Install the Linux package on Ubuntu

Prerequisites

• OS requirements:
  • Ubuntu 20.04
  • Ubuntu 22.04
  • Ubuntu 24.04
• See the installation requirements to learn about the minimum hardware requirements.
• Before you begin, make sure you have correctly set up your DNS. Replace https://gitlab.example.com in the following commands with your preferred GitLab URL. GitLab is automatically configured and started at that address.
• For https:// URLs, GitLab automatically requests a certificate with Let’s Encrypt, which requires inbound HTTP access and a valid hostname. You can also use your own certificate, or just use http:// (without the s) for an unencrypted URL.

Enable SSH and open firewall ports

To open the needed firewall ports (80, 443, 22) and be able to access GitLab:

1. Enable and start the OpenSSH server daemon:

   sudo systemctl enable --now ssh

2. With ufw installed, open the firewall ports:

   sudo ufw allow 22/tcp
   sudo ufw allow 80/tcp
   sudo ufw allow 443/tcp
   sudo ufw enable

Add the GitLab package repository

To install GitLab, first add the GitLab package repository.

1. Install the needed packages:

   sudo apt install -y curl

2. Use the following script to add the GitLab repository (you can paste the script’s URL to your browser to see what it does before piping it to bash):

   Enterprise Edition

   curl "https://packages.gitlab.com/install/repositories/gitlab/gitlab-ee/script.deb.sh" | sudo bash

   Community Edition

   curl "https://packages.gitlab.com/install/repositories/gitlab/gitlab-ce/script.deb.sh" | sudo bash

Install the package

Install GitLab using your system’s package manager.

sudo EXTERNAL_URL="https://gitlab.example.com" apt install gitlab-ee

sudo EXTERNAL_URL="https://gitlab.example.com" apt install gitlab-ce

GitLab generates a random password and email address for the root administrator account stored in /etc/gitlab/initial_root_password for 24 hours. After 24 hours, this file is automatically removed for security reasons.

Initial sign-in

After GitLab is installed, go to the URL you set up and use the following credentials to sign in:

• Username: root
• Password: See /etc/gitlab/initial_root_password

After signing in, change your password and email address.

Advanced configuration

You can customize your GitLab installation by setting the following optional environment variables before installation. These variables only work during the first installation and have no effect on subsequent reconfigure runs. For existing installations, use the password from /etc/gitlab/initial_root_password or reset the root password.

Choose your GitLab edition and customize with the environment variables above:

sudo GITLAB_ROOT_EMAIL="admin@example.com" GITLAB_ROOT_PASSWORD="strongpassword" EXTERNAL_URL="https://gitlab.example.com" apt install gitlab-ee

sudo GITLAB_ROOT_EMAIL="admin@example.com" GITLAB_ROOT_PASSWORD="strongpassword" EXTERNAL_URL="https://gitlab.example.com" apt install gitlab-ce

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Recommended next steps

After completing your installation, consider the recommended next steps, including authentication options and sign-up restrictions.