---
title: 'Installation from binary'
license: 'CC-BY-SA-4.0'
origin_url: 'https://github.com/DanielGibson/DanielGibson.github.io/blob/58362695f743a545d2530508ce42d5fe1eea84a9/content/post/setup-vps-with-wireguard-and-forgejo.md'
origin_author: 'Daniel Gibson'
origin_title: 'How to set up a Linux server to host git with LFS behind a VPN'
---

## Install Forgejo and Git, create git user

> **NOTE:** this guide uses git.example.com and x.y.z for illustrative purpose.
> Replace with your domain and the used Forgejo version as appropriate.

First, download the Forgejo binary for your CPU architecture and verify the GPG signature,
as described on [the Forgejo download page](/download/).

Next, copy the downloaded Forgejo binary to `/usr/local/bin/` (renaming it to "forgejo")
and make it executable:

```sh
sudo cp forgejo-x.y.z-linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/forgejo
sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/forgejo
```

Make sure `git` and `git-lfs` are installed on your system. On Debian GNU/Linux you can use:

```sh
sudo apt install git git-lfs
```

Create a user `git` on the system. Forgejo will run as that user, and when accessing git through SSH
(which is the default), this user is part of the URL _(for example in
`git clone git@git.example.com:YourOrg/YourRepo.git` the `git` before the `@` is the user you'll create now)._
On **Debian, Ubuntu** and their derivatives that's done with:

```sh
sudo adduser --system --shell /bin/bash --gecos 'Git Version Control' \
  --group --disabled-password --home /home/git git
```

On **Linux distributions not based on Debian/Ubuntu** (this should at least work with Red Hat derivatives
like Fedora, CentOS etc.), run this instead:

```sh
sudo groupadd --system git
sudo useradd --system --shell /bin/bash --comment 'Git Version Control' \
   --gid git --home-dir /home/git --create-home git
```

## Create directories Forgejo will use

Now create the directories Forgejo will use and set access permissions appropriately:

```sh
sudo mkdir /var/lib/forgejo
sudo chown git:git /var/lib/forgejo && sudo chmod 750 /var/lib/forgejo
```

This is the directory Forgejo will store its data in, including your Git repositories.

```sh
sudo mkdir /etc/forgejo
sudo chown root:git /etc/forgejo && sudo chmod 770 /etc/forgejo
```

This is the directory Forgejo's config, called `app.ini`, is stored in. **Initially it needs to
be writable by Forgejo**, but after the installation you can make it read-only for Forgejo because
then it shouldn't modify it anymore.

## Optional: Set up database

When using sqlite as Forgejo's database, nothing needs to be done here.

If you need a more powerful database, you can use MySQL/MariaDB or PostgreSQL (apparently sqlite
is good enough for at least 10 users, but might even suffice for more).

See [Forgejo's Database Preparation guide](../database-preparation/) for
setup instructions.

## Install systemd service for Forgejo

Forgejo provides a
[systemd service script](https://codeberg.org/forgejo/forgejo/src/branch/forgejo/contrib/systemd/forgejo.service).
Download it to the correct location:

```sh
sudo wget -O /etc/systemd/system/forgejo.service https://codeberg.org/forgejo/forgejo/raw/branch/forgejo/contrib/systemd/forgejo.service
```

If you're _not_ using sqlite, but MySQL or MariaDB or PostgreSQL, you'll have to edit that file
(`/etc/systemd/system/forgejo.service`) and uncomment the corresponding `Wants=` and `After=` lines.
Otherwise it _should_ work as it is.

Now enable and start the Forgejo service, so you can go on with the installation:

```sh
sudo systemctl enable forgejo.service
sudo systemctl start forgejo.service
```

## Forgejo's web-based configuration

You should now be able to access Forgejo in your local web browser, so open http://git.example.com:3000/.

If it doesn't work:

- Make sure the forgejo service started successfully by checking the output of:
  ```sh
  sudo systemctl status forgejo.service
  ```
  If that indicates an error but the log lines underneath are too incomplete to tell what caused it,
  ```sh
  sudo journalctl -n 100 --unit forgejo.service
  ```
  will print the last 100 lines logged by Forgejo.

You should be greeted by Forgejo's "Initial Configuration" screen.
The settings should be mostly self-explanatory, some hints:

- Select the correct database (SQLite3, or if you configured something else in the
  "Set up database" step above, select that and set the corresponding options)
- **Server Domain** should be `git.example.com` (or whatever you're actually using),
  **Forgejo Base URL** should be `http://git.example.com:3000` (assuming you won't change `HTTP_PORT` to a different value than 3000)
- Check the **Server and Third-Party Service Settings** settings for settings that look relevant
  for you.
- It may make sense to create the administrator account right now (**Administrator Account Settings**),
  even more so if you disabled self-registration.
- Most settings can be changed in `/etc/forgejo/app.ini` later, so don't worry about them too much.

Once you're done configuring, click `Install Forgejo` and a few seconds later you should be
on the dashboard (if you created an administrator account) or at the login/register screen, where you
can create an account to then get to the dashboard.

So far, so good, but we're not quite done yet - some manual configuration in the `app.ini` is needed.

## Further configuration in Forgejo's app.ini

Stop the forgejo service:

```sh
sudo systemctl stop forgejo.service
```

While at it, make `/etc/forgejo/` and the `app.ini` read-only for the git user (Forgejo doesn't
write to it after the initial configuration):

```sh
sudo chmod 750 /etc/forgejo && sudo chmod 640 /etc/forgejo/app.ini
```

Now (as root) edit `/etc/forgejo/app.ini`

> **NOTE:** You'll probably find the
> [Configuration Cheat Sheet](../config-cheat-sheet/) and the
> [Example app.ini](https://codeberg.org/forgejo/forgejo/src/branch/forgejo/custom/conf/app.example.ini)
> that contains all options incl. descriptions helpful.

