Self-compiled installation

DETAILS: Tier: Free, Premium, Ultimate Offering: GitLab Self-Managed

This is the official installation guide to set up a production GitLab server using the source files. It was created for and tested on Debian/Ubuntu operating systems. Read requirements.md for hardware and operating system requirements. If you want to install on RHEL/CentOS, you should use the Linux packages. For many other installation options, see the main installation page.

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. 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.

Consider the Linux package installation

Because a self-compiled installation is a lot of work and error prone, we strongly recommend the fast and reliable Linux package installation (deb/rpm).

One reason the Linux 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. The Linux packages solve this by letting the Sidekiq terminate gracefully if it uses too much memory. After this termination runit detects Sidekiq is not running and starts it. Because self-compiled installations 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 from the branch (version) of GitLab you would like to install (for example, 16-0-stable). You can select the branch in the version dropdown list in the upper-left corner of GitLab (below the menu bar).

If the highest number stable branch is unclear, check the GitLab blog for installation guide links by version.

Software requirements

Software	Minimum version	Notes
Ruby	`3.2.x`	In GitLab 17.5 and later, Ruby 3.2 is required. You must use the standard MRI implementation of Ruby. We love JRuby and Rubinius, but GitLab needs several Gems that have native extensions.
RubyGems	`3.5.x`	A specific RubyGems version is not required, but you should update to benefit from some known performance improvements.
Go	`1.22.x`	In GitLab 17.1 and later, Go 1.22 or later is required.
Git	`2.47.x`	In GitLab 17.7 and later, Git 2.47.x and later is required. You should use the Git version provided by Gitaly.
Node.js	`20.13.x`	In GitLab 17.0 and later, Node.js 20.13 or later is required.
PostgreSQL	`14.x`	In GitLab 17.0 and later, PostgreSQL 14 or later is required.

GitLab directory structure

The following directories are created as you go through the installation steps:

|-- 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.

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

It is not necessary to create these directories manually now, and doing so can cause errors later in the installation.

For a more in-depth overview, see the GitLab architecture doc.

Overview

The GitLab installation consists of setting up the following components:

Packages and dependencies.
Ruby.
RubyGems.
Go.
Node.
System users.
Database.
Redis.
GitLab.
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.

# 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):

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 libkrb5-dev logrotate rsync python3-docutils pkg-config cmake \
  runit-systemd

NOTE: GitLab requires OpenSSL version 1.1. If your Linux distribution includes a different version of OpenSSL, you might have to install 1.1 manually.

Git

You should use the Git version provided by Gitaly that:

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

Install the needed dependencies:

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

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 16.7, use the branch name 16-7-stable:
```
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
```
Optionally, you can remove the system Git and its dependencies:
```
sudo apt remove -y git-core
sudo apt autoremove
```

When editing config/gitlab.yml later, remember to change the Git path:

From:
```
git:
  bin_path: /usr/bin/git
```
To:
```
git:
  bin_path: /usr/local/bin/git
```

GraphicsMagick

For the Custom Favicon to work, GraphicsMagick must be installed.

sudo apt-get install -y graphicsmagick

Mail server

To receive mail notifications, make sure to install a mail server. By default, Debian is shipped with exim4 but this has problems while Ubuntu does not ship with one. The recommended mail server is postfix and you can install it with:

sudo apt-get install -y postfix

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

ExifTool

GitLab Workhorse requires exiftool to remove EXIF data from uploaded images.

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

2. Ruby

The Ruby interpreter is required to run GitLab. See the requirements section for the minimum Ruby requirements.

The use of Ruby version managers such as RVM, rbenv or 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.

Install Ruby.

3. RubyGems

Sometimes, a newer version of RubyGems is required than the one bundled with Ruby.

To update to a specific version:

gem update --system 3.4.12

Or the latest version:

gem update --system

4. 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.

