cgit - cgi for git
-This is an attempt to create a fast web interface for the git scm, using a
-frontside cache to decrease server io-pressure.
+This is an attempt to create a fast web interface for the git scm, using a
+builtin cache to decrease server io-pressure.
-When cgit is invoked, it looks for a cached page matching the request. If no
-such cachefile exist (or it has expired), it is (re)generated. Finally, the
-cachefile is returned to the client.
-If the cachefile has expired, but cgit is unable to lock the cachefile, the
-client will get the stale cachefile after all. This is done to favour page
+Installation
+
+ $ make
+ $ su
+ $ make install
+
+This will install cgit.cgi and cgit.css into "/var/www/htdocs/cgit".
+
+Note: The initial "make" will create a submodule 'git' and clone the git
+repository at git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/git/git.git in it. If you
+already have a local git git repository that you want to use as origin
+for the submodule, run
+
+ $ git clone -s <path-to-git-repo> git
+ $ ./submodules.sh -u
+
+before running "make".
+
+
+Dependencies
+
+ -git (1.5.2-rc0 or newer, due to git submodule) installed
+ -zip lib
+ -crypto lib
+ -openssl lib
+
+
+Apache configuration
+
+A new Directory-section must probably be added for cgit, possibly something
+like this:
+
+ <Directory "/var/www/htdocs/cgit/">
+ AllowOverride None
+ Options ExecCGI
+ Order allow,deny
+ Allow from all
+ </Directory>
+
+
+Runtime configuration
+
+The file /etc/cgitrc is read by cgit before handling a request. In addition
+to runtime parameters, this file also contains a list of the repositories
+displayed by cgit.
+
+A template cgitrc is shipped with the sources, and all parameters and default
+values are documented in this file.
+
+
+The cache
+
+When cgit is invoked it looks for a cachefile matching the request and
+returns it to the client. If no such cachefile exist (or if it has expired),
+the content for the request is written into the proper cachefile before the
+file is returned.
+
+If the cachefile has expired but cgit is unable to obtain a lock for it, the
+stale cachefile is returned to the client. This is done to favour page
throughput over page freshness.
-Also, when a cachefile is generated, a few cache-related http-headers are
-created: "Modified" is set to current time(2), while "Expires" is set to
-time(2) + <cachefile TTL> * 60 (unless the TTL is negative, in which case it
-is read as "60 * 60 * 24 * 365"). This is done to avoid repeated requests for
-already visited pages.
+The generated content contains the complete response to the client, including
+the http-headers "Modified" and "Expires".
+
-The following cache-related options can be set in /etc/cgitrc:
+The mis(sing) features
- cache-root=<path> root directory for cache files
- cache-root-ttl=<min> TTL for the repo listing page
- cache-repo-ttl=<min> TTL for repo summary pages
- cache-dynamic-ttl=<min> TTL for pages with symbolic references
- cache-static-ttl=<min> TTL for pages with sha1 references
+Submodule links in the directory listing page have a fixed format per
+repository. This should probably be extended to a generic map between
+submodule path and url.
-The cachefiles are split into different directories, based on the requested
-repository and page:
- Repo listing: <cachedir>/index.html
- Repo summary: <cachedir>/<repo>/index.html
- Repo subpage: <cachedir>/<repo>/<page>/<querystring>.html
+The end.