The following changes are recommended if dealing with many large files:

- Forgejo allows uploading files to Git repositories through the web interface.
  By default the **file size for uploads**
  is limited to 3MB per file, and 5 files at once. To increase it, under the `[repository]` section,
  add a `[repository.upload]` section with a line like `FILE_MAX_SIZE = 4095`
  (that would be 4095MB, about 4GB) and `MAX FILES = 20`
  It'll look somehow like this:

  ```ini
  ...
  [repository]
  ROOT = /var/lib/forgejo/data/forgejo-repositories

  [repository.upload]
  ;; max size for files to the repo via web interface, in MB,
  ;; defaults to 3 (this sets a limit of about 4GB)
  FILE_MAX_SIZE = 4095
  ;; by default 5 files can be uploaded at once, increase to 20
  MAX_FILES = 20

  [server]
  ...
  ```

  Similar restrictions exist for attachments to issues/pull requests, configured
  in the [`[attachment]` sections](../config-cheat-sheet/#issue-and-pull-request-attachments-attachment)
  `MAX_SIZE` (default 4MB) and `MAX_FILES` (default 5) settings.

- By default **LFS data uploads expire** after 20 minutes - this can be too short for big files,
  slow connections or slow LFS storage (git-lfs seems to automatically restart the upload then -
  which means that it can take forever and use lots of traffic)..
  If you're going to use LFS with big uploads, increase thus limit, by adding a line
  `LFS_HTTP_AUTH_EXPIRY = 180m` (for 180 minutes) to the `[server]` section.
- Similarly there are timeouts for all kinds of git operations, that can be too short.
  Increasing all those git timeouts by adding a `[git.timeout]` section
  below the `[server]` section:
  ```ini
  ;; Git Operation timeout in seconds
  ;; increase the timeouts, so importing big repos (and presumably
  ;; pushing large files?) hopefully won't fail anymore
  [git.timeout]
  DEFAULT = 3600 ; Git operations default timeout seconds
  MIGRATE = 6000 ; Migrate external repositories timeout seconds
  MIRROR  = 3000 ; Mirror external repositories timeout seconds
  CLONE   = 3000 ; Git clone from internal repositories timeout seconds
  PULL    = 3000 ; Git pull from internal repositories timeout seconds
  GC      = 600  ; Git repository GC timeout seconds
  ```
  They are increased by a factor 10 (by adding a 0 at the end); probably not all these timeouts
  need to be increased (and if, then maybe not this much)... use your own judgement.
- By default LFS files are stored in the filesystem, in `/var/lib/forgejo/data/lfs`.
  In the `[lfs]` section you can change the `PATH = ...` line to store elsewhere, but you can also
  configure Forgejo to store the files in an S3-like Object-Storage.
- If you want to use the systemwide sendmail, enable sending E-Mails by changing the `[mailer]` section like this:
  ```ini
  [mailer]
  ;; send mail with systemwide "sendmail"
  ENABLED = true
  PROTOCOL = sendmail
  FROM = "Forgejo Git" <noreply@yourdomain.com>
  ```
- By default Forgejo will listen to the port 3000 but that can be [changed to 80 with `HTTP_PORT`](../config-cheat-sheet/) like this:
  ```ini
  [server]
  HTTP_PORT = 80
  ```

When you're done editing the app.ini, save it and start the forgejo service again:

```sh
sudo systemctl start forgejo.service
```

You can test sending a mail by clicking the user button on the upper right of the Forgejo page
("Profile and Settings"), then `Site Administration`, then `Configuration` and under
`Mailer Configuration` type in your mail address and click `Send Testing Email`.

## General hints for using Forgejo

Sometimes you may want/need to use the Forgejo
[command line interface](../command-line/).
Keep in mind that:

- You need to **run it as the `git` user**, for example with:
  ```sh
  $ sudo -u git forgejo command --argument
  ```
- You need to specify the **Forgejo work path**, either with the `--work-path /var/lib/forgejo`
  (or `-w /var/lib/forgejo`) commandline option or by setting the `FORGEJO_WORK_DIR` environment variable before calling `forgejo`:
  ```sh
  $ export FORGEJO_WORK_DIR=/var/lib/forgejo
  ```
- You need to specify the path to the config (app.ini) with `--config /etc/forgejo/app.ini`
  (or `-c /etc/forgejo/app.ini`).

So all in all your command might look like:

```sh
$ sudo -u git forgejo -w /var/lib/forgejo -c /etc/forgejo/app.ini admin user list
```

> **_For convenience_**, you could create a `/usr/local/bin/forgejo.sh` with the following contents:
>
> ```sh
> #!/bin/sh
> sudo -u git forgejo -w /var/lib/forgejo -c /etc/forgejo/app.ini "$@"
> ```
>
> and make it executable:
>
> ```sh
> sudo chmod 755  /usr/local/bin/forgejo.sh
> ```
>
> Now if you want to call `forgejo` on the commandline (for the default system-wide installation
> in `/var/lib/forgejo`), instead of the long line shown above, use:
>
> ```sh
> $ forgejo.sh admin user list
> ```

You can always call forgejo and its subcommands with `-h` or `--help` to make it output usage
information like available options and (sub)commands, for example to show available subcommands
to administrate users on the commandline:

```sh
$ forgejo admin user -h
```
