HOWTO setup a private git server on Ubuntu 18.04

There are plenty of reasons to host your own git server vs using services like GitHub or GitLab. Beyond just learning something new, I prefer to use a private git server for pass (my password manager).

Step 1: Setup an Ubuntu 18.04 server

There are quite a few ways you can do this however I prefer to have the server accessible on the Internet so I can sync my computer(s) while I’m traveling. Check out my previous post [“First steps to securing Ubuntu Server 18.04 on Digital Ocean”]({{< ref “/post/first-steps-to-securing-ubuntu-server-18.04-on-digital-ocean.md” >}}) if you want some pointers. Then, ssh into your server.

Step 2: Install git and git-shell

We’ll create a new user and restrict that user to a git-only shell. So let’s first make sure we have the necessary software installed and up to date.

Update your package list

$ sudo apt update

Install git

$ sudo apt install git

See if git-shell is already setup in /etc/shells

$ cat /etc/shells
# /etc/shells: valid login shells
/bin/sh
/bin/bash
/bin/rbash
/bin/dash
/usr/bin/tmux
/usr/bin/screen

If you don’t see git-shell listed, find out it’s location

$ which git-shell
/usr/bin/git-shell

and add it to /etc/shells

$ sudo vim /etc/shells  # and add the path to git-shell from last command

Step 3: Setup a dedicated (non-sudo) git user

You don’t want to run the git server under your user (especially if you are in the superuser group) so let’s create a user dedicated for git access.

Create git user

$ sudo adduser --disabled-password git

Switch to git user

$ sudo su git

Change to git user’s home directory

$ cd

Make directory for ssh files

$ mkdir ~/.ssh && chmod 700 ~/.ssh

and create the authorized keys file

$ touch ~/.ssh/authorized_keys && chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

And add the public keys of any users you want to access your private git server

$ vim ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Finally let’s set the git user’s shell to the git-shell

$ sudo chsh git -s $(which git-shell)

Step 4: Create individual repo directories

For each repo you want to host, you need to create a directory for the files and properly set permissions. We use sudo for this since you cannot su - git as the git user’s shell is set to the non-interactive git-shell.

First let’s change to the git user’s home directory

$ cd /home/git

Then we’ll create the repo directory

$ sudo mkdir ios-backup-extractor.git

Next init the git repo

$ cd ios-backup-extractor.git && sudo git init --bare && cd ..

and then change the ownership of the directories and files to git

$ sudo chown -R git.git ios-backup-extractor.git/

Step 5: Use your private git repo

You’re all set to use your private git repos now! If you are not that familiar with git, there’s a lot of great documentation online and it’s far too much to cover in this post. But here are a few commands that might be helpful as you use your new private git server.

To clone a new repo you initialized on your private git server

$ git clone git@<IPADDRESS>:<repo-name> ~/git/

To add your new private git server to an existing repo

$ git remote add origin git@<IPADDRESS>:<repo-name>.git