GitLab CE for ARM

GitLab CE for ARM is in Docker Hub:

• ravermeister/gitlab

This version includes both, arm64 (based on arm64v8/debian:stable-slim) as well as arm32 (based on arm32v7/debian:stable-slim) images. It uses docker manifest files to combine them to a single image.

NOTES

• The GitLab Docker image is a monolithic image of GitLab running all the necessary services on a single container.
• GitLab only offers the Community Edition for Raspbery Pi, this Docker images are based on that one; in addition, only stable builds are containerized.
• This images provides default settings for it to work properly on ARM devices, which do not have a lot of RAM, you can review these settings here or use your own settings as explained in Configure GitLab. As a side note, although is not advised, you may still need to add a bit of SWAP (2GB recommended) to your device or have at least 2GB RAM, this can be achieved by using a USB Drive you have gathering dust somewhere; DO NOT USE THE SD CARD FOR THIS TASK.
• This images does not apply sysctl parameters (see wrapper file), because it has been causing problems when starting in Docker Swarm, you can read the reddit discussion about that. Get to the Sysctl tunning topic in order to know how to apply this on the host running GitLab.

The GitLab Docker image can be run in multiple ways:

• Run the image in Docker Engine
• Install GitLab using docker-compose
• Install GitLab into a cluster

Prerequisites

Docker installation is required, see the official installation docs.

Run the image

Run the image:

docker run -d \
--hostname gitlab.example.com \
-p 443:443 -p 80:80 -p 22:22 \
--name gitlab \
--restart always \
-v /srv/gitlab/config:/etc/gitlab \
-v /srv/gitlab/logs:/var/log/gitlab \
-v /srv/gitlab/data:/var/opt/gitlab \
ravermeister/gitlab

This will download and start a GitLab CE container and publish ports needed to access SSH, HTTP and HTTPS. All GitLab data will be stored as subdirectories of /srv/gitlab/. The container will automatically restart after a system reboot.

You can now login to the web interface as explained in After starting a container.

If you are on SELinux then run this instead:

docker run -d \
--hostname gitlab.example.com \
-p 443:443 -p 80:80 -p 22:22 \
--name gitlab \
--restart always \
-v /srv/gitlab/config:/etc/gitlab:Z \
-v /srv/gitlab/logs:/var/log/gitlab:Z \
-v /srv/gitlab/data:/var/opt/gitlab:Z \
ravermeister/gitlab

This will ensure that the Docker process has enough permissions to create the config files in the mounted volumes.

Where is the data stored?

The GitLab container uses host mounted volumes to store persistent data:

Local location	Container location	Usage
/srv/gitlab/data	/var/opt/gitlab	For storing application data
/srv/gitlab/logs	/var/log/gitlab	For storing logs
/srv/gitlab/config	/etc/gitlab	For storing the GitLab configuration files

You can fine tune these directories to meet your requirements.

Configure GitLab

This container uses the official Omnibus GitLab package, so all configuration is done in the unique configuration file /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb.

To access GitLab's configuration file, you can start a shell session in the context of a running container. This will allow you to browse all directories and use your favorite text editor:

docker exec -it gitlab /bin/bash

You can also just edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb:

docker exec -it gitlab vi /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb

Once you open /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb make sure to set the external_url to point to a valid URL.

To receive e-mails from GitLab you have to configure the SMTP settings because the GitLab Docker image doesn't have an SMTP server installed.

You may also be interested in Enabling HTTPS.

After you make all the changes you want, you will need to restart the container in order to reconfigure GitLab:

docker restart gitlab

Note: GitLab will reconfigure itself whenever the container starts.

For more options about configuring GitLab please check the Omnibus GitLab documentation.

Pre-configure Docker container

You can pre-configure the GitLab Docker image by adding the environment variable GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG to docker run command. This variable can contain any gitlab.rb setting and will be evaluated before loading the container's gitlab.rb file. That way you can easily configure GitLab's external URL, make any database configuration or any other option from the Omnibus GitLab template.

Note: The settings contained in GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG will not be written to the gitlab.rb configuration file, they're evaluated on load.

