---
layout: default
navsection: installguide
title: Install Git server
...

The arvados-git-httpd server provides HTTP access to hosted git repositories, using Arvados authentication tokens instead of passwords. It is intended to be installed on the system where your git repositories are stored, and accessed through a web proxy that provides SSL support.

By convention, we use the following hostname for the git service:

<div class="offset1">
table(table table-bordered table-condensed).
|git.@uuid_prefix@.your.domain|
</div>

This hostname should resolve from anywhere on the internet.

h2. Install arvados-git-httpd

On Debian-based systems:

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<pre><code>~$ <span class="userinput">sudo apt-get install git arvados-git-httpd</span>
</code></pre>
</notextile>

On Red Hat-based systems:

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<pre><code>~$ <span class="userinput">sudo yum install git arvados-git-httpd</span>
</code></pre>
</notextile>

Verify that @arvados-git-httpd@ and @git-http-backend@ are functional:

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<pre><code>~$ <span class="userinput">arvados-git-httpd -h</span>
Usage of arv-git-httpd:
  -address="0.0.0.0:80": Address to listen on, "host:port".
  -git-command="/usr/bin/git": Path to git executable. Each authenticated request will execute this program with a single argument, "http-backend".
  -repo-root="/path/to/cwd": Path to git repositories.
~$ <span class="userinput">git http-backend</span>
Status: 500 Internal Server Error
Expires: Fri, 01 Jan 1980 00:00:00 GMT
Pragma: no-cache
Cache-Control: no-cache, max-age=0, must-revalidate

fatal: No REQUEST_METHOD from server
</code></pre>
</notextile>

We recommend running @arvados-git-httpd@ under "runit":http://smarden.org/runit/ or something similar.

Your @run@ script should look something like this:

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<pre><code>export ARVADOS_API_HOST=<span class="userinput">uuid_prefix</span>.your.domain
exec sudo -u git arvados-git-httpd -address=:9001 -git-command="$(which git)" -repo-root=<span class="userinput">/var/lib/arvados/git</span> 2>&1
</code></pre>
</notextile>

h3. Set up a reverse proxy with SSL support

The arvados-git-httpd service will be accessible from anywhere on the internet, so we recommend using SSL for transport encryption.

This is best achieved by putting a reverse proxy with SSL support in front of arvados-git-httpd, running on port 443 and passing requests to arvados-git-httpd on port 9001 (or whatever port you chose in your run script).

h3. Tell the API server about the arvados-git-httpd service

In your API server's @config/application.yml@ file, add the following entry:

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<pre><code>git_http_base: git.<span class="userinput">uuid_prefix.your.domain</span>
</code></pre>
</notextile>