3 [Git][git] is a distributed revison control system originally developed for
4 the Linux kernel. Ikiwiki supports storing a wiki in git.
6 [git]: http://git.or.cz/
8 Ikiwiki can run as a `post-update` hook to update a wiki whenever commits
9 come in. When running as a [[cgi]] with Git, ikiwiki automatically
10 commits edited pages, and uses the Git history to generate the
11 [[RecentChanges]] page.
13 ## git repository setup
15 The suggested setup for git is a set of repositories setup like a
16 shallow, single level tree, with a bare repository (meaning that it
17 does not have a working tree checked out) at the root, and various
18 working clones (with working directories) as leaf nodes. The root
19 (bare) repository is meant to be pushed to and pulled from the various
22 One of the leaf node clone repositories is special; it has working
23 directory which is used to compile the wiki, and is also used by the
24 [[cgi]] to commit changes made via the web interface. It is special
25 since the `post-update` hook for the bare root repository is used to
26 trigger an update of this repository, and then an ikiwiki refresh
27 updates the published wiki itself.
29 The other (optional) leaf node repositories are meant for you to work
30 on, and commit to, changes should then be pushed to the bare root
31 repository. In theory, you could work on the same leaf node repository
32 that ikiwiki uses to compile the wiki from, and the [[cgi]] commits
33 to, as long as you ensure that permissions and ownership don't hinder
34 the working of the [[cgi]]. This can be done, for example, by using
35 ACL's, in practice, it is easier to just setup separate clones for
38 So, to reiterate, when using Git, you probably want to set up three
41 * The root repository. This should be a bare repository (meaning that
42 it does not have a working tree checked out), which the other
43 repositories will push to/pull from. It is a bare repository, since
44 there are problems pushing to a repository that has a working
45 directory. This is called _repository_ in [[ikiwiki-makerepo]]'s
46 manual page. Nominally, this bare repository has a `post-update` hook
47 that either is or calls ikiwiki's git wrapper, which changes to the
48 working directory for ikiwiki, does a `git pull`, and refreshes ikiwiki
49 to regenerate the wiki with any new content. The [[setup]] page describes
52 * The second repository is a clone of the bare root repository, and
53 has a working tree which is used as ikiwiki's srcdir for compiling
54 the wiki. **Never** push to this repository. When running as a
55 [[cgi]], the changes are committed to this repository, and pushed to
56 the master repository above. This is called _srcdir_ in
57 [[ikiwiki-makerepo]]'s manual page.
59 * The other (third, fourth, fifth, sixth -- however many pleases you)
60 repositories are also clones of the bare root repository above --
61 and these have a working directory for you to work on. Use either
62 the `git` transport (if available), or `ssh`. These repositories may
63 be on remote machines, your laptop, whereever you find convenient to
64 hack on your wiki. you can commit local changes to the version on
65 the laptop, perhaps while offline. Any new content should be pushed to the
66 bare master repository when you are ready to publish it, and then
67 the post-update hook of the bare repository will ensure that the
68 ikiwiki's source directory is updated, and the ikiwiki refreshed
71 Using three or more of repositories isn't the most obvious set up, but
72 it works the best for typical ikiwiki use. [[ikiwiki-makerepo]] can
73 automate setting this up for the common case where there is no
74 pre-existing wiki. [[tips/Laptop_wiki_with_git]] describes a different
75 way to set up ikiwiki and git.
77 It is **paramount** that you **never** push to the non-bare repository
78 ([this FAQ entry explains why](http://git.or.cz/gitwiki/GitFaq#head-b96f48bc9c925074be9f95c0fce69bcece5f6e73)).
79 Instead, clone the bare repository as mentioned above, and push
80 **only** to the bare repository.
82 The ikiwiki `post-update` hook should be put in the bare repository.
84 ## git repository with multiple committers
86 It can be tricky to get the permissions right to allow multiple people to
87 commit to an ikiwiki git repository. As the [[security]] page mentions,
88 for a secure ikiwiki installation, only one person should be able to write
89 to ikiwiki's srcdir. When other committers make commits, their commits
90 should go to the bare repository, which has a `post-update` hook that uses
91 ikiwiki to pull the changes to the srcdir.