Here's an example that sets the external URL and enables LFS while starting the container:

docker run -d \
--hostname gitlab.example.com \
--env GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG="external_url 'http://my.domain.com/'; gitlab_rails['lfs_enabled'] = true;" \
-p 443:443 -p 80:80 -p 22:22 \
--name gitlab \
--restart always \
-v /srv/gitlab/config:/etc/gitlab \
-v /srv/gitlab/logs:/var/log/gitlab \
-v /srv/gitlab/data:/var/opt/gitlab \
ravermeister/gitlab

Note that every time you execute a docker run command, you need to provide the GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG option. The content of GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG is not preserved between subsequent runs.

There are also a limited number of environment variables to configure GitLab. They are documented in the environment variables section of the GitLab documentation.

After starting a container

After starting a container you can visit http://localhost/ or http://192.168.59.103 if you use boot2docker. It might take a while before the Docker container starts to respond to queries.

The very first time you visit GitLab, you will be asked to set up the admin password. After you change it, you can login with username root and the password you set up.

Upgrade GitLab to newer version

To upgrade GitLab to a new version you have to:

1. Stop the running container:

   docker stop gitlab

2. Remove existing container:

   docker rm gitlab

3. Pull the new image:

   docker pull ravermeister/gitlab

4. Create the container once again with previously specified options:

   docker run -d \
   --hostname gitlab.example.com \
   -p 443:443 -p 80:80 -p 22:22 \
   --name gitlab \
   --restart always \
   -v /srv/gitlab/config:/etc/gitlab \
   -v /srv/gitlab/logs:/var/log/gitlab \
   -v /srv/gitlab/data:/var/opt/gitlab \
   ravermeister/gitlab

On the first run, GitLab will reconfigure and update itself.

Use tagged versions of GitLab

We provide tagged versions of GitLab Docker images.

To see all available tags check:

• GitLab tags

To use a specific tagged version, replace ravermeister/gitlab with the GitLab version you want to run, for example ravermeister/gitlab:13.5.1.

Run GitLab CE on public IP address

You can make Docker to use your IP address and forward all traffic to the GitLab CE container by modifying the -p flag.

To expose GitLab CE on IP 1.1.1.1:

docker run -d \
--hostname gitlab.example.com \
-p 1.1.1.1:443:443 \
-p 1.1.1.1:80:80 \
-p 1.1.1.1:22:22 \
--name gitlab \
--restart always \
-v /srv/gitlab/config:/etc/gitlab \
-v /srv/gitlab/logs:/var/log/gitlab \
-v /srv/gitlab/data:/var/opt/gitlab \
ravermeister/gitlab

You can then access your GitLab instance at http://1.1.1.1/ and https://1.1.1.1/.

Expose GitLab on different ports

GitLab will occupy by default the following ports inside the container:

• 80 (HTTP)
• 443 (if you configure HTTPS)
• 8080 (used by Unicorn)
• 22 (used by the SSH daemon)

Note: The format for publishing ports is hostPort:containerPort. Read more in Docker's documentation about exposing incoming ports.

Warning: Do NOT use port 8080 otherwise there will be conflicts. This port is already used by Unicorn that runs internally in the container.

If you want to use a different port than 80 (HTTP) or 443 (HTTPS) for the container, you need to add a separate -p directive to the docker run command.

For example, to expose the web interface on port 8929, and the SSH service on port 2289, use the following docker run command:

docker run -d \
--hostname gitlab.example.com \
-p 8929:80 -p 2289:22 \
--name gitlab \
--restart always \
-v /srv/gitlab/config:/etc/gitlab \
-v /srv/gitlab/logs:/var/log/gitlab \
-v /srv/gitlab/data:/var/opt/gitlab \
ravermeister/gitlab

You then need to appropriately configure gitlab.rb:

1. Set external_url:

   # For HTTP
   external_url "http://gitlab.example.com:8929"
   
   or
   
   # For HTTPS (notice the https)
   external_url "https://gitlab.example.com:8929"

   For more information see the NGINX documentation.

2. Set gitlab_shell_ssh_port:

   gitlab_rails['gitlab_shell_ssh_port'] = 2289

Following the above example you will be able to reach GitLab from your web browser under <hostIP>:8929 and push using SSH under the port 2289.

