Self-Hosting Git Repositories

In-depth look at the commands that work

Previously, I shared why I need a solution away from the standard git providers, and how I setup a VPS to host git repositories. It will beneficial for some to know what these commands are doing so you can modify or debug them as needed. Here is a detailed look at the commands which were run.

Step-by-step

# SSH onto the remote host
$ ssh [USERNAME]@[REMOTE]

# Create a group to have ownership of the git directory
$ sudo groupadd [GROUPNAME]

# Add the a user to the group
$ sudo usermod --append --groups [GROUPNAME] [USERNAME]

# This is exactly what I ran.
# Referencing absolute directories may work as well.
# Moreover, it doesn't have to be in /opt.
$ cd /opt

# Make a directory to hold any number of git repositories
# Give group full rwx permissions, Give others no rwx permissions
$ sudo mkdir -m 0770 [DIRECTORYNAME]

# Change group ownership of the newly created directory to the new group
$ sudo chgrp [GROUPNAME] [DIRECTORYNAME]

# Configure the directory to have new files and directories inherit group ownership
$ sudo chmod g+s [DIRECTORYNAME]

# This is exactly what I ran.
$ cd [DIRECTORYNAME]

# Make a directory for a specific git repository
$ mkdir [PROJECTDIRECTORY]

# Change to the project directory to initialize git
$ cd [PROJECTDIRECTORY]

# git init --bare makes a repo without a working directory
# git init --shared configures git to run its automated processes maintaining group ownership
$ git init --bare --shared

# Exit back to the local desktop
$ exit

# Change path to the local git repository
$ cd [PROJECTPATH]

# Add the self-hosted git repo as a remote
$ git remote add [REMOTENAME] [USERNAME]@[REMOTE]:/opt/[DIRECTORYNAME]/[PROJECTDIRECTORY]

# After having added and committed files, push any changes to the remote repository
$ git push [REMOTENAME] HEAD

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