93 One setup that will work is to put all committers in a group (say,
94 "ikiwiki"), and use permissions to allow that group to commit to the bare git
95 repository. Make both the post-update hook and ikiwiki.cgi be setgid
96 to the group, as well as suid to the user who admins the wiki. The
97 `wrappergroup` [[setup_file_option|usage]] can be used to make the wrappers
98 be setgid to the right group. Then the srcdir, including its git
99 repository, should only be writable by the wiki's admin, and *not* by the
100 group. Take care that ikiwiki uses a umask that does not cause files in
101 the srcdir to become group writable. (umask 022 will work.)
103 ## git repository with untrusted committers
105 By default, anyone who can commit to the git repository can modify any file
106 on the wiki however they like. A `pre-receive` hook can be set up to limit
107 incoming commits from untrusted users. Then the same limits that are placed
108 on edits via the web will be in effect for commits to git for the users.
109 They will not be allowed to edit locked pages, they will only be able to
110 delete pages that the [[plugins/remove]] configuration allows them to
111 remove, and they will only be allowed to add non-page attachments that the
112 [[plugins/attachment]] configuration allows.
114 To enable this, you need to set up the git repository to have multiple
115 committers. Trusted committers, including the user that ikiwiki runs as,
116 will not have their commits checked by the `pre-receive` hook. Untrusted
117 committers will have their commits checked. The configuration settings to
118 enable are `git_test_receive_wrapper`, which enables generation of a
119 `pre-receive` hook, and `untrusted_committers`, which is a list of
120 usernames of the untrusted committers.
122 Note that when the `pre-receive` hook is checking incoming changes, it
123 ignores the git authorship information, and uses the username of the unix
124 user who made the commit. Then tests including the `locked_pages` [[PageSpec]]
125 are checked to see if that user can edit the pages in the commit.
127 You can even set up an [[anonymous_user|tips/untrusted_git_push]], to allow
128 anyone to push changes in via git rather than using the web interface.
130 ## Optionally using a local wiki to preview changes
132 When working on the "working clones" to add content to your wiki,
133 it is common (but optional) practice to preview your changes using a
134 private wiki on the local host before publishing the updates by
135 sending it to the root repository. If you do want to setup a private
136 wiki, you will have to have another setup file and and an ikiwiki
137 installation on your local machine. You will need all the packages
138 this implies -- a web server, git, ikiwiki, etc. However, there is a
139 _caveat_: by default, ikiwiki pulls and pushes from `origin`. This is
140 not ideal for the working clones on the local machine, since you might
141 go through several iterations of a page before pushing to the bare
142 root of the repository tree (and thus publishing it on your public wiki).
143 You do not want the action of refreshing the local wiki in order to
144 review your work to accidentally publish the
145 contents before you are ready. In order to prevent the git push that
146 is the normal behaviour of ikiwiki, set the configuration of the local wiki:
148 gitorigin_branch => "",
149 ## git post-commit wrapper
150 git_wrapper => "/working/dir/.git/hooks/post-commit",
152 Then just committing should refresh the private ikiwiki on the local
153 host. Now just run `ikiwiki -setup localwiki.setup -getctime` and
154 you should be good to go. (You only need the slow `-getctime` option
155 the first time you run setup.) Use standard git commands to handle
156 pulling from and pushing to the server. **Note**: Currently, after
157 pulling changes from the bare root repository, you will need to
158 manually update the local wiki, with a command such as `ikiwiki
159 -setup localwiki.setup -refresh`. This is because git 1.5.4 doesn't
160 have a hook that is run locally after pulling changes. Newer
161 versions of git will have a `post-merge` hook that should work for
164 ## Fix for error on git pull origin
166 Error message when running git pull origin:
168 You asked me to pull without telling me which branch you
169 want to merge with, and 'branch.master.merge' in
170 your configuration file does not tell me either. Please
171 name which branch you want to merge on the command line and
172 try again (e.g. 'git pull <repository> <refspec>').
173 See git-pull(1) for details on the refspec.
175 If you often merge with the same branch, you may want to
176 configure the following variables in your configuration
179 branch.master.remote = <nickname>
180 branch.master.merge = <remote-ref>
181 remote.<nickname>.url = <url>
182 remote.<nickname>.fetch = <refspec>
184 See git-config(1) for details.
186 The solution is to run this command in your srcdir:
188 git config branch.master.remote origin