How To Install Gogs Git Server on Ubuntu 20.04 - Linux Tutorial

Gogs get attention because it’s fast and only a single binary go application which is make update/upgrade really simple. Gogs runs anywhere Go can be compiled to Windows, Mac, Linux, ARM, etc.

Prerequisite
– Ubuntu 20.04
– Domain name
– Basic CLI knowledge

Setup DNS Record

For git hosting HTTPS is mandatory because you don’t want someone snooping on your traffic. Setup the DNS for your domain, in my case I setup gogs.atetux.com to the server IP.
setup sub domain record

Install Git

Install the latest git version supported by Debian 10.

sudo apt install git -y

Download Gogs

Download Gogs from release page

wget https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/releases/download/v1.12.4/gitea-1.12.4-linux-amd64 -O gitea

extract file we just download earlier

tar zxvf gogs_0.12.3_linux_amd64.tar.gz

run the gogs for the first time.

Gogs Systemd Service

Create a systemd service file to run the Gogs in the background and every time system booting. Create /lib/systemd/system/gogs.service file copy following lines

[Unit]
Description=Gogs
After=syslog.target
After=network.target
[Service]
LimitMEMLOCK=infinity
LimitNOFILE=4000
RestartSec=2s
Type=simple
User=atetux
Group=atetux
WorkingDirectory=/home/atetux
ExecStart=/home/atetux/gogs/gogs web
Restart=always
Environment=USER=atetux HOME=/home/atetux GOGS_WORK_DIR=/home/atetux
 
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

replace atetux with your own username/login shell.
Enable Gogs on boot

sudo systemctl enable gogs

Run the Gogs

sudo systemctl restart gogs

check if services run correctly

sudo systemctl status gogs

Configure Gogs

open http://[IP-SERVER]:3000 on browser

Change following value

Database Type : SQLite3
Domain : gogs.atetux.com
Run user : USERNAME

scroll down then click Install Gogs. Dont worry when the webpage redirect to http://localhost:3000/user/login

we’ll use nginx as reverse proxy later to handle that.

Install Certbot Letsencrypt

Install Nginx

Since to able to run on port 80/443 Gogs need to run as root, which is a security nightmare. Instead, we’ll use Nginx as a reverse proxy for Gogs, we’ll mapping the port 3000 to our subdomain, for this case gogs.DOMAIN.com

sudo apt install nginx -y

Install Certbot

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-nginx -y

Setup temporary server block for gogs.DOMAIN.com

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/gogs.DOMAIN.com.conf

copy the lines below to /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/gogs.DOMAIN.com.conf

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name gogs.DOMAIN.com;
}

Generate SSL for Gogs

sudo certbot certonly --nginx -d gogs.DOMAIN --agree-tos -m email@gmail.com

When asked :
We’d like to send you email about our work encrypting the web, EFF news, campaigns, and ways to support digital freedom. Enter N
Please choose whether or not to redirect HTTP traffic to HTTPS, removing HTTP access. Enter 2

Setup Gogs Reverse Proxy

Open the nginx config file on /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/gogs.DOMAIN.com.conf, replace all lines with

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name gogs.DOMAIN.com;
    return 301 https://$server_name$request_uri;
}
 
server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name gogs.DOMAIN.com;
 
    ssl_certificate /etc/letsencrypt/live/gogs.DOMAIN.com/fullchain.pem;
    ssl_certificate_key /etc/letsencrypt/live/gogs.DOMAIN.com/privkey.pem;
 
    location / {
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:3000/;
    }
}

Verify nginx

sudo nginx -t

sudo systemctl reload nginx

Enable nginx on boot

sudo systemctl enable nginx

Open https://gogs.DOMAIN.com