How to Install and Setting Up GitLab on Your Raspberry Pi 5

The Raspberry Pi 5 is a surprisingly capable little computer, able to handle a variety of tasks. One of its hidden talents? Hosting your own self-managed GitLab server! GitLab is a powerful platform for managing your software projects, offering features like Git repository management, continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, and a wealth of collaborative tools. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to install and configure GitLab on your Raspberry Pi 5, empowering you to control your development workflow.

Getting Your Raspberry Pi Ready

Before diving into the installation, we need to ensure your Raspberry Pi 5 is primed and ready. The first step? Making sure your Raspberry Pi OS is up-to-date. Open your terminal and run these commands:

      sudo apt-get update
      sudo apt-get upgrade -y
    

These commands will update your system's software packages and dependencies, ensuring a smoother installation process.

Essential Dependencies for GitLab

GitLab relies on several critical packages to function correctly. Let's install them using the following command:

      sudo apt-get install -y curl openssh-server ca-certificates apt-transport-https perl
    

This command installs a variety of tools, including curl for downloading GitLab, openssh-server for secure SSH communications, and ca-certificates and apt-transport-https for handling certificates and secure connections. Finally, perl is a programming language used by GitLab for various internal tasks.

To ensure the integrity of GitLab's packages, we need to add its GPG key to our trusted certificates:

      curl https://packages.gitlab.com/gpg.key | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/gitlab.asc
    

Enabling Email Notifications: Setting Up Postfix

While optional, setting up a mail transfer agent like Postfix is highly recommended. It allows GitLab to send email notifications about project activity, keeping you informed about important events.

To install and configure Postfix, execute:

      sudo apt-get install -y postfix
    

During the installation, you'll be asked to choose a configuration type. Select "Internet Site" and enter your Raspberry Pi's domain name (e.g., raspberrypi.local). This configuration allows GitLab to utilize your system's default email sender for notifications.

Downloading and Installing GitLab

With your Raspberry Pi prepared and dependencies installed, we're ready to install GitLab. Start by adding the GitLab package repository to your system:

      curl -sS https://packages.gitlab.com/install/repositories/gitlab/raspberry-pi/script.deb.sh | sudo bash
    

Now, we'll install the GitLab Community Edition (CE) using the command:

      sudo apt-get install gitlab-ce
    

This command will initiate the download and installation of GitLab on your Raspberry Pi. The time it takes will depend on your internet speed and the Pi's processing power.

Configuring GitLab for Your Setup

After the installation is complete, it's time to tailor GitLab to your specific needs. Open the GitLab configuration file using the following command:

      sudo vi /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb
    

Within this file, you'll need to set the external_url to the address you'll use to access GitLab. For example:

      external_url 'http://raspberrypi.local'
    

If you plan to use an external storage device for GitLab data, you'll need to modify the data directories within this configuration file to point to the location of your external storage.

Starting and Running GitLab

With your configuration in place, it's time to bring GitLab to life. Initialize it by running:

      sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure
    

This command will apply your configurations and start all necessary GitLab services.

Note: If you encounter an error related to Postgres during this step, specifically:

      execute[/opt/gitlab/embedded/bin/initdb -D /var/opt/gitlab/postgresql/data -E UTF8] (postgresql::enable line 59) had an error: Mixlib::ShellOut::ShellCommandFailed: Expected process to exit with [0], but received '1'
    

It might be caused by the LANG setting in your sshd configuration file. Edit the file /etc/ssh/sshd_config and change LANG to:

      AcceptEnv LANG en_US.UTF-8
    

Then, restart sshd and reconnect:

      sudo service sshd restart
    

Accessing Your New GitLab Instance

GitLab is now up and running! Access your newly installed server through your web browser by entering the URL you configured (e.g., http://raspberrypi.local) into the address bar. On your first visit, you'll be prompted to log in using the root account. The password for this account was generated during the installation and can be found in the file /etc/gitlab/initial_root_password.

Keeping an Eye on Performance

To ensure your GitLab instance runs smoothly, monitoring its performance is essential. GitLab provides tools like gitlab-ctl status to check the status of its services. For more in-depth monitoring, consider integrating GitLab with tools like Prometheus. This will provide you with detailed insights into your server's performance and resource usage.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you've successfully installed and configured a self-managed GitLab server on your Raspberry Pi 5. This empowers you to manage your software projects with a powerful, comprehensive platform. You now have a centralized hub for your code, CI/CD pipelines, and collaboration, all running from your own Raspberry Pi.

For more advanced customizations, such as SSL setup, or deeper exploration of CI/CD pipeline integration, consult the official GitLab documentation. You'll be amazed at the possibilities that GitLab offers on your Raspberry Pi 5!