A docker-compose.yml example that uses different ports can be found in the docker-compose section.

Diagnose potential problems

Read container logs:

docker logs gitlab

Enter running container:

docker exec -it gitlab /bin/bash

From within the container you can administer the GitLab container as you would normally administer an Omnibus installation

Install GitLab using docker-compose

With Docker compose you can easily configure, install, and upgrade your Docker-based GitLab installation.

1. Install Docker Compose

2. Create a docker-compose.yml file (or download an example):

   web:
     image: 'ravermeister/gitlab'
     restart: always
     hostname: 'gitlab.example.com'
     environment:
       GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG: |
         external_url 'https://gitlab.example.com'
         # Add any other gitlab.rb configuration here, each on its own line
     ports:
       - '80:80'
       - '443:443'
       - '22:22'
     volumes:
       - '/srv/gitlab/config:/etc/gitlab'
       - '/srv/gitlab/logs:/var/log/gitlab'
       - '/srv/gitlab/data:/var/opt/gitlab'

3. Make sure you are in the same directory as docker-compose.yml and run docker-compose up -d to start GitLab

Read "Pre-configure Docker container" to see how the GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG variable works.

Below is another docker-compose.yml example with GitLab running on a custom HTTP and SSH port. Notice how the GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG variables match the ports section:

web:
  image: 'ravermeister/gitlab'
  restart: always
  hostname: 'gitlab.example.com'
  environment:
    GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG: |
      external_url 'http://gitlab.example.com:9090'
      gitlab_rails['gitlab_shell_ssh_port'] = 2224
  ports:
    - '9090:9090'
    - '2224:22'
  volumes:
    - '/srv/gitlab/config:/etc/gitlab'
    - '/srv/gitlab/logs:/var/log/gitlab'
    - '/srv/gitlab/data:/var/opt/gitlab'

This is the same as using -p 9090:9090 -p 2224:22.

Update GitLab using Docker compose

Provided you installed GitLab using docker-compose, all you have to do is run docker-compose pull and docker-compose up -d to download a new release and upgrade your GitLab instance.

Install GitLab into a cluster

The GitLab Docker images can also be deployed to various container scheduling platforms.

• Kubernetes using the GitLab Helm Charts.
• Docker Cloud using the docker-compose config.

Troubleshooting

Sysctl tunning

Running the image on a Raspbery Pi 3 or any other ARM board might require some sysctl values in order for it to run properly and have a good performance.

All you need to is add the following at the end of /etc/sysctl.conf:

kernel.sem = 250 32000 32 262
kernel.shmall = 1048575
kernel.shmmax = 4294967295
net.core.somaxconn = 1024

It can be done with nano or vim (e.g. sudo nano /etc/sysctl.conf).

Once that is done, these values need to loaded to the system, you can do so by running cat /etc/sysctl.conf /etc/sysctl.d/*.conf | sudo sysctl -e -p - and the host will be ready to run the GitLab docker image.

500 Internal Error

When updating the Docker image you may encounter an issue where all paths display the infamous 500 page. If this occurs, try to run docker restart gitlab to restart the container and rectify the issue.

Permission problems

When updating from older GitLab Docker images you might encounter permission problems. This happens due to a fact that users in previous images were not preserved correctly. There's script that fixes permissions for all files.

To fix your container, simply execute update-permissions and restart the container afterwards:

docker exec gitlab update-permissions
docker restart gitlab

Linux ACL issues

If you are using file ACLs on the docker host, the docker¹ group requires full access to the volumes in order for GitLab to work.

$ getfacl /srv/gitlab
# file: /srv/gitlab
# owner: XXXX
# group: XXXX
user::rwx
group::rwx
group:docker:rwx
mask::rwx
default:user::rwx
default:group::rwx
default:group:docker:rwx
default:mask::rwx
default:other::r-x

If these are not correct, set them with:

$ sudo setfacl -mR default:group:docker:rwx /srv/gitlab

Getting help

If your problem is not listed here please see getting help for the support channels.

These docker images are not officially supported by GitLab Inc. still efforts are made to keep them up to date.

Footnotes

1. docker is the default group, if you've changed this, update your commands accordingly. ↩