Build My Own Git (Git Server)

How to set up a secure, lightweight, self-hosted Git server for multi-user collaboration with both CLI and web UI access.

• Launch and configure an AWS EC2 instance for hosting Git
• Create a dedicated 'git' user and manage SSH access
• Initialize bare repositories under /var/lib/git
• Add developer public SSH keys for secure access
• Push and pull code from multiple machines over SSH
• Install and configure GitWeb for a simple web UI (e.g., port 1234)
• Understand Git internals (.git/objects, refs, HEAD and blob storage)

• Practice setting up your own version control infrastructure
• Use as a lightweight private Git alternative
• Educational deep-dive into Git internals and SSH

Learnings

• How to launch and configure an AWS EC2 instance
• Creating a 'git' user and managing SSH access
• Initializing bare Git repositories manually
• Handling secure access with SSH public keys
• Serving repositories via GitWeb on a custom port
• Repository structure: objects, refs, HEAD
• How Git stores files as compressed blobs

1. Provision an EC2 instance (Ubuntu/Debian). Open port 22 (SSH) and optional web port (e.g., 1234).
2. SSH in and install packages: sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y git gitweb
3. Create git user: sudo adduser git
4. Create repo root: sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/git && sudo chown -R git:git /var/lib/git
5. As git user, create bare repo: cd /var/lib/git && git init --bare my-project.git
6. Add developer SSH keys to /home/git/.ssh/authorized_keys
7. Optionally run GitWeb (configure GITWEB_PROJECTROOT=/var/lib/git and serve on your chosen port).
8. Clone from clients: git clone git@<ec2-ip>:/var/lib/git/my-project.git

Solo builder

• EC2 provisioning and server hardening
• SSH user management and key-based auth setup
• Bare repository initialization and workflows
• GitWeb configuration and documentation

• GitHub repo