[[meta title="Git"]]
Git is a distributed revison control system originally developed for
the Linux kernel. Ikiwiki supports storing a wiki in git.
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):
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 would change directory to the ikiwiki leaf node repository
below (the working directory for ikiwiki), do a git pull, and
refresh ikiwiki to regenerate the wiki with any new content.
- 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).
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 git clone being used by
the ikiwiki (clone 0 in the image). 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)
-
By default, ikiwiki pulls and pushes from origin. This is not
ideal for the working clones, since the user might go through
several iterations of a posting before pushing to the bare root of
the repository tree. In the configuration, set:
gitorigin_branch => "",
## git post-commit wrapper
wrapper => "/working/dir/.git/hooks/post-commit",
Then just committing should refresh the 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.
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