Upgrading Community Edition and Enterprise Edition from source

Make sure you view this update guide from the branch (version) of GitLab you would like to install (for example, 11.8). You can select the required version of documentation in the dropdown list at the top right corner of GitLab documentation page.

In each of the following examples, replace BRANCH with the branch of the version you upgrading to (for example, 11-8-stable for 11.8). Replace PREVIOUS_BRANCH with the branch for the version you are upgrading from (for example, 11-7-stable for 11.7).

If the highest number stable branch is unclear check the GitLab Blog for installation guide links by version.

If you are changing from GitLab Community Edition to GitLab Enterprise Edition, see the Upgrading from CE to EE documentation.

Upgrading to a new major version

Major versions are reserved for backwards incompatible changes. We recommend that you first upgrade to the latest available minor version of your current major version. Follow the Upgrade Recommendations to identify the ideal upgrade path.

Before upgrading to a new major version, you should ensure that any background migration jobs from previous releases have been completed. To see the current size of the background_migration queue, Check for background migrations before upgrading.

Guidelines for all versions

This section contains all the steps necessary to upgrade Community Edition or Enterprise Edition, regardless of the version you are upgrading to. Version specific guidelines (should there be any) are covered separately.

1. Backup

If you installed GitLab from source, make sure rsync is installed.

cd /home/git/gitlab

sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:backup:create RAILS_ENV=production

2. Stop server 

# For systems running systemd
sudo systemctl stop gitlab.target

# For systems running SysV init
sudo service gitlab stop

3. Update Ruby

note
Beginning in GitLab 13.6, we only support Ruby 2.7 or higher, and dropped support for Ruby 2.6. Be sure to upgrade if necessary.

You can check which version you are running with ruby -v.

Download Ruby and compile it:

mkdir /tmp/ruby && cd /tmp/ruby
curl --remote-name --location --progress-bar "https://cache.ruby-lang.org/pub/ruby/2.7/ruby-2.7.6.tar.gz"
echo 'e7203b0cc09442ed2c08936d483f8ac140ec1c72e37bb5c401646b7866cb5d10 ruby-2.7.6.tar.gz' | sha256sum -c - && tar xzf ruby-2.7.6.tar.gz
cd ruby-2.7.6

./configure --disable-install-rdoc --enable-shared
make
sudo make install

4. Update Node.js

To check the minimum required Node.js version, see Node.js versions.

GitLab also requires the use of Yarn >= v1.10.0 to manage JavaScript dependencies.

In Debian or Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get remove yarn

npm install --global yarn

More information can be found on the Yarn website.

5. Update Go

To check the minimum required Go version, see Go versions.

You can check which version you are running with go version.

Download and install Go (for Linux, 64-bit):

# Remove former Go installation folder
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/go

curl --remote-name --location --progress-bar "https://go.dev/dl/go1.17.10.linux-amd64.tar.gz"
echo '87fc728c9c731e2f74e4a999ef53cf07302d7ed3504b0839027bd9c10edaa3fd  go1.17.10.linux-amd64.tar.gz' | shasum -a256 -c - && \
  sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.17.10.linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo ln -sf /usr/local/go/bin/{go,gofmt} /usr/local/bin/
rm go1.17.10.linux-amd64.tar.gz

6. Update Git

To check you are running the minimum required Git version, see Git versions.

From GitLab 13.6, we recommend you use the Git version provided by Gitaly that:

  • Is always at the version required by GitLab.
  • May contain custom patches required for proper operation.
# Install dependencies
sudo apt-get install -y libcurl4-openssl-dev libexpat1-dev gettext libz-dev libssl-dev libpcre2-dev build-essential

# Clone the Gitaly repository
git clone https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly.git -b <X-Y-stable> /tmp/gitaly

# Compile and install Git
cd /tmp/gitaly
sudo make git GIT_PREFIX=/usr/local

Replace <X-Y-stable> with the stable branch that matches the GitLab version you want to install. For example, if you want to install GitLab 13.6, use the branch name 13-6-stable.

Remember to set git -> bin_path to /usr/local/bin/git in config/gitlab.yml.

7. Update PostgreSQL

caution
GitLab 14.0 requires at least PostgreSQL 12.

