How To Install Gitea on Manjaro

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Gitea on Manjaro. Gitea is a lightweight, open-source Git service written in Go. It’s designed to be a self-hosted Git service with a minimal resource footprint, making it an excellent choice for private repositories and team projects.

This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of the Nagios monitoring system on a Manjaro Linux.

Prerequisites

• A server or desktop running one of the following operating systems: Manjaro, and other Arch-based distributions.
• It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
• SSH access to the server (or just open Terminal if you’re on a desktop).
• A stable internet connection is crucial for downloading and installing packages. Verify your connection before proceeding.
• Access to a Manjaro Linux system with a non-root sudo user or root user.

Install Gitea on Manjaro

Step 1. Before proceeding with the installation, ensure your Manjaro system is up-to-date. Run the following commands:

sudo pacman -Syu

This command synchronizes the package database and updates all installed packages to their latest versions.

Additionally, install git if it’s not already present:

sudo pacman -S git

You can check the Git version using the following command:

git --version

Lastly, create a dedicated user for running Gitea. This step is optional but recommended for security purposes. To create a new user, run:

sudo useradd -m -s /bin/bash gitea

Step 2. Installing Snap.

Manjaro supports Snap packages out of the box, but snapd needs to be installed manually. Snap packages encapsulate all dependencies, making them an ideal way to install Gitea. Update your package database and install snapd:

sudo pacman -Syu snapd

Enable the snapd service:

sudo systemctl enable --now snapd.socket

Enable classic snap support (optional but recommended):

sudo ln -s /var/lib/snapd/snap /snap

Step 3. Installing Gitea on Manjaro.

Manjaro, a versatile and user-friendly Linux distribution, supports various package management systems. Snap, developed by Canonical, offers an easy way to install packages across different Linux distributions. To install Snapd on Manjaro:

sudo snap install gitea

This command downloads and installs the latest stable version of Gitea.

Verify the installation and check the version:

gitea --version

Step 4. Configuring the System Environment.

Setting up a proper environment for Gitea involves creating a dedicated user and directory structure:

Add a new system user for Gitea to run under, which helps isolate the service for security purposes:

sudo adduser --system --group --disabled-password --shell /bin/bash --home /var/lib/gitea gitea

Create the required directory structure and set the appropriate permissions:

sudo mkdir -p /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}

Step 4. Configuring Gitea.

Configuration of Gitea is done through the app.ini file, which you can find in the /var/lib/gitea/custom/conf/ directory:

• Edit the app.ini file to set up the domain, database, and other settings.
• Define environment variables that Gitea will use, such as GITEA_WORK_DIR and USER.
• Ensure the installation is locked and secret keys are set to prevent unauthorized access.

Step 5. Starting and Verifying Gitea Service.

Start the Gitea service using systemd and verify that it is running correctly:

sudo systemctl start gitea
sudo systemctl enable gitea

Access Gitea through the web interface by navigating to http://localhost:3000 or your server’s IP address.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Gitea. Thanks for using this tutorial to install the latest version of the Gitea on the Manjaro system. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official Gitea website.