Install GitLab Runner manually on GNU/Linux

Tier: Free, Premium, Ultimate Offering: GitLab.com, Self-managed

If you can’t use the deb/rpm repository to install GitLab Runner, or your GNU/Linux OS is not among the supported ones, you can install it manually using one of the methods below, as a last resort.

If you want to use the Docker executor, you must install Docker before using GitLab Runner.

Make sure that you read the FAQ section which describes some of the most common problems with GitLab Runner.

Using deb/rpm package

It is possible to download and install via a deb or rpm package, if necessary.

Download

To download the appropriate package for your system:

  1. Find the latest file name and options at https://s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/gitlab-runner-downloads/latest/index.html.
  2. Choose a version and download a binary, as described in the documentation for downloading any other tagged releases for bleeding edge GitLab Runner releases.

For example, for Debian or Ubuntu: 

# Replace ${arch} with any of the supported architectures, e.g. amd64, arm, arm64
# A full list of architectures can be found here https://s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/gitlab-runner-downloads/latest/index.html
curl -LJO "https://s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/gitlab-runner-downloads/latest/deb/gitlab-runner_${arch}.deb"

For example, for CentOS or Red Hat Enterprise Linux: 

# Replace ${arch} with any of the supported architectures, e.g. amd64, arm, arm64
# A full list of architectures can be found here https://s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/gitlab-runner-downloads/latest/index.html
curl -LJO "https://s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/gitlab-runner-downloads/latest/rpm/gitlab-runner_${arch}.rpm"

For example, for FIPS compliant GitLab Runner on RHEL: 

# Currently only amd64 is a supported arch
# A full list of architectures can be found here https://s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/gitlab-runner-downloads/latest/index.html
curl -LJO "https://s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/gitlab-runner-downloads/latest/rpm/gitlab-runner_amd64-fips.rpm"

Install

  1. Install the package for your system as follows.

    For example, for Debian or Ubuntu: 

    dpkg -i gitlab-runner_<arch>.deb

    For example, for CentOS or Red Hat Enterprise Linux: 

    rpm -i gitlab-runner_<arch>.rpm

  2. Register a runner

Upgrade

Download the latest package for your system then upgrade as follows:

For example, for Debian or Ubuntu: 

dpkg -i gitlab-runner_<arch>.deb

For example, for CentOS or Red Hat Enterprise Linux: 

rpm -Uvh gitlab-runner_<arch>.rpm

Using binary file

It is possible to download and install via binary file, if necessary.

Install

caution
With GitLab Runner 10, the executable was renamed to gitlab-runner.

  1. Simply download one of the binaries for your system: 

    # Linux x86-64
sudo curl -L --output /usr/local/bin/gitlab-runner "https://s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/gitlab-runner-downloads/latest/binaries/gitlab-runner-linux-amd64"

# Linux x86
sudo curl -L --output /usr/local/bin/gitlab-runner "https://s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/gitlab-runner-downloads/latest/binaries/gitlab-runner-linux-386"

# Linux arm
sudo curl -L --output /usr/local/bin/gitlab-runner "https://s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/gitlab-runner-downloads/latest/binaries/gitlab-runner-linux-arm"

# Linux arm64
sudo curl -L --output /usr/local/bin/gitlab-runner "https://s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/gitlab-runner-downloads/latest/binaries/gitlab-runner-linux-arm64"

# Linux s390x
sudo curl -L --output /usr/local/bin/gitlab-runner "https://s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/gitlab-runner-downloads/latest/binaries/gitlab-runner-linux-s390x"

# Linux ppc64le
sudo curl -L --output /usr/local/bin/gitlab-runner "https://s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/gitlab-runner-downloads/latest/binaries/gitlab-runner-linux-ppc64le"

# Linux x86-64 FIPS Compliant
sudo curl -L --output /usr/local/bin/gitlab-runner "https://s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/gitlab-runner-downloads/latest/binaries/gitlab-runner-linux-amd64-fips"

    You can download a binary for every available version as described in Bleeding Edge - download any other tagged release.

  2. Give it permissions to execute: 

    sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/gitlab-runner

  3. Create a GitLab CI user: 

    sudo useradd --comment 'GitLab Runner' --create-home gitlab-runner --shell /bin/bash

  4. Install and run as service: 

    sudo gitlab-runner install --user=gitlab-runner --working-directory=/home/gitlab-runner
sudo gitlab-runner start

    Ensure you have /usr/local/bin/ in $PATH for root or you might get a command not found error. Alternately, you can install gitlab-runner in a different location, like /usr/bin/.

  5. Register a runner

note
If gitlab-runner is installed and run as service (what is described in this page), it will run as root, but will execute jobs as user specified by the install command. This means that some of the job functions like cache and artifacts will need to execute /usr/local/bin/gitlab-runner command, therefore the user under which jobs are run, needs to have access to the executable.

Upgrade

  1. Stop the service (you need elevated command prompt as before): 

    sudo gitlab-runner stop

  2. Download the binary to replace the GitLab Runner executable. For example: 

    sudo curl -L --output /usr/local/bin/gitlab-runner "https://s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/gitlab-runner-downloads/latest/binaries/gitlab-runner-linux-amd64"

    You can download a binary for every available version as described in Bleeding Edge - download any other tagged release.

  3. Give it permissions to execute: 

    sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/gitlab-runner

  4. Start the service: 

    sudo gitlab-runner start