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

curl --remote-name --location --progress-bar "https://go.dev/dl/go1.22.5.linux-amd64.tar.gz"
echo '904b924d435eaea086515bc63235b192ea441bd8c9b198c507e85009e6e4c7f0  go1.22.5.linux-amd64.tar.gz' | shasum -a256 -c - && \
  sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.22.5.linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo ln -sf /usr/local/go/bin/{go,gofmt} /usr/local/bin/
rm go1.22.5.linux-amd64.tar.gz

5. 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 20.x releases (v20.13.0 or later). Other LTS versions of Node.js might be able to build assets, but we only guarantee Node.js 20.x.
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 must install through the following commands:

# install node v20.x
curl --location "https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x" | sudo bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

npm install --global yarn

Visit the official websites for node and yarn if you have any trouble with these steps.

6. System users

Create a git user for GitLab:

# run as root!
apt-get update -y
apt-get upgrade -y
apt-get install sudo -y
```0

## 7. Database

NOTE:
Only PostgreSQL is supported.
In GitLab 17.0 and later, we [require PostgreSQL 14+](requirements.md#postgresql).

1. Install the database packages.

   For Ubuntu 22.04 and later:

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

For Ubuntu 20.04 and earlier, the available PostgreSQL doesn't meet the minimum version requirement. You must add PostgreSQL's repository:

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb https://apt.postgresql.org/pub/repos/apt $(lsb_release -cs)-pgdg main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pgdg.list'
wget --quiet -O - https://www.postgresql.org/media/keys/ACCC4CF8.asc | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install postgresql-14

Verify the PostgreSQL version you have is supported by the version of GitLab you're installing:
```
psql --version
```
Start the PostgreSQL service and confirm that the service is running:
```
sudo service postgresql start
sudo service postgresql status
```

Create a database user for GitLab:

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

Create the pg_trgm extension:

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

Create the btree_gist extension:

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

Create the plpgsql extension:

sudo -u postgres psql -d template1 -c "CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS plpgsql;"

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

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

Try connecting to the new database with the new user:
```
sudo -u git -H psql -d gitlabhq_production
```

Check if the pg_trgm extension is enabled:

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:

enabled
---------
 t
(1 row)

Check if the btree_gist extension is enabled:

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:

enabled
---------
 t
(1 row)

Check if the plpgsql extension is enabled:

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

If the extension is enabled this produces the following output:

enabled
---------
 t
(1 row)

Quit the database session:
```
gitlabhq_production> \q
```

8. Redis

See the requirements page for the minimum Redis requirements.

Install Redis with:

# run as root!
apt-get update -y
apt-get upgrade -y
apt-get install sudo -y
```1

Once done, you can configure Redis:

```shell
# run as root!
apt-get update -y
apt-get upgrade -y
apt-get install sudo -y
```2

### Supervise Redis with systemd

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

```shell
# run as root!
apt-get update -y
apt-get upgrade -y
apt-get install sudo -y
```3

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

```shell
# run as root!
apt-get update -y
apt-get upgrade -y
apt-get install sudo -y
```4

### Leave Redis unsupervised

If your system uses SysV init, run these commands:

```shell
# run as root!
apt-get update -y
apt-get upgrade -y
apt-get install sudo -y
```5

## 9. GitLab

```shell
# run as root!
apt-get update -y
apt-get upgrade -y
apt-get install sudo -y
```6

### Clone the Source

Clone Community Edition:

```shell
# run as root!
apt-get update -y
apt-get upgrade -y
apt-get install sudo -y
```7

Clone Enterprise Edition:

```shell
# run as root!
apt-get update -y
apt-get upgrade -y
apt-get install sudo -y
```8

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
# run as root!
apt-get update -y
apt-get upgrade -y
apt-get install sudo -y
```9

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

NOTE:
From [GitLab 15.9](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/387898), `database.yml` with only a section: `main:` is deprecated.
In GitLab 17.0 and later, you must have the two `main:` and `ci:` sections in your `database.yml`.

