Contribute to GitLab Pages development

Learn how to configure GitLab Pages so you can help develop the feature.

Configuring GitLab Pages hostname

GitLab Pages needs a hostname or domain, as each different GitLab Pages site is accessed through a subdomain. You can set the GitLab Pages hostname:

Without wildcard, editing your hosts file

As /etc/hosts don’t support wildcard hostnames, you must configure one entry for GitLab Pages, and then one entry for each page site: 

127.0.0.1 gdk.test           # If you're using GDK
127.0.0.1 pages.gdk.test     # Pages host
# Any namespace/group/user needs to be added
# as a subdomain to the pages host. This is because
# /etc/hosts doesn't accept wildcards
127.0.0.1 root.pages.gdk.test # for the root pages

With DNS wildcard alternatives

If instead of editing your /etc/hosts you’d prefer to use a DNS wildcard, you can use:

Configuring GitLab Pages without GDK

Create a gitlab-pages.conf in the root of the GitLab Pages site, like: 

# Default port is 3010, but you can use any other
listen-http=:3010

# Your local GitLab Pages domain
pages-domain=pages.gdk.test

# Directory where the pages are stored
pages-root=shared/pages

# Show more information in the logs
log-verbose=true

To see more options you can check internal/config/flags.go or run gitlab-pages --help.

Running GitLab Pages manually

For any changes in the code, you must run make to build the app. It’s best to just always run it before you start the app. It’s quick to build so don’t worry! 

make && ./gitlab-pages -config=gitlab-pages.conf

Configuring GitLab Pages with GDK

In the following steps, $GDK_ROOT is the directory where you cloned GDK.

  1. Set up the GDK hostname.

  2. Add a GitLab Pages hostname to the gdk.yml: 

    gitlab_pages:
  enabled: true         # enable GitLab Pages to be managed by gdk
  port: 3010            # default port is 3010
  host: pages.gdk.test  # the GitLab Pages domain
  auto_update: true     # if gdk must update GitLab Pages git
  verbose: true         # show more information in the logs

Running GitLab Pages with GDK

After these configurations are set, GDK manages a GitLab Pages process, giving you access to it with commands like:

  • Start: gdk start gitlab-pages
  • Stop: gdk stop gitlab-pages
  • Restart: gdk restart gitlab-pages
  • Tail logs: gdk tail gitlab-pages

Running GitLab Pages manually

You can also build and start the app independently of GDK processes management.

For any changes in the code, you must run make to build the app. It’s best to just always run it before you start the app. It’s quick to build so don’t worry! 

make && ./gitlab-pages -config=gitlab-pages.conf

Building GitLab Pages in FIPS mode 

FIPS_MODE=1 make && ./gitlab-pages -config=gitlab-pages.conf

Creating GitLab Pages site

To build a GitLab Pages site locally you must configure gitlab-runner.

For more information, refer to the user manual.

Enabling access control

GitLab Pages support private sites. Private sites can be accessed only by users who have access to your GitLab project.

GitLab Pages access control is disabled by default. To enable it:

  1. Enable the GitLab Pages access control in GitLab itself. You can do this in two ways:

    • If you’re not using GDK, edit gitlab.yml: 

      # gitlab/config/gitlab.yml
pages:
  access_control: true

    • If you’re using GDK, edit gdk.yml: 

      # $GDK_ROOT/gdk.yml
gitlab_pages:
  enabled: true
  access_control: true
  2. Restart GitLab (if running through the GDK, run gdk restart). Running gdk reconfigure overwrites the value of access_control in config/gitlab.yml.
  3. In your local GitLab instance, in the browser go to http://gdk.test:3000/admin/applications.
  4. Create an Instance-wide OAuth application with the api scope.

  5. Set the value of your redirect-uri to the pages-domain authorization endpoint (for example, http://pages.gdk.test:3010/auth). The redirect-uri must not contain any GitLab Pages site domain.

  6. Add the auth client configuration:

    • With GDK, in gdk.yml: 

      gitlab_pages:
  enabled: true
  access_control: true
  auth_client_id: $CLIENT_ID           # the OAuth application id created in http://gdk.test:3000/admin/applications
  auth_client_secret: $CLIENT_SECRET   # the OAuth application secret created in http://gdk.test:3000/admin/applications

      GDK generates random auth_secret and builds the auth_redirect_uri based on GitLab Pages host configuration.