The latest version of GitLab might depend on a more recent PostgreSQL version than what you are running. You may also have to enable some extensions. For more information, see the PostgreSQL requirements

To upgrade PostgreSQL, refer to its documentation.

8. Get latest code 

cd /home/git/gitlab

sudo -u git -H git fetch --all --prune
sudo -u git -H git checkout -- Gemfile.lock db/structure.sql locale

For GitLab Community Edition:

cd /home/git/gitlab

sudo -u git -H git checkout BRANCH

OR

For GitLab Enterprise Edition:

cd /home/git/gitlab

sudo -u git -H git checkout BRANCH-ee

9. Update configuration files

New configuration options for gitlab.yml

There might be configuration options available for gitlab.yml). View them with the command below and apply them manually to your current gitlab.yml:

cd /home/git/gitlab

git diff origin/PREVIOUS_BRANCH:config/gitlab.yml.example origin/BRANCH:config/gitlab.yml.example

New configuration options for database.yml

There might be configuration options available for database.yml. View them with the command below and apply them manually to your current database.yml:

cd /home/git/gitlab

git diff origin/PREVIOUS_BRANCH:config/database.yml.postgresql origin/BRANCH:config/database.yml.postgresql

NGINX configuration

Ensure you’re still up-to-date with the latest NGINX configuration changes:

cd /home/git/gitlab

# For HTTPS configurations
git diff origin/PREVIOUS_BRANCH:lib/support/nginx/gitlab-ssl origin/BRANCH:lib/support/nginx/gitlab-ssl

# For HTTP configurations
git diff origin/PREVIOUS_BRANCH:lib/support/nginx/gitlab origin/BRANCH:lib/support/nginx/gitlab

If you are using Strict-Transport-Security in your installation, you must enable it in your NGINX configuration to continue using it. This is because the GitLab application no longer sets it.

If you are using Apache instead of NGINX see the updated Apache templates. Also because Apache does not support upstreams behind Unix sockets you must let GitLab Workhorse listen on a TCP port. You can do this via /etc/default/gitlab.

SMTP configuration

If you’re installing from source and use SMTP to deliver mail, you must add the following line to config/initializers/smtp_settings.rb:

ActionMailer::Base.delivery_method = :smtp

See smtp_settings.rb.sample as an example.

Configure systemd units

If using the SysV init script, see Configure SysV init script.

Check if the systemd units have been updated:

cd /home/git/gitlab

git diff origin/PREVIOUS_BRANCH:lib/support/systemd origin/BRANCH:lib/support/systemd

Copy them over:

sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/lib/systemd/system
sudo cp lib/support/systemd/* /usr/local/lib/systemd/system/
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Configure SysV init script

If using systemd units, see Configure systemd units.

There might be new configuration options available for gitlab.default.example. View them with the command below and apply them manually to your current /etc/default/gitlab:

cd /home/git/gitlab

git diff origin/PREVIOUS_BRANCH:lib/support/init.d/gitlab.default.example origin/BRANCH:lib/support/init.d/gitlab.default.example

Ensure you’re still up-to-date with the latest init script changes:

cd /home/git/gitlab

sudo cp lib/support/init.d/gitlab /etc/init.d/gitlab

If you are using the init script on a system running systemd as init, because you have not switched to native systemd units yet, run:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

10. Install libraries, migrations, etc

Make sure you have the required PostgreSQL extensions, then proceed to install the needed libraries:

cd /home/git/gitlab

# If you haven't done so during installation or a previous upgrade already
sudo -u git -H bundle config set --local deployment 'true'
sudo -u git -H bundle config set --local without 'development test mysql aws kerberos'

# Update gems
sudo -u git -H bundle install

# Optional: clean up old gems
sudo -u git -H bundle clean

# Run database migrations
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake db:migrate RAILS_ENV=production

# Compile GetText PO files
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gettext:compile RAILS_ENV=production

# Update node dependencies and recompile assets
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake yarn:install gitlab:assets:clean gitlab:assets:compile RAILS_ENV=production NODE_ENV=production NODE_OPTIONS="--max_old_space_size=4096"

# Clean up cache
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake cache:clear RAILS_ENV=production

11. Update GitLab Shell 

cd /home/git/gitlab-shell

sudo -u git -H git fetch --all --tags --prune
sudo -u git -H git checkout v$(</home/git/gitlab/GITLAB_SHELL_VERSION)
sudo -u git -H make build

12. Update GitLab Workhorse

Install and compile GitLab Workhorse.

cd /home/git/gitlab

sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake "gitlab:workhorse:install[/home/git/gitlab-workhorse]" RAILS_ENV=production
note
If you get any errors concerning Rack attack, see the 13.0 specific upgrade instructions.

