# Host Your Own GitHub Alternative with Gitea

## What is Gitea

> Gitea is a community managed lightweight code hosting solution written in Go. -https://gitea.io/

## Installing Gitea

1. Log into the Linux device
2. Run the following commands in a terminal:
   # update software repositories
   sudo apt update
   # install software updates
   sudo apt upgrade -y
   # install preprequisites
   sudo apt install git mariadb-server -y
   # create gitea user
   sudo adduser --system --shell /bin/bash --gecos 'Git Version Control' --group --disabled-password --home /home/gitea gitea
   # configure the MySQL database
   sudo su
   mysql_secure_installation
3. Press Enter to login as root
4. Type Y and press Enter to set a root password, type the password twice to confirm
5. Type Y and press Enter to remove anonymous users
6. Type Y and press Enter to disallow root login remotely
7. Type Y and press Enter to remove the test database
8. Type Y and press Enter to reload privilege tables
9. Run the following command to login into MySQL:
   mysql -u root -p
10. Authenticate with the root password set earlier
11. Run the following commands to create the Gitea database and database user
    CREATE DATABASE gitea CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
    CREATE USER 'gitea_rw'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'G1te@!';
    GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON gitea.* TO 'gitea_rw'@'localhost';
    FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
    EXIT;
    exit
12. Continue with the following commands:
    # download the Gitea binary
    wget -O ./gitea https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/releases/download/v1.14.2/gitea-1.14.2-linux-amd64
    # make gitea executable
    sudo chmod +x gitea
    # move gitea to /usr/local/bin
    sudo mv ./gitea /usr/local/bin/
    # verify gitea can be found
    gitea --version
    # create required directory structures
    sudo mkdir -p /etc/gitea /var/lib/gitea/{custom,data,indexers,public,log}
    sudo chown gitea:gitea /var/lib/gitea/{data,indexers,log}
    sudo chmod 750 /var/lib/gitea/{data,indexers,log}
    sudo chown root:gitea /etc/gitea
    sudo chmod 770 /etc/gitea
    # create gitea service
    sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/gitea.service
13. Paste the following into gitea.service

    [Unit]
    Description=Gitea
    After=syslog.target
    After=network.target
    After=mysql.service

    [Service]
    LimitMEMLOCK=infinity
    LimitNOFILE=65535
    RestartSec=2s
    Type=simple
    User=gitea
    Group=gitea
    WorkingDirectory=/var/lib/gitea/
    ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/gitea web -c /etc/gitea/app.ini
    Restart=always
    Environment=USER=git HOME=/home/gitea GITEA_WORK_DIR=/var/lib/gitea

    [Install]
    WantedBy=multi-user.target

14. Press CTRL+O, Enter, CTRL+X to write the changes to gitea.service
15. Continue with the following commands:
    # reload services
    sudo systemctl daemon-reload
    # enable gitea to run on boot and start now
    sudo systemctl enable --now gitea
16. Open a web browser and navigate to http://DNSorIP:3000
17. Complete the database settings on the Initial Configuration screen > Click the Install Gitea button
18. Click the Register Now link
19. Enter a username, email and password > Click the Register Account button
20. Welcome to Gitea

Source: https://about.gitlab.com/