[[meta title="Git"]] [Git][git] is a distributed revison control system originally developed for the Linux kernel. Ikiwiki supports storing a wiki in git. [git]: http://git.or.cz/ Ikiwiki can run as a `post-update` hook to update a wiki whenever commits come in. When running as a [[cgi]] with Git, ikiwiki automatically commits edited pages, and uses the Git history to generate the [[RecentChanges]] page. ## git repository setup The suggested setup for git is a set of repositories setup like a shallow, single level tree, with a bare repository (meaning that it does not have a working tree checked out) at the root, and various working clones (with working directories) as leaf nodes. The root (bare) repository is meant to be pushed to and pulled from the various working clones. The image below displays the relationship between the root repository and the clone repositories (this is not a directory layout): ![Git repository relationships](http://people.debian.org/~srivasta/ikiwiki_git.png) One of the leaf node clone repositories is special; it has working directory which is used to compile the wiki from, and is also used by the [[cgi]] to commit changes made via the web interface. It is special since the `post-commit` hook for the bare root repository is used to trigger an update of this repository, and then an ikiwiki refresh updates the published wiki itself. The other (optional) leaf node repositories are meant for you to work on, and commit to, changes should then be pushed to the bare root repository. In theory, you could work on the same leaf node repository that ikiwiki uses to compile the wiki from, and the [[cgi]] commits to, as long as you ensure that permissions and ownership don't hinder the working of the [[cgi]]. This can be done, for example, by using ACL's, in practice, it is easier to just setup separate clones for yourself. So, to reiterate, when using Git, you probably want to set up three repositories: * The root repository. This should be a bare repository (meaning that it does not have a working tree checked out), which the other repositories will push to/pull from. It is a bare repository, since there are problems pushing to a repository that has a working directory. This is called _repository_ in [[ikiwiki-makerepo]]'s manual page. Nominally, this bare repository has a `post-commit` hook that either is or calls ikiwiki's git wrapper, which changes to the working directory for ikiwiki, does a _git pull_, and refreshes ikiwiki to regenerate the wiki with any new content. The configuration sections below show how to let the post-commit hook be replaced by the ikiwiki git wrapper. * The second repository is a clone of the bare root repository, and has a working tree which is used as ikiwiki's srcdir for compiling the wiki. **Never** push to this repository. When running as a [[cgi]], the changes are committed to this repository, and pushed to the master repository above. This is called _srcdir_ in [[ikiwiki-makerepo]]'s manual page. * The other (third, fourth, fifth, sixth -- however many pleases you) repositories are also clones of the bare root repository above -- and these have a working directory for you to work on. Use either the `git` transport (if available), or `ssh`. These repositories may be on remote machines, your laptop, whereever you find convenient to hack on your wiki. you can commit local changes to the version on the laptop, perhaps while offline. You can browse and edit the wiki using a local web server. Any new content should be pushed to the bare master repository when you are ready to publish it, and then the post-commit hook of the bare repository will ensure that the ikiwiki's source directory is updated, and the ikiwiki refreshed with the new content. Using three or more of repositories isn't the most obvious set up, but it works the best for typical ikiwiki use. [[ikiwiki-makerepo]] can automate setting this up for the common case where there is no pre-existing wiki. [[tips/Laptop_wiki_with_git]] describes a different way to set up ikiwiki and git. It is **paramount** that you **never** push to the non-bare repository ([this FAQ entry explains why](http://git.or.cz/gitwiki/GitFaq#head-b96f48bc9c925074be9f95c0fce69bcece5f6e73)). Instead, clone the bare repository as mentioned above, and push **only** to the bare repository. The ikiwiki `post-commit` hook should be put in the bare repository. ## git repository with multiple committers It can be tricky to get the permissions right to allow multiple people to commit to an ikiwiki git repository. As the [[security]] page mentions, for a secure ikiwiki installation, only one person should be able to write to ikiwiki's srcdir. When other committers make commits, their commits should go to the bare repository, which has a `post-update` hook that uses ikiwiki to pull the changes to the srcdir. One setup that will work is to put all committers in a group (say, "ikiwiki"), and use permissions to allow that group to commit to the bare git repository. Make both the post-update hook and ikiwiki.cgi be setgid to the group, as well as suid to the user who admins the wiki. The `wrappergroup` [[setup_file_option|usage]] can be used to make the wrappers be setgid to the right group. Then the srcdir, including its git repository, should only be writable by the wiki's admin, and *not* by the group. Take care that ikiwiki uses a umask that does not cause files in the srcdir to become group writable. (umask 022 will work.) ## Configuration ### Ikiwiki working directory * Configure a cgi wrapper as usual, but configure the git wrapper to be written to the post-commit hook of the bare root repository. Set in the configuration: gitorigin_branch=> "origin", ## git post-commit wrapper wrapper => "/path/to/bare/repo/.git/hooks/post-commit", ### Working clones (Clone 1 .. N in the image) These are repositories usually setup to avoid permission problems with the working directory used by ikiwiki itself. They also represent the most convenient way to add content to the wiki on a different machine (that is, not the machine the wiki is published on) which is more convenient. The use case for these clones is this: If you want to edit your wiki on your development box, or on your laptop, you usually set up a clone as above. But very often, you also want to test what the changes look like, locally, before pushing it to the root repository and publishing the wiki for the world to see. In order to do this, you should another setup file and setup a private ikiwiki on the local machine (your laptop, for instance) where you do most of your editing. You will also need to set up a webserver, and install ikiwiki on this machine. Only when you are happy with any changes do you push them to the root repository. Here are some things to be aware of when configuring ikiwiki on the local machine: * By default, ikiwiki pulls and pushes from `origin`. This is not ideal for the working clones on the local machine, since you might go through several iterations of a page before pushing to the bare root of the repository tree and publishing it on your public wiki. In the configuration, set: gitorigin_branch => "", ## git post-commit wrapper wrapper => "/working/dir/.git/hooks/post-commit", Then just committing should refresh the private ikiwiki on the local host. * You can optionally enable to the [[plugins/mirrorlist]] plugin, and configure it so that each page links to the corresponding page on the server. Now just run `ikiwiki -setup wiki.setup -getctime` and you should be good to go. (You only need the slow `-getctime` option the first time you run setup.) Use standard git commands to handle pulling from and pushing to the server. Note: Currently, after pulling changes, you will need to manually update the wiki, with a command such as `ikiwiki -setup wiki.setup -refresh`. This is because git 1.5.4 doesn't have a hook that is run locally after pulling changes. Newer versions of git will have a `post-merge` hook that should work for this purpose.