cgit-magenta - CGI for Git

This is a fork of cgit-pink, an attempt to create a fast web interface for the Git SCM, using a built-in cache to decrease server I/O pressure.

Installation

Building cgit involves building a proper version of Git. How to do this depends on how you obtained the cgit sources:

a) If you're working in a cloned cgit repository, you first need to initialize and update the Git submodule:

    $ git submodule init     # register the Git submodule in .git/config
    $ $EDITOR .git/config    # if you want to specify a different url for git
    $ git submodule update   # clone/fetch and checkout correct git version

b) If you're building from a cgit tarball, you can download a proper git version like this:

    $ make get-git

When either a) or b) has been performed, you can build and install cgit like this:

    $ make
    $ sudo make install

This will install cgit.cgi and cgit.css into /var/www/htdocs/cgit. You can configure this location (and a few other things) by providing a cgit.conf file (see the Makefile for details).

Dependencies

• libzip
• libcrypto (OpenSSL)
• libssl (OpenSSL)

Apache configuration

A new Directory section must probably be added for cgit, possibly something like this:

    <Directory "/var/www/htdocs/cgit/">
        AllowOverride None
        Options +ExecCGI
        Order allow,deny
        Allow from all
    </Directory>

Runtime configuration

The file /etc/cgitrc is read by cgit before handling a request. In addition to runtime parameters, this file may also contain a list of repositories displayed by cgit (see cgitrc.5.txt for further details).

The cache

When cgit is invoked it looks for a cache file matching the request and returns it to the client. If no such cache file exists (or if it has expired), the content for the request is written into the proper cache file before the file is returned.

If the cache file has expired but cgit is unable to obtain a lock for it, the stale cache file is returned to the client. This is done to favour page throughput over page freshness.

The generated content contains the complete response to the client, including the HTTP headers Modified and Expires.

Online presence

• The cgit-magenta homepage is hosted by cgit at cgit.rory.gay

• Patches, bug reports, discussions and support should go to the cgit-magenta Matrix room.