Creating a simple server Git repository

As precondition, it is important clarify the following definition:

A server repository, also called "bare repository", is a Git repository without a working copy.

Git can use four protocols to transport data:

• Local;
• Secure Shell (SSH);
• Git;
• HTTPS.

For all protocols, we have to create the bare repository by executing these lines on the server's command lines. With the following commands, you can create a directory myproject and initialize an empty Git bare repository. Create the directory and go inside it:

$ mkdir myproject
$ cd myproject 

Initialized empty Git repository in /home/user/myproject:

$ git init --bare

Local protocol

The local protocol is the basic protocol; the remote repository is a local directory. This protocol is used if all members have access to the remote repository. Now, every programmer has to clone it in local:

$ git clone /opt/git/myproject.git

For example one of the programmers, has already written some code lines. He has to initialize a local Git repository inside the directory and set a remote location for the bare repository:

develper@local$ git init
develper@local$ git remote add origin /opt/git/myproject.git

This example will be reported for each protocol. To identify it will be called "example of developer".

The following are the pros of the local protocol:

• Easy to share with other members.
• Fast access on the repository.

And the cons are:

• Hard to set up a shared network.
• Fast only if the file access is fast.

SSH

Secure Shell (SSH) is the most used protocol, especially if the remote repository is on a remote server. Now, every programmer has to first clone it in local: 

$ git clone ssh://username@server/myproject.git

Using the SSH protocol, programmers have to install their SSH keys on the remote repository in order to push to and pull from it. Otherwise, they have to specify the password on each remote command.

The example of developer in this scenario:

develper@local$ git init
develper@local$ git remote add origin ssh://username@server/myproject.git

The following are the pros of the ssh protocol:

• Easy to share using a remote server.
• SSH compresses data while transport, which makes it fast.

And the con is:

• No anonymous access.

Git

The Git transport is similar to SSH, but without any security. You can't push data on it by default, but you can activate this feature. Like in all cases, the programmer has to clone it in local, as follows:

$ git clone git://username@server/myproject.git

The example of developer in this scenario:

develper@local$ git init 
develper@local$ git remote add origin git://username@server/myproject.git

The following is the pro of the git:

• Faster than the others.

And the con is:

• No security because the Git transport is the same as SSH but without the security layer.

HTTPS

The HTTPS protocol is the easiest to set up. Anyone who has access to the web server can clone it. The programmers start to clone it in local:

$ git clone https://server/myproject.git

The example of developer in this scenario:

develper@local$ git init .
develper@local$ git remote add origin http://server/myproject.git

The following is the pro of https:

• Easy to set up.

And the con is:

• Very slow data transport.

Internal Links

May be of interest to you:

1. GIT - getting started