GIT-DAEMON(1)

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version 2.56.0 · 25 versions
, in arch rolling

🎀 GIT-DAEMON(1) — the Git Manual, but make it group-chat 🎀

okay so this is GIT-DAEMON(1) from the Git Manual, and bestie, it’s literally the page for git-daemon 💖

✨ NAME ✨

git-daemon — a really simple server for Git repositories 🦋

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

git daemon [--verbose] [--syslog] [--export-all]
           [--timeout=<n>] [--init-timeout=<n>] [--max-connections=<n>]
           [--strict-paths] [--base-path=<path>] [--base-path-relaxed]
           [--user-path | --user-path=<path>]
           [--interpolated-path=<pathtemplate>]
           [--reuseaddr] [--detach] [--pid-file=<file>]
           [--enable=<service>] [--disable=<service>]
           [--allow-override=<service>] [--forbid-override=<service>]
           [--access-hook=<path>] [--[no-]informative-errors]
           [--inetd |
             [--listen=<host-or-ipaddr>] [--port=<n>]
             [--user=<user> [--group=<group>]]]
           [--log-destination=(stderr|syslog|none)]
           [<directory>...]

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

So it’s a really simple TCP Git daemon, and it normally listens on port "DEFAULT_GIT_PORT" aka 9418 👑 It just waits for a connection asking for a service, and then it serves that service if the service is enabled. Lowkey straightforward, highkey iconic.

It verifies that the directory has the magic file "git-daemon-export-ok", and it will refuse to export any Git directory that hasn’t explicitly been marked for export this way — unless you pass the --export-all parameter, bestie. If you pass some directory paths as git daemon arguments, the offers are limited to repositories within those directories. 🫶

By default, only upload-pack service is enabled, which serves git fetch-pack and git ls-remote clients, which are invoked from git fetch, git pull, and git clone. That’s the main-character default vibe ✨

This is ideally suited for read-only updates, i.e., pulling from Git repositories. Read-only? Obsessed. 💖

An upload-archive also exists to serve git archive. Cute, right? 🎀

🌈 OPTIONS 🌈

  • --strict-paths — Match paths exactly (i.e. don’t allow "/foo/repo" when the real path is "/foo/repo.git" or "/foo/repo/.git") and don’t do user-relative paths. git daemon will refuse to start when this option is enabled and no directory arguments are provided. So yeah, strict means strict 💅
  • --base-path=<path> — Remap all the path requests as relative to the given path. This is sort of “Git root” — if you run git daemon with --base-path=/srv/git on example.com, then if you later try to pull from git://example.com/hello.git, git daemon will interpret the path as /srv/git/hello.git. It’s giving “everything lives under here now” 🦋
  • --base-path-relaxed — If --base-path is enabled and repo lookup fails, with this option git daemon will attempt to lookup without prefixing the base path. This is useful for switching to --base-path usage, while still allowing the old paths. Glow-up without leaving your old faves behind ✨
  • --interpolated-path=<pathtemplate> — To support virtual hosting, an interpolated path template can be used to dynamically construct alternate paths. The template supports %H for the target hostname as supplied by the client but converted to all lowercase, %CH for the canonical hostname, %IP for the server’s IP address, %P for the port number, and %D for the absolute path of the named repository. After interpolation, the path is validated against the directory list. It’s literally path math, and it ate 🔥
  • --export-all — Allow pulling from all directories that look like Git repositories (have the objects and refs subdirectories), even if they do not have the git-daemon-export-ok file. No magic file? No problem — for real, this bypasses it 👑
  • --inetd — Have the server run as an inetd service. Implies --syslog (may be overridden with --log-destination=). Incompatible with --detach, --port, --listen, --user and --group options. So don’t try to pair it with those, bestie — it’s not that kind of party 🙈
  • --listen=<host-or-ipaddr> — Listen on a specific IP address or hostname. IP addresses can be either an IPv4 address or an IPv6 address if supported. If IPv6 is not supported, then --listen=<hostname> is also not supported and --listen must be given an IPv4 address. Can be given more than once. Incompatible with --inetd option. Multiple listens? Slay 💖
  • --port=<n> — Listen on an alternative port. Incompatible with --inetd option. Pick your port, live your truth 🌸
  • --init-timeout=<n> — Timeout (in seconds) between the moment the connection is established and the client request is received (typically a rather low value, since that should be basically immediate). It’s giving “hello? are you gonna ask for something or not?” 😭
  • --timeout=<n> — Timeout (in seconds) for specific client sub-requests. This includes the time it takes for the server to process the sub-request and the time spent waiting for the next client’s request. So it covers both the doing and the waiting around 🫶
  • --max-connections=<n> — Maximum number of concurrent clients, defaults to 32. Set it to zero for no limit. 32 besties by default, but you can go unlimited if you’re feeling brave 💀
  • --syslog — Short for --log-destination=syslog. Tiny flag, big “write it to syslog” energy ✨
  • --log-destination=<destination> — Send log messages to the specified destination. Note that this option does not imply --verbose, thus by default only error conditions will be logged. The <destination> must be one of:
    • stderr — Write to standard error. Note that if --detach is specified, the process disconnects from the real standard error, making this destination effectively equivalent to none. So like… it’s there, but it’s not really there 😭
    • syslog — Write to syslog, using the git-daemon identifier. Classic, reliable, very demure 💅
    • none — Disable all logging. Silence is golden, etc. 🎀

