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GitLab CE

Self-hosted Git repository management, CI/CD, and DevOps platform — the open-source core of GitLab.com.

Target: Ubuntu 22.04 LTSDevOpsGit hostingOfficial homepage ↗Official docs ↗
This guide is synthesized from GitLab CE's own official documentation, linked above — always cross-check exact package/version names there before running these commands on a production server, since distro and project versions move over time.

  1. 1Install prerequisites

    sudo apt update
    sudo apt install -y curl openssh-server ca-certificates tzdata perl

  2. 2Add the official GitLab repository

    curl https://packages.gitlab.com/install/repositories/gitlab/gitlab-ce/script.deb.sh | sudo bash

    Piping a script from curl straight into bash is exactly what GitLab's own docs recommend for this step — still worth reading the script at that URL first if you want to verify it yourself before running it as root.

  3. 3Install GitLab, pointing it at your real URL

    Replace the URL with your server's real hostname — GitLab bakes this into its config during install and changing it later needs a manual reconfigure.

    sudo EXTERNAL_URL="http://gitlab.example.com" apt install gitlab-ce

  4. 4Get the initial root password

    sudo cat /etc/gitlab/initial_root_password

    This file is automatically deleted 24 hours after install — save the password somewhere safe before then.

  5. 5Log in

    Open your configured URL and log in as root with the password above. Change it immediately.