3 ms·

I'm sad to hear your GitLab installation didn't go smooth. I hope to improve our Chef Cookbook for GitLab to the point where it can replace some of the scripts

by sytse 14y ago

I'm sad to hear your GitLab installation didn't go smooth. I hope to improve our Chef Cookbook for GitLab to the point where it can replace some of the scripts you need now. Was there any particular part of the installation guide that we can improve in the near future? (I run GitLab.com, offering GitLab as a service)

FraaJad 14y ago
I think providing a Vagrantfile that would automate the building of an entire vm with all the dependencies installed and software configured would be a good idea, ESP since a typical git user is familiar with Vms and vagrant..
- sytse 14y ago
  You are right, an up-to-date Vagrantfile can be found here: https://github.com/gitlabhq/gitlab-vagrant-vm https://github.com/gitlabhq/gitlab-vagrant-vm
n0nick 14y ago
First of all, thanks a lot for the quick response. Let me apologise in advance for complaining on an open-source project instead of trying to contribute. Anyway, my personal feelings were that some of the dependencies could have been avoided (or perhaps set to some default value), at least for the community edition that I'm supposed to get up and running on an existing server machine. Some examples: * Requiring Python (for a Rails project!), * Asking me to create special system users for the processes, * Setting paths, keys and chmods manually (and not in some install.sh process), * Configuring a database and access to it (this could easily use a default setting that pro users could edit manually). From the comments around here, I realize that maybe I looked at the project in the wrong way and it should be installed either as a standalone service or as a virtual machine. If that's the case, I think a short Readme or Install doc explaining that would be very helpful for most users.
- n0nick 14y ago
  Silly me trying to use newlines in HN :) Hope the comment is still readable.
  - sytse 14y ago
    Newlines, I should look in to that as well :-)
- sytse 14y ago
  Hi n0nick, You're welcome, no problem that you are raising your opinion about the installation process, feedback will help make things better. The Phython dependency was there for a reason but I don't see it in the current installation doc so that is progress. The special users are due to using Gitolite, it is better to give it a separate unix user. The database requirement is needed unless you use SQlite, but support for this was dropped in 4.0 (and support for PostgreSQL made a lot better) because of the locking of SQlite. For sure GitLab is meant to run on a server and not on your development machine, did you get another impression from the readme description ('code hosting application')? What did you think it did?
  - n0nick 14y ago
    I haven't tried running it on my development machine; last time I tried installing it, it was on the server we use at work to host our git repositories. Since it was already a dedicated server machine (which we even use sometimes to host some small web apps), I thought I had my work cut out for me. It was the amount of system work required (sudo-ing, chmod-ing, installing mysql because we only used postgres before, creating users) that made me give up eventually. I want to give GitLab another try, so I'll see into using Vagrant for that. But I still believe some install scripts would be very much appreciated and help the project gain popularity. Btw, re Python - I still see the paragraph "Make sure you have the right version of Python installed" on: https://github.com/gitlabhq/gitlabhq/blob/4-0-stable/doc/install/installation.md#1-packages--dependencies https://github.com/gitlabhq/gitlabhq/blob/4-0-stable/doc/ins...
    - 14y ago
stblack 14y ago
The GitLab website is opaque. I searched for, and did find 1) How to download the product 2) How much it costs 3) what hardware and OS it runs on or 4) how to find out more. Now I've only been developing web apps since 1997, and work every single day with GitHub. Evidently I'm just stupid. Oh, I actually tried to find those things twice. Yesterday, and again today. Are you guys even aware of your website's usability issues? What's with the mystery navigation? Edit: don't bother giving me links. Fix these serious problems.
- andrewmunsell 14y ago
  No need to be hostile. The guy is trying to help you.
- sytse 14y ago
  GitLab.org got updated a few days ago, there is definitely room for improvement. But I don't get your points. 1) There is an installation guide button on the front page. This contains the clone source command under point 6. Just downloading something is not enough. 2) The tagline says 'Distributed under the MIT License', it's free! 3) First and second line of the installation guide refer to the hardware requirements, but I agree the website could be clearer on this. 4) What kind of 'more' are you looking for?
  - frio 14y ago
    Having just visited the site, I think it's fine. Everything he's asked for is plainly available on the front page: "a free and open-source..." is right there in the text up top, and links to the source/installation guide are plainly available. From a home user: well done on GitLab. I'm going to try out GitLab CI next, and see if I can replace my Bamboo server :).
    - sytse 14y ago
      Thanks, I hope you like GitLab CI.