The default destination is syslog if --inetd or --detach is specified, otherwise stderr.

  • --user-path, --user-path=<path> — Allow ~user notation to be used in requests. When specified with no parameter, a request to git://host/~alice/foo is taken as a request to access foo repository in the home directory of user alice. If --user-path=<path> is specified, the same request is taken as a request to access <path>/foo repository in the home directory of user alice. Very “come through, home directory” 🦋
  • --verbose — Log details about the incoming connections and requested files. Not me wanting all the tea ☕️✨
  • --reuseaddr — Use SO_REUSEADDR when binding the listening socket. This allows the server to restart without waiting for old connections to time out. Restart immediately? We love a bounce-back icon 💖
  • --detach — Detach from the shell. Implies --syslog. Bye-bye terminal, hello background daemon energy 👑
  • --pid-file=<file> — Save the process id in <file>. Ignored when the daemon is run under --inetd. Save the receipt, bestie 🧾
  • --user=<user>, --group=<group> — Change daemon’s uid and gid before entering the service loop. When only --user is given without --group, the primary group ID for the user is used. The values of the option are given to getpwnam(3) and getgrnam(3) and numeric IDs are not supported. So no “just use 1000”, okay? Names only, periodt.

Giving these options is an error when used with --inetd; use the facility of inet daemon to achieve the same before spawning git daemon if needed. Don’t fight inetd on this one 😭

Like many programs that switch user id, the daemon does not reset environment variables such as HOME when it runs git programs, e.g. upload-pack and receive-pack. When using this option, you may also want to set and export HOME to point at the home directory of <user> before starting the daemon, and make sure any Git configuration files in that directory are readable by <user>. Tiny detail, huge vibe check — do not skip it 🫶

  • --enable=<service>, --disable=<service> — Enable/disable the service site-wide per default. Note that a service disabled site-wide can still be enabled per repository if it is marked overridable and the repository enables the service with a configuration item. So global says no, but repo config can still be like “actually, yes” 💅
  • --allow-override=<service>, --forbid-override=<service> — Allow/forbid overriding the site-wide default with per repository configuration. By default, all the services may be overridden. Permission slip: granted by default ✨
  • --informative-errors, --no-informative-errors — When informative errors are turned on, git-daemon will report more verbose errors to the client, differentiating conditions like "no such repository" from "repository not exported". This is more convenient for clients, but may leak information about the existence of unexported repositories. When informative errors are not enabled, all errors report "access denied" to the client. The default is --no-informative-errors. So yeah — more detail is convenient, but it can spill tea about unexported repos 💀
  • --access-hook=<path> — Every time a client connects, first run an external command specified by the <path> with service name (e.g. "upload-pack"), path to the repository, hostname (%H), canonical hostname (%CH), IP address (%IP), and TCP port (%P) as its command-line arguments. The external command can decide to decline the service by exiting with a non-zero status (or to allow it by exiting with a zero status). It can also look at the $REMOTE_ADDR and $REMOTE_PORT environment variables to learn about the requestor when making this decision. Very “custom bouncer at the door” energy 🚪✨

The external command can optionally write a single line to its standard output to be sent to the requestor as an error message when it declines the service. One line only, bestie — make it count 😭

  • <directory> — The remaining arguments provide a list of directories. If any directories are specified, then the git-daemon process will serve a requested directory only if it is contained in one of these directories. If --strict-paths is specified, then the requested directory must match one of these directories exactly. Contained? Fine. Exactly matching? That’s the strict-path lifestyle 💅

