Re: Git gui webclient info

From: brian m. carlson <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net>
Date: Jun 16, 2025, 21:16 UTC
Message-ID: <aFCJkV-iEvDAcpSM@fruit.crustytoothpaste.net>
In-Reply-To: <CAKn8H7rLmdNUrukS8P-c4UMKuk==rGQtHXFCm++Zn9o+T941=w@mail.gmail.com>

On 2025-06-16 at 11:42:46, Juri wrote:

Show 6 quoted lines

> Hi,
> 
> Yeah, I would like to know about a version of Git GUI that runs in the
> browser and is able to modify a repository stored on the server where
> the web version is hosted.
> I found Gitlab and Gogs on the internet, but I'm not sure if it's what I need.

Okay, thanks for clarifying. Git GUI is a graphical tool, so it's not designed to provide a web interface for modifying a repository.

GitLab and Gogs (and similar tools like Forgejo) are forges that you can host on your own system, much like GitHub is a forge (and all of those provide similar features for the most part). If what you're looking for is a forge that stores repositories for you in the bare format (that is, without a working tree you can modify) and that you can fetch and clone from and push to after modifying locally, then those are what you're looking for.

If you're looking to have a repository with files checked out that you can modify on the server, then those aren't the right tools. If the server is a Linux server and you're running X11 on your local machine, you can install Git GUI on the server and use X11 forwarding over SSH to have it display on your local machine. However, most people don't want to install graphical tools on their server and X11 forwarding can be slow if the server is a long distance away.

If you want a read-only webclient that's just for browsing repositories, then gitweb or cgit can be decent options, although they, too, usually work with bare repositories. They are more lightweight than forges but are usually used for displaying repositories that are being hosted (for instance, cgit is used at https://git.kernel.org/).

If you want something that hosts repositories that you can use for cloning, pushing, and pulling to bare repositories but is more lightweight than a forge, then gitolite is an option that many people use. It can be used in conjunction with something like cgit for web browsing.

I'm not aware of a good choice for working with repositories that have working trees in a read-write mode. Usually we recommend that people just work with the command line in that case, especially since that's commonly necessary in working with servers anyway. Perhaps someone else can offer some suggestions that might meet your needs, though.

I'll just note also that there are also other tools that can be used in each of these categories, but these are just some that I'm aware of and appear to be reasonably common.

-- 
brian m. carlson (they/them)
Toronto, Ontario, CA