab.
1. [Create an issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/-/new) describing the problem.

### Prometheus server setup

You can configure the Prometheus server in `config/gitlab.yml`:

```yaml
# example
prometheus:
  enabled: true
  server_address: '10.1.2.3:9090'
```

## Troubleshooting

### "You appear to have cloned an empty repository."

If you see this message when attempting to clone a repository hosted by GitLab,
this is likely due to an outdated NGINX or Apache configuration, or a missing or
misconfigured GitLab Workhorse instance. Double-check that you've
[installed Go](#3-go), [installed GitLab Workhorse](#install-gitlab-workhorse),
and correctly [configured NGINX](#site-configuration).

### `google-protobuf` "LoadError: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6: version 'GLIBC_2.14' not found"

This can happen on some platforms for some versions of the
`google-protobuf` gem. The workaround is to install a source-only
version of this gem.

First, you must find the exact version of `google-protobuf` that your
GitLab installation requires:

```shell
cd /home/git/gitlab

# Only one of the following two commands will print something. It
# will look like: * google-protobuf (3.2.0)
bundle list | grep google-protobuf
bundle check | grep google-protobuf
```

Below, `3.2.0` is used as an example. Replace it with the version number
you found above:

```shell
cd /home/git/gitlab
sudo -u git -H gem install google-protobuf --version 3.2.0 --platform ruby
```

Finally, you can test whether `google-protobuf` loads correctly. The
following should print 'OK'.

```shell
sudo -u git -H bundle exec ruby -rgoogle/protobuf -e 'puts :OK'
```

If the `gem install` command fails, you may need to install the developer
tools of your OS.

On Debian/Ubuntu:

```shell
sudo apt-get install build-essential libgmp-dev
```

On RedHat/CentOS:

```shell
sudo yum groupinstall 'Development Tools'
```

### Error compiling GitLab assets

While compiling assets, you may receive the following error message:

```plaintext
Killed
error Command failed with exit code 137.
```

This can occur when Yarn kills a container that runs out of memory. To fix this:

1. Increase your system's memory to at least 8 GB.

1. Run this command to clean the assets:

   ```shell
   sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:assets:clean RAILS_ENV=production NODE_ENV=production
   ```

1. Run the `yarn` command again to resolve any conflicts:

   ```shell
   sudo -u git -H yarn install --production --pure-lockfile
   ```

1. Recompile the assets:

   ```shell
   sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:assets:compile RAILS_ENV=production NODE_ENV=production
   ```