by sytse 14y ago

FraaJad 14y ago

I think providing a Vagrantfile that would automate the building of an entire vm with all the dependencies installed and software configured would be a good idea, ESP since a typical git user is familiar with Vms and vagrant..

sytse 14y ago
You are right, an up-to-date Vagrantfile can be found here: https://github.com/gitlabhq/gitlab-vagrant-vm https://github.com/gitlabhq/gitlab-vagrant-vm

n0nick 14y ago

First of all, thanks a lot for the quick response. Let me apologise in advance for complaining on an open-source project instead of trying to contribute. Anyway, my personal feelings were that some of the dependencies could have been avoided (or perhaps set to some default value), at least for the community edition that I'm supposed to get up and running on an existing server machine. Some examples: * Requiring Python (for a Rails project!), * Asking me to create special system users for the processes, * Setting paths, keys and chmods manually (and not in some install.sh process), * Configuring a database and access to it (this could easily use a default setting that pro users could edit manually). From the comments around here, I realize that maybe I looked at the project in the wrong way and it should be installed either as a standalone service or as a virtual machine. If that's the case, I think a short Readme or Install doc explaining that would be very helpful for most users.

n0nick 14y ago
Silly me trying to use newlines in HN :) Hope the comment is still readable.
- sytse 14y ago
  Newlines, I should look in to that as well :-)
sytse 14y ago
Hi n0nick, You're welcome, no problem that you are raising your opinion about the installation process, feedback will help make things better. The Phython dependency was there for a reason but I don't see it in the current installation doc so that is progress. The special users are due to using Gitolite, it is better to give it a separate unix user. The database requirement is needed unless you use SQlite, but support for this was dropped in 4.0 (and support for PostgreSQL made a lot better) because of the locking of SQlite. For sure GitLab is meant to run on a server and not on your development machine, did you get another impression from the readme description ('code hosting application')? What did you think it did?
- n0nick 14y ago
  I haven't tried running it on my development machine; last time I tried installing it, it was on the server we use at work to host our git repositories. Since it was already a dedicated server machine (which we even use sometimes to host some small web apps), I thought I had my work cut out for me. It was the amount of system work required (sudo-ing, chmod-ing, installing mysql because we only used postgres before, creating users) that made me give up eventually. I want to give GitLab another try, so I'll see into using Vagrant for that. But I still believe some install scripts would be very much appreciated and help the project gain popularity. Btw, re Python - I still see the paragraph "Make sure you have the right version of Python installed" on: https://github.com/gitlabhq/gitlabhq/blob/4-0-stable/doc/install/installation.md#1-packages--dependencies https://github.com/gitlabhq/gitlabhq/blob/4-0-stable/doc/ins...
  - 14y ago

stblack 14y ago

The GitLab website is opaque. I searched for, and did find 1) How to download the product 2) How much it costs 3) what hardware and OS it runs on or 4) how to find out more. Now I've only been developing web apps since 1997, and work every single day with GitHub. Evidently I'm just stupid. Oh, I actually tried to find those things twice. Yesterday, and again today. Are you guys even aware of your website's usability issues? What's with the mystery navigation? Edit: don't bother giving me links. Fix these serious problems.

andrewmunsell 14y ago
No need to be hostile. The guy is trying to help you.
sytse 14y ago
GitLab.org got updated a few days ago, there is definitely room for improvement. But I don't get your points. 1) There is an installation guide button on the front page. This contains the clone source command under point 6. Just downloading something is not enough. 2) The tagline says 'Distributed under the MIT License', it's free! 3) First and second line of the installation guide refer to the hardware requirements, but I agree the website could be clearer on this. 4) What kind of 'more' are you looking for?
- frio 14y ago
  Having just visited the site, I think it's fine. Everything he's asked for is plainly available on the front page: "a free and open-source..." is right there in the text up top, and links to the source/installation guide are plainly available. From a home user: well done on GitLab. I'm going to try out GitLab CI next, and see if I can replace my Bamboo server :).
  - sytse 14y ago
    Thanks, I hope you like GitLab CI.