Gitlab notes

Install

SMTP setup

Edit the file:

/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb

and add relevant SMTP details similar to:

gitlab_rails['smtp_enable'] = true
gitlab_rails['smtp_address'] = "smtp.server"
gitlab_rails['smtp_port'] = 465
gitlab_rails['smtp_user_name'] = "smtp user"
gitlab_rails['smtp_password'] = "smtp password"
gitlab_rails['smtp_domain'] = "example.com"
gitlab_rails['smtp_authentication'] = "login"
gitlab_rails['smtp_enable_starttls_auto'] = true
gitlab_rails['smtp_openssl_verify_mode'] = 'peer'

I inspected my SMTP settings in a known-good mail client (Thunderbird) Then reconfigure Gitlab by executing:

gitlab-ctl reconfigure

Generate SSH keys to apply to a Gitlab account

Run ssh-keygen to generate the key (on the server).

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "<comment>"

The comment is included in the .pub file that’s created. You may want to use an email address for the comment. Output similar to the following is displayed:

Generating public/private ed25519 key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/user/.ssh/id_ed25519):

Accept the suggested filename and directory, unless you are generating a deploy key or want to save in a specific directory where you store other keys.

Specify a passphrase.

A confirmation is displayed, including information about where your files are stored. A public and private key are generated. Copy the public key to your Gitlab account (i.e. in the web interface). https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/ssh.html#add-an-ssh-key-to-your-gitlab-account

Optimising for small server

Edit:

/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb

Note that there are many more options to try in the reference. These massively improved my situation:

puma['worker_processes'] = 0
sidekiq['max_concurrency'] = 10
prometheus_monitoring['enable'] = false

Then reconfigure Gitlab by executing:

gitlab-ctl reconfigure

Convert an existing VS solution folder into a git repo and create a new gitlab project and upload it

Use the git bash interface and enter commands like:

cd "C:\Users\dave\source\repos\myWickedProject"
git init
git add .
git checkout -b master
git commit -m "Initial commit from cmdline"
git push --set-upstream https://myscmserver.com/dave/myWickedProject.git master

No need to create a blank project first.

Fix repos

git fsck
git gc

Tips

Temporarily switch to a different commit

If you want to temporarily go back to it, fool around, then come back to where you are, all you have to do is check out the desired commit:

# This will detach your HEAD, that is, leave you with no branch checked out:
git checkout 0d1d7fc32

Or if you want to make commits while you're there, go ahead and make a new branch while you're at it:

git checkout -b old-state 0d1d7fc32

To go back to where you were, just check out the branch you were on again. (If you've made changes, as always when switching branches, you'll have to deal with them as appropriate. You could reset to throw them away; you could stash, checkout, stash pop to take them with you; you could commit them to a branch there if you want a branch there.)

Reverting Working Copy to Most Recent Commit

To revert to the previous commit, ignoring any changes:

git reset --hard HEAD

where HEAD is the last commit in your current branch