How to Uninstall and Reinstall GitLab CE on Linux: A Complete Step‑by‑Step Guide

01 Uninstall GitLab

Stop the GitLab services and verify they are down:

# Stop GitLab
gitlab-ctl stop

# Check status
gitlab-ctl status

If all services report down, the stop was successful.

Uninstall the GitLab CE package: rpm -e gitlab-ce Remove any remaining GitLab processes: ps -ef | grep gitlab Kill lingering processes (replace 202859 with the actual PID): kill -9 202859 Finally, delete all GitLab files from the system:

find / -name gitlab | xargs rm -rf

02 Install Dependencies

# Install required packages
yum install -y curl policycoreutils openssh-server

# Enable and start SSH
systemctl enable sshd
systemctl start sshd
firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=http
firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=https
systemctl reload firewalld

# Install Postfix for email notifications
yum install -y postfix
systemctl enable postfix
systemctl start postfix

03 Install GitLab‑CE

Download the GitLab CE package from the official site or a Chinese mirror (e.g., Tsinghua University). Place the RPM in /usr/local and install:

# Change to the directory containing the RPM
cd /usr/local

# Install the package (example version 13.7.2)
rpm -ivh gitlab-ce-13.7.2-ce.0.el8.x86_64.rpm

If the firewall blocks access, stop and disable it temporarily:

systemctl stop firewalld
systemctl disable firewalld

Ensure the server has at least 4 GB of RAM: free -m Configure required ports (default values shown):

# puma['port'] = 8080
# postgresql['port'] = 5432
# redis['port'] = 6379
# sentinel['port'] = 26379
# nginx['listen_port'] = nil
# nginx['listen_https'] = nil

Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb to set the external URL and custom ports, for example:

# Set HTTP access address (no port defaults to 80)
external_url 'http://192.168.138.8:9080'

# Change Nginx listen port
nginx['listen_port'] = 9080

# Change Puma port
puma['port'] = 9081

# Set time zone
gitlab_rails['time_zone'] = 'Asia/Shanghai'

# Backend authentication address
gitlab_workhorse['auth_backend'] = "http://localhost:9081"

Note: Starting with GitLab 13.0, Puma is the default web server and Unicorn is disabled.

Apply the configuration and restart services:

gitlab-ctl reconfigure
gitlab-ctl restart

04 Login to GitLab

Open the browser at http://192.168.138.8:9080, set the root password (minimum 8 characters, e.g., root1234), and log in.

05 Daily GitLab Usage

File Paths

Query installed file locations with: rpm -ql gitlab-ce Key directories include:

# Main configuration file
/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb

# Default installation path
/opt/gitlab

# Repository storage
/var/opt/gitlab/git-data/repositories

# Backups
/var/opt/gitlab/backups

# Nginx config
/var/opt/gitlab/nginx/conf/gitlab-http.conf

# PostgreSQL data
/var/opt/gitlab/postgresql/data

# Redis config
/var/opt/gitlab/redis

# Logs
/var/log/gitlab

GitLab Service Components

# GitLab service composition
nginx: static web server
gitlab-shell: handles Git commands and authorized_keys
gitlab-workhorse: lightweight reverse proxy
logrotate: log file management
postgresql: database
redis: cache database
sidekiq: background job processing
unicorn: HTTP server (pre‑13.0)
puma: HTTP server (13.0 and later)

Common Commands

# Reconfigure GitLab
gitlab-ctl reconfigure

# Start services
gitlab-ctl start

# Stop services
gitlab-ctl stop

# Restart services
gitlab-ctl restart

# View logs in real time
gitlab-ctl tail

# View module‑specific logs
gitlab-ctl tail redis/postgresql/gitlab-workhorse/logrotate/nginx/sidekiq/unicorn/puma

# Help
gitlab-ctl --help

# Run health check
gitlab-rake gitlab:check SANITIZE=true --trace