--- date: "2016-12-01T16:00:00+02:00" title: "Installation from source" slug: "install-from-source" weight: 10 toc: false draft: false menu: sidebar: parent: "installation" name: "From source" weight: 30 identifier: "install-from-source" --- # Installation from source You should [install go](https://golang.org/doc/install) and set up your go environment correctly. In particular, it is recommended to set the `$GOPATH` environment variable and to add the go bin directory or directories `${GOPATH//://bin:}/bin` to the `$PATH`. See the Go wiki entry for [GOPATH](https://github.com/golang/go/wiki/GOPATH). Next, [install Node.js with npm](https://nodejs.org/en/download/) which is required to build the JavaScript and CSS files. The minimum supported Node.js version is {{< min-node-version >}} and the latest LTS version is recommended. **Note**: When executing make tasks that require external tools, like `make misspell-check`, Gitea will automatically download and build these as necessary. To be able to use these, you must have the `"$GOPATH/bin"` directory on the executable path. If you don't add the go bin directory to the executable path, you will have to manage this yourself. **Note 2**: Go version {{< min-go-version >}} or higher is required. However, it is recommended to obtain the same version as our continuous integration, see the advice given in Hacking on Gitea **Table of Contents** {{< toc >}} ## Download First, we must retrieve the source code. Since, the advent of go modules, the simplest way of doing this is to use git directly as we no longer have to have gitea built from within the GOPATH. ```bash git clone https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea ``` (Previous versions of this document recommended using `go get`. This is no longer necessary.) Decide which version of Gitea to build and install. Currently, there are multiple options to choose from. The `master` branch represents the current development version. To build with master, skip to the [build section](#build). To work with tagged releases, the following commands can be used: ```bash git branch -a git checkout v{{< version >}} ``` To validate a Pull Request, first enable the new branch (`xyz` is the PR id; for example `2663` for [#2663](https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/pull/2663)): ```bash git fetch origin pull/xyz/head:pr-xyz ``` To build Gitea from source at a specific tagged release (like v{{< version >}}), list the available tags and check out the specific tag. List available tags with the following. ```bash git tag -l git checkout v{{< version >}} # or git checkout pr-xyz ``` ## Build To build from source, the following programs must be present on the system: - `go` {{< min-go-version >}} or higher, see [here](https://golang.org/dl/) - `node` {{< min-node-version >}} or higher with `npm`, see [here](https://nodejs.org/en/download/) - `make`, see here Various [make tasks](https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/blob/master/Makefile) are provided to keep the build process as simple as possible. Depending on requirements, the following build tags can be included. - `bindata`: Build a single monolithic binary, with all assets included. - `sqlite sqlite_unlock_notify`: Enable support for a [SQLite3](https://sqlite.org/) database. Suggested only for tiny installations. - `pam`: Enable support for PAM (Linux Pluggable Authentication Modules). Can be used to authenticate local users or extend authentication to methods available to PAM. * `gogit`: (EXPERIMENTAL) Use go-git variants of git commands. Bundling assets into the binary using the `bindata` build tag is recommended for production deployments. It is possible to serve the static assets directly via a reverse proxy, but in most cases it is not necessary, and assets should still be bundled in the binary. You may want to exclude bindata while developing/testing Gitea. To include assets, add the `bindata` tag: ```bash TAGS="bindata" make build ``` In the default release build of our continuous integration system, the build tags are: `TAGS="bindata sqlite sqlite_unlock_notify"`. The simplest recommended way to build from source is therefore: ```bash TAGS="bindata sqlite sqlite_unlock_notify" make build ``` The `build` target is split into two sub-targets: - `make backend` which requires [Go {{< min-go-version >}}](https://golang.org/dl/) or greater. - `make frontend` which requires [Node.js {{< min-node-version >}}](https://nodejs.org/en/download/) or greater. If pre-built frontend files are present it is possible to only build the backend: ```bash TAGS="bindata" make backend ``` ## Test After following the steps above, a `gitea` binary will be available in the working directory. It can be tested from this directory or moved to a directory with test data. When Gitea is launched manually from command line, it can be killed by pressing `Ctrl + C`. ```bash ./gitea web ``` ## Changing default paths Gitea will search for a number of things from the `CustomPath`. By default this is the `custom/` directory in the current working directory when running Gitea. It will also look for its configuration file `CustomConf` in `$CustomPath/conf/app.ini`, and will use the current working directory as the relative base path `AppWorkPath` for a number configurable values. Finally the static files will be served from `StaticRootPath` which defaults to the `AppWorkPath`. These values, although useful when developing, may conflict with downstream users preferences. One option is to use a script file to shadow the `gitea` binary and create an appropriate environment before running Gitea. However, when building you can change these defaults using the `LDFLAGS` environment variable for `make`. The appropriate settings are as follows - To set the `CustomPath` use `LDFLAGS="-X \"code.gitea.io/gitea/modules/setting.CustomPath=custom-path\""` - For `CustomConf` you should use `-X \"code.gitea.io/gitea/modules/setting.CustomConf=conf.ini\"` - For `AppWorkPath` you should use `-X \"code.gitea.io/gitea/modules/setting.AppWorkPath=working-path\"` - For `StaticRootPath` you should use `-X \"code.gitea.io/gitea/modules/setting.StaticRootPath=static-root-path\"` - To change the default PID file location use `-X \"code.gitea.io/gitea/modules/setting.PIDFile=/run/gitea.pid\"` Add as many of the strings with their preceding `-X` to the `LDFLAGS` variable and run `make build` with the appropriate `TAGS` as above. Running `gitea help` will allow you to review what the computed settings will be for your `gitea`. ## Cross Build The `go` compiler toolchain supports cross-compiling to different architecture targets that are supported by the toolchain. See [`GOOS` and `GOARCH` environment variable](https://golang.org/doc/install/source#environment) for the list of supported targets. Cross compilation is helpful if you want to build Gitea for less-powerful systems (such as Raspberry Pi). To cross build Gitea with build tags (`TAGS`), you also need a C cross compiler which targets the same architecture as selected by the `GOOS` and `GOARCH` variables. For example, to cross build for Linux ARM64 (`GOOS=linux` and `GOARCH=arm64`), you need the `aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu-gcc` cross compiler. This is required because Gitea build tags uses `cgo`'s foreign-function interface (FFI). Cross-build Gitea for Linux ARM64, without any tags: ``` GOOS=linux GOARCH=arm64 make build ``` Cross-build Gitea for Linux ARM64, with recommended build tags: ``` CC=aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu-gcc GOOS=linux GOARCH=arm64 TAGS="bindata sqlite sqlite_unlock_notify" make build ``` Replace `CC`, `GOOS`, and `GOARCH` as appropriate for your architecture target. You will sometimes need to build a static compiled image. To do this you will need to add: ``` LDFLAGS="-linkmode external -extldflags '-static' $LDFLAGS" TAGS="netgo osusergo $TAGS" make build ``` This can be combined with `CC`, `GOOS`, and `GOARCH` as above.