How to Build Your Own Git Server on Linux: Step‑by‑Step Guide

Git Server Installation and Configuration

1. Switch to root user

su - root

2. Create git and user groups

groupadd git
groupadd user

3. Add the git account

useradd git -g git -m -s /bin/bash
usermod -G git,user git   # add git to both git and user groups

passwd git   # set password for git

4. Add git to sudoers (avoid using root for daily work)

vim /etc/sudoers   # add line: git ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL

su - git   # switch to git user

5. Install required packages

sudo apt-get install git git-core ssh

6. Create an empty bare repository

mkdir project.git
cd project.git
git --bare

7. Add additional user accounts (example: stevenrao)

sudo useradd stevenrao -g user -m -s /bin/bash
sudo usermod -G git,user stevenrao   # add to git and user groups

sudo passwd stevenrao   # set password

8. Configure SSH key for stevenrao (key generation covered later)

mkdir /home/git/.ssh
vim /home/git/.ssh/authorized_keys   # paste the public key

9. Adjust repository configuration

vim /home/git/project.git/config
[core]
    repositoryformatversion = 0
    filemode = true
    bare = true   # add these lines
[receive]
    denyCurrentBranch = ignore

10. Restart SSH service

/etc/init.d/ssh restart

Git Client Configuration (on another machine)

1. Install required packages

sudo apt-get install git git-core ssh

2. Add a user for the client

useradd stevenrao -g user -m -s /bin/bash
passwd stevenrao   # set password
su - stevenrao   # switch to the new user

3. Generate SSH key pair

ssh-keygen -t rsa   # accept defaults, set passphrase if desired

# Example output
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Created directory '/home/stevenrao/.ssh'.
Your identification has been saved in /home/stevenrao/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /home/stevenrao/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.

4. View the public key

cat .ssh/id_rsa.pub

5. Initialize a test project and push to the server

mkdir /home/stevenrao/test_proj
cd /home/stevenrao/test_proj
echo "test git by stevenrao v1.0" > test.txt
git init
git add .
git commit -m 'initial commit'

git remote add origin [email protected]:/home/git/project.git
git push origin master

6. Configure global Git identity

git config --global user.name "stevenrao"
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"

7. Make further changes and push

vim test.txt   # modify content to "test git by stevenrao v1.1"
git commit -am "1.1"
git push