    • Without GDK, in gitlab-pages.conf: 

      ## the following are only needed if you want to test auth for private projects
auth-client-id=$CLIENT_ID                         # the OAuth application id created in http://gdk.test:3000/admin/applications
auth-client-secret=$CLIENT_SECRET                 # the OAuth application secret created in http://gdk.test:3000/admin/applications
auth-secret=$SOME_RANDOM_STRING                   # should be at least 32 bytes long
auth-redirect-uri=http://pages.gdk.test:3010/auth # the authentication callback url for GitLab Pages

  7. If running Pages inside the GDK, you can use GDK protected_config_files section under gdk in your gdk.yml to avoid getting gitlab-pages.conf configuration rewritten: 

    gdk:
  protected_config_files:
  - 'gitlab-pages/gitlab-pages.conf'

Enabling object storage

GitLab Pages support using object storage for storing artifacts, but object storage is disabled by default. You can enable it in the GDK:

  1. Edit gdk.yml to enable the object storage in GitLab itself: 

    # $GDK_ROOT/gdk.yml
object_store:
  enabled: true

  2. Reconfigure and restart GitLab by running the commands gdk reconfigure and gdk restart.

For more information, refer to the GDK documentation.

Linting 

# Run the linter locally
make lint

# Run linter and fix issues (if supported by the linter)
make format

Testing

To run tests, you can use these commands: 

# This will run all of the tests in the codebase
make test

# Run a specfic test file
go test ./internal/serving/disk/

# Run a specific test in a file
go test ./internal/serving/disk/ -run TestDisk_ServeFileHTTP

# Run all unit tests except acceptance_test.go
go test ./... -short

# Run acceptance_test.go only
make acceptance
# Run specific acceptance tests
# We add `make` here because acceptance tests use the last binary that was compiled,
# so we want to have the latest changes in the build that is tested
make && go test ./ -run TestRedirect

Contributing

Feature flags

caution
All newly-introduced feature flags should be disabled by default.

Consider adding a feature flag for any non-trivial changes. Feature flags can make the release and rollback of these changes easier, avoiding incidents and downtime. To add a new feature flag to GitLab Pages:

  1. Create the feature flag in internal/feature/feature.go, which must be off by default.
  2. Create an issue to track the feature flag using the Feature flag template.
  3. Add the ~"feature flag" label to any merge requests that handle feature flags.

For GitLab Pages, the feature flags are controlled by environment variables at a global level. A deployment at the service level is required to change the state of a feature flag. Example of a merge request enabling a GitLab Pages feature flag: Enforce GitLab Pages rate limits

Becoming a GitLab Pages maintainer

This document serves as a guideline for GitLab team members that want to become maintainers for the GitLab Pages project. Maintainers should have an advanced understanding of the GitLab Pages codebase. Prior to applying for maintainer of a project, a person should gain a good feel for the codebase, expertise in one or more functionalities, and deep understanding of our coding standards.

Expectations

The process to become a maintainer at GitLab is defined in the handbook, and it is the baseline for this process. One thing that is expected is a high number of reviews, however; the rate of change of the GitLab Pages compared to the GitLab Rails project is too little.

To work around that problem, one must be comfortable in the following areas of the codebase:

Main areas:

  • Namespace/project resolution
  • ZIP serving and the virtual file system
  • Authentication

Smaller areas:

  • Redirects
  • Artifacts proxying
  • Handling of TLS certificates
  • Rate-limiting
  • Metrics and monitoring

To achieve this, you should try to make relevant contributions in all main areas and 2-3 smaller areas mentioned above so that you have a better understanding of the functionality. A relevant contribution may be a bug fix, a performance improvement, a new feature, or a significant refactoring.

Reviewer

Prior to becoming a maintainer, you should first become a reviewer of the project. This should include changes to any part of the codebase including the documentation.

To become a reviewer follow the steps outlined in the handbook. There is no set timeline of how long you should be a reviewer before becoming a maintainer, but you should gain enough experience in the areas mentioned in the expectations section of this document.

Maintainer

To become a maintainer follow the steps outlined in the handbook. You are probably ready to become a maintainer when these statements feel true:

  • The MRs you have reviewed consistently make it through maintainer review without significant additionally required changes
  • The MRs you have created consistently make it through reviewer and maintainer review without significant required changes
  • You feel comfortable working through operational tasks

If those subjective requirements are satisfied, open an MR promoting you to maintainer and tag the existing maintainers.