Upgrading Community Edition and Enterprise Edition from source

Note: Users wishing to upgrade to 12.0.0 will have to take some extra steps. See the version specific upgrade instructions for 12.0.0 for more details.

Make sure you view this update guide from the branch (version) of GitLab you would like to install (e.g., 11.8. You can select the version in the version dropdown at the top left corner of GitLab (below the menu bar).

In all examples, replace BRANCH with the branch for the version you upgrading to (e.g. 11-8-stable for 11.8), and replace PREVIOUS_BRANCH with the branch for the version you are upgrading from (e.g. 11-7-stable for 11.7).

If the highest number stable branch is unclear please 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 within your major version. Please 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 

sudo service gitlab stop

3. Update Ruby

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 --progress https://cache.ruby-lang.org/pub/ruby/2.7/ruby-2.7.2.tar.gz
echo 'cb9731a17487e0ad84037490a6baf8bfa31a09e8  ruby-2.7.2.tar.gz' | shasum -c - && tar xzf ruby-2.7.2.tar.gz
cd ruby-2.7.2

./configure --disable-install-rdoc
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: 

curl --silent --show-error https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/pubkey.gpg | sudo apt-key add -
echo "deb https://dl.yarnpkg.com/debian/ stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/yarn.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install 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 --progress https://dl.google.com/go/go1.13.5.linux-amd64.tar.gz
echo '512103d7ad296467814a6e3f635631bd35574cab3369a97a323c9a585ccaa569  go1.13.5.linux-amd64.tar.gz' | shasum -a256 -c - && \
  sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.13.5.linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo ln -sf /usr/local/go/bin/{go,godoc,gofmt} /usr/local/bin/
rm go1.13.5.linux-amd64.tar.gz

6. Update Git

Caution: From GitLab 13.1, you must use at least Git v2.24 (previous minimum version was v2.22). Git v2.28 is recommended.

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

In Debian or Ubuntu: 

# Make sure Git is version 2.29.0 or higher
git --version

# Remove packaged Git
sudo apt-get remove git-core

# Install dependencies
sudo apt-get install -y libcurl4-openssl-dev libexpat1-dev gettext libz-dev libssl-dev build-essential

# Download and compile pcre2 from source
curl --silent --show-error --location https://ftp.pcre.org/pub/pcre/pcre2-10.33.tar.gz --output pcre2.tar.gz
tar -xzf pcre2.tar.gz
cd pcre2-10.33
chmod +x configure
./configure --prefix=/usr --enable-jit
make
make install

# Download and compile from source
cd /tmp
curl --remote-name --location --progress https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/git-2.29.0.tar.gz
echo 'fa08dc8424ef80c0f9bf307877f9e2e49f1a6049e873530d6747c2be770742ff  git-2.29.0.tar.gz' | shasum -a256 -c - && tar -xzf git-2.29.0.tar.gz
cd git-2.29.0/
./configure --with-libpcre
make prefix=/usr/local all

# Install into /usr/local/bin
sudo make prefix=/usr/local install

# You should edit config/gitlab.yml, change the git -> bin_path to /usr/local/bin/git

7. Update PostgreSQL

Caution: From GitLab 13.0, you must use at least PostgreSQL 11.

The latest version of GitLab might depend on a more recent PostgreSQL version than what you are currently running (see the PostgreSQL requirements).

In order to upgrade PostgreSQL, please 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 -- db/structure.sql # local changes will be restored automatically
sudo -u git -H git checkout -- 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 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

10. Update GitLab Workhorse

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

cd /home/git/gitlab-workhorse

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

11. Update Gitaly

Compile Gitaly 

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

12. 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

13. 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

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 to continue using it you must enable it in your NGINX configuration as GitLab application no longer handles setting it.

If you are using Apache instead of NGINX see the updated Apache templates. Also note that because Apache does not support upstreams behind Unix sockets you will need to 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 will need to add the following line to config/initializers/smtp_settings.rb: 

ActionMailer::Base.delivery_method = :smtp

See smtp_settings.rb.sample as an example.

Init script

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

For Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS: 

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

14. Install libraries, migrations, etc 

cd /home/git/gitlab

sudo -u git -H bundle install --deployment --without development test mysql aws kerberos

# 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

15. Start application 

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!

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.

13.0.1

As part of deprecating Rack Attack throttles on Omnibus GitLab, 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 need to 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, you need to follow the guides for upgrading from 12.4 to 12.5. You can use the version dropdown 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.