🧚 SERVICES 🧚

These services can be globally enabled/disabled using the command-line options of this command. If finer-grained control is desired (e.g. to allow git archive to be run against only in a few selected repositories the daemon serves), the per-repository configuration file can be used to enable or disable them. So you can go global, or you can go per-repo — choose your fighter 🌈

  • upload-pack — This serves git fetch-pack and git ls-remote clients. It is enabled by default, but a repository can disable it by setting daemon.uploadpack configuration item to false. Default-on icon 👑
  • upload-archive — This serves git archive --remote. It is disabled by default, but a repository can enable it by setting daemon.uploadarch configuration item to true. Off by default, but ready for its moment ✨
  • receive-pack — This serves git send-pack clients, allowing anonymous push. It is disabled by default, as there is no authentication in the protocol (in other words, anybody can push anything into the repository, including removal of refs). This is solely meant for a closed LAN setting where everybody is friendly. This service can be enabled by setting daemon.receivepack configuration item to true. Okay but fr fr, read that again: anybody can push anything, including removal of refs. Closed LAN, friendly vibes only — do not casually expose this to the whole internet, bestie 😭💀

💖 EXAMPLES 💖

ok so for all of these we're lowkey assuming the following lives in /etc/services:

$ grep 9418 /etc/services
git             9418/tcp                # Git Version Control System

like, that's the vibe check. that's the whole prerequisite. slay 💅

🌀 git daemon as inetd server

bestie, if you wanna set up git daemon as an inetd service that handles any repository within /pub/foo or /pub/bar, you drop an entry like this into /etc/inetd — and yes, all on one line, don't come for me about the formatting, that's just how inetd eats it:

            git stream tcp nowait nobody  /usr/bin/git
                    git daemon --inetd --verbose --export-all
                    /pub/foo /pub/bar

one line. periodt. ✨

🦋 git daemon as inetd server for virtual hosts

ok so now you want an inetd service handling repositories for different virtual hosts — say www.example.com and www.example.org. iconic scenario, honestly. place an entry like this into /etc/inetd, all on one line again:

            git stream tcp nowait nobody /usr/bin/git
                    git daemon --inetd --verbose --export-all
                    --interpolated-path=/pub/%H%D
                    /pub/www.example.org/software
                    /pub/www.example.com/software
                    /software

in this example, the root-level directory /pub will contain a subdirectory for each virtual host name supported. further, both hosts advertise repositories simply as git://www.example.com/software/repo.git. the way that just works, ugh 😭

and for pre-1.4.0 clients (ancient, i know, but we respect our elders), a symlink from /software into the appropriate default repository could be made as well. 🫶

🌸 git daemon as regular daemon for virtual hosts

wanna set up git daemon as a regular, non-inetd service that handles repositories for multiple virtual hosts based on their IP addresses? highkey based. start the daemon like this:

            git daemon --verbose --export-all
                    --interpolated-path=/pub/%IP/%D
                    /pub/192.168.1.200/software
                    /pub/10.10.220.23/software

in this example, the root-level directory /pub will contain a subdirectory for each virtual host IP address supported. repositories can still be accessed by hostname though, assuming they correspond to these IP addresses. no cap, that's the good stuff 💜

🎀 selectively enable/disable services per repository

ok this one is so satisfying. to enable git archive --remote and disable git fetch against a repository, have the following in the configuration file in the repository — that is, the file config next to HEAD, refs and objects:

            [daemon]
                    uploadpack = false
                    uploadarch = true

see how clean that is?? uploadpack = false shuts the door on fetch, uploadarch = true opens it for archive. chef's kiss. 🧚‍♀️

🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

git daemon will set REMOTE_ADDR to the IP address of the client that connected to it, if the IP address is available. and REMOTE_ADDR will be available in the environment of hooks called when services are performed. so your hooks literally get to know who's knocking. iykyk ✨

quick heads up bestie: note the "if the IP address is available" — it's not a guaranteed thing, so don't build your whole personality around it being there fr fr

👑 GIT 👑

part of the git(1) suite. you already knew that. main character energy from the jump. 💅

okay that's the whole page, go forth and serve some repos, bestie 🦋💖 — this was from Git 2.56.0, dated 2026-09-27, and it's GIT-DAEMON(1) if you need to cite your sources like the academic icon you are 🎀✨

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