13. Update Gitaly

If Gitaly is located on its own server, or you use Gitaly Cluster, see Gitaly or Gitaly Cluster on the Zero downtime upgrades page.

Compile Gitaly 

# Fetch Gitaly source with Git and compile with Go
cd /home/git/gitlab
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake "gitlab:gitaly:install[/home/git/gitaly,/home/git/repositories]" RAILS_ENV=production

14. Update GitLab Pages

Only needed if you use GitLab Pages

Install and compile GitLab Pages. GitLab Pages uses GNU Make. If you are not using Linux you may have to run gmake instead of make below.

cd /home/git/gitlab-pages

sudo -u git -H git fetch --all --tags --prune
sudo -u git -H git checkout v$(</home/git/gitlab/GITLAB_PAGES_VERSION)
sudo -u git -H make

15. Start application 

# For systems running systemd
sudo systemctl start gitlab.target
sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

# For systems running SysV init
sudo service gitlab start
sudo service nginx restart

16. Check application status

Check if GitLab and its environment are configured correctly:

cd /home/git/gitlab

sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:env:info RAILS_ENV=production

To make sure you didn’t miss anything run a more thorough check:

cd /home/git/gitlab

sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:check RAILS_ENV=production

If all items are green, then congratulations, the upgrade is complete!

17. Upgrade the product documentation

This is an optional step. If you installed the product documentation, see how to upgrade to a later version.

Version specific upgrading instructions

This section contains upgrading instructions for specific versions. When present, first follow the upgrading guidelines for all versions. If the version you are upgrading to is not listed here, then no additional steps are required.

15.0.0

Support for more than one database has been added to GitLab. As part of this, config/database.yml must include a database name in the database configuration. The main: database must be first. If an invalid or deprecated syntax is used, an error is generated during application start:

ERROR: This installation of GitLab uses unsupported 'config/database.yml'.
The main: database needs to be defined as a first configuration item instead of primary. (RuntimeError)

Previously, the config/database.yml file looked like the following:

production:
  adapter: postgresql
  encoding: unicode
  database: gitlabhq_production
  ...

Starting with GitLab 15.0, it must define a main database first:

production:
  main:
    adapter: postgresql
    encoding: unicode
    database: gitlabhq_production
    ...

14.5.0

As part of enabling real-time issue assignees, Action Cable is now enabled by default, and requires config/cable.yml to be present. You can configure this by running:

cd /home/git/gitlab

sudo -u git -H cp config/cable.yml.example config/cable.yml

# Change the Redis socket path if you are not using the default Debian / Ubuntu configuration
sudo -u git -H editor config/cable.yml

13.0.1

As part of deprecating Rack Attack throttles on Omnibus GitLab, the Rack Attack initializer on GitLab was renamed from config/initializers/rack_attack_new.rb to config/initializers/rack_attack.rb. If this file exists on your installation, consider creating a backup before updating:

cd /home/git/gitlab
cp config/initializers/rack_attack.rb ~/config/initializers/rack_attack_backup.rb

Troubleshooting

1. Revert the code to the previous version

To revert to a previous version, you must follow the upgrading guides for the previous version.

For example, if you have upgraded to GitLab 12.6 and want to revert back to 12.5, follow the guides for upgrading from 12.4 to 12.5. You can use the version dropdown list at the top of the page to select the right version.

When reverting, you should not follow the database migration guides, as the backup has already been migrated to the previous version.

2. Restore from the backup 

cd /home/git/gitlab

sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:backup:restore RAILS_ENV=production

If you have more than one backup *.tar file, add BACKUP=timestamp_of_backup to the above.