```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 libkrb5-dev logrotate rsync python3-docutils pkg-config cmake \
  runit-systemd
```0

You should have two sections in your `database.yml`: `main:` and `ci:`. The `ci`:
connection [must be to the same database](../administration/postgresql/multiple_databases.md).

### 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 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 libkrb5-dev logrotate rsync python3-docutils pkg-config cmake \
  runit-systemd
```1

### Install GitLab Shell

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

```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 libkrb5-dev logrotate rsync python3-docutils pkg-config cmake \
  runit-systemd
```2

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 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 libkrb5-dev logrotate rsync python3-docutils pkg-config cmake \
  runit-systemd
```3

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

```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 libkrb5-dev logrotate rsync python3-docutils pkg-config cmake \
  runit-systemd
```4

### Install GitLab-Elasticsearch-indexer on Enterprise Edition

DETAILS:
**Tier:** Premium, Ultimate
**Offering:** GitLab Self-Managed

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 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 libkrb5-dev logrotate rsync python3-docutils pkg-config cmake \
  runit-systemd
```5

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

```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 libkrb5-dev logrotate rsync python3-docutils pkg-config cmake \
  runit-systemd
```6

The source code first is fetched to the path specified by the first parameter. Then a binary is built under its `bin` directory.
You must then 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
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 libkrb5-dev logrotate rsync python3-docutils pkg-config cmake \
  runit-systemd
```7

### Install Gitaly

```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 libkrb5-dev logrotate rsync python3-docutils pkg-config cmake \
  runit-systemd
```8

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

```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 libkrb5-dev logrotate rsync python3-docutils pkg-config cmake \
  runit-systemd
```9

Next, make sure that Gitaly is configured:

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y graphicsmagick
```0

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
sudo apt-get install -y graphicsmagick
```1

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 must 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:

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

Edit the Sidekiq service:

sudo systemctl edit gitlab-sidekiq.service

Add the following and save the file:

[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:

sudo apt-get install -y graphicsmagick
```2

Make GitLab start on boot:

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y graphicsmagick
```3

#### 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
sudo apt-get install -y graphicsmagick
```4

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

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y graphicsmagick
```5

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 apt-get install -y graphicsmagick
```6

### Set up Logrotate

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y graphicsmagick
```7

### 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:

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

sudo apt-get install -y graphicsmagick
```8

You can set the Administrator/root password and email by supplying them in environmental variables, `GITLAB_ROOT_PASSWORD` and `GITLAB_ROOT_EMAIL`, 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 are forced to change the default password. An Enterprise Edition subscription may also be activated at this time by supplying the activation code in the `GITLAB_ACTIVATION_CODE` environment variable.

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y graphicsmagick
```9

### 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 apt-get install -y postfix
```0

### Compile Assets

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y postfix
```1

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

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y postfix
```2

### Start Your GitLab Instance

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y postfix
```3

## 10. 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 postfix
```4

### Site Configuration

Copy the example site configuration:

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y postfix
```5

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
sudo apt-get install -y postfix
```6

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 must make sure, that the `www-data` user can read the socket, which is owned by the GitLab user. This is achieved, if it is world-readable, for example that it has permissions `0755`, which is the default. `www-data` also must be able to list the parent directories.

### Test Configuration

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

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y postfix
```7

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
sudo apt-get install -y postfix
```8

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

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y postfix
```9

### Restart

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y libimage-exiftool-perl
```0

## Post-install

### Double-check Application Status

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

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y libimage-exiftool-perl
```1

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 are redirected to a password reset screen to provide the password for the
initial administrator account. Enter your desired password and you are
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`.

### Recommended next steps

After completing your installation, consider taking the
[recommended next steps](next_steps.md), including authentication options
and sign-up restrictions.

## 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 standard 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

Enable Reply by email

See the "Reply by email" documentation 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.

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 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 for the changes to take effect.

If you encounter problems with improperly encoded characters in URLs, see Error: 404 Not Found when using a reverse proxy.

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.

sudo apt-get install -y libimage-exiftool-perl
```2

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.

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y libimage-exiftool-perl
```3

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

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y libimage-exiftool-perl
```4

### Custom SSH Connection

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

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y libimage-exiftool-perl
```5

You must also 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.

### Prometheus server setup

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

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y libimage-exiftool-perl
```6

## 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](#4-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
sudo apt-get install -y libimage-exiftool-perl
```7

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

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y libimage-exiftool-perl
```8

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

```shell
sudo apt-get install -y libimage-exiftool-perl
```9

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

On Debian/Ubuntu:

```shell
gem update --system 3.4.12
```0

On RedHat/CentOS:

```shell
gem update --system 3.4.12
```1

### Error compiling GitLab assets

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

```shell
gem update --system 3.4.12
```2

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

Run the yarn command again to resolve any conflicts:

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

Recompile the assets:

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