264 lines
11 KiB
Markdown
264 lines
11 KiB
Markdown
---
|
|
stage: Create
|
|
group: Source Code
|
|
info: "To determine the technical writer assigned to the Stage/Group associated with this page, see https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/#designated-technical-writers"
|
|
type: reference, howto
|
|
disqus_identifier: 'https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/workflow/lfs/lfs/index.html'
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
# Git Large File Storage (LFS)
|
|
|
|
Managing large files such as audio, video and graphics files has always been one
|
|
of the shortcomings of Git. The general recommendation is to not have Git repositories
|
|
larger than 1GB to preserve performance.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
An LFS icon is shown on files tracked by Git LFS to denote if a file is stored
|
|
as a blob or as an LFS pointer.
|
|
|
|
## How it works
|
|
|
|
Git LFS client talks with the GitLab server over HTTPS. It uses HTTP Basic Authentication
|
|
to authorize client requests. Once the request is authorized, Git LFS client receives
|
|
instructions from where to fetch or where to push the large file.
|
|
|
|
## GitLab server configuration
|
|
|
|
Documentation for GitLab instance administrators is under [LFS administration doc](../../../administration/lfs/index.md).
|
|
|
|
## Requirements
|
|
|
|
- Git LFS is supported in GitLab starting with version 8.2
|
|
- Git LFS must be enabled under project settings
|
|
- [Git LFS client](https://git-lfs.github.com) version 1.0.1 and up
|
|
|
|
## Known limitations
|
|
|
|
- Git LFS v1 original API is not supported since it was deprecated early in LFS
|
|
development
|
|
- When SSH is set as a remote, Git LFS objects still go through HTTPS
|
|
- Any Git LFS request will ask for HTTPS credentials to be provided so a good Git
|
|
credentials store is recommended
|
|
- Git LFS always assumes HTTPS so if you have GitLab server on HTTP you will have
|
|
to add the URL to Git configuration manually (see [troubleshooting](#troubleshooting))
|
|
|
|
NOTE: **Note:**
|
|
With 8.12 GitLab added LFS support to SSH. The Git LFS communication
|
|
still goes over HTTP, but now the SSH client passes the correct credentials
|
|
to the Git LFS client, so no action is required by the user.
|
|
|
|
## Using Git LFS
|
|
|
|
Lets take a look at the workflow when you need to check large files into your Git
|
|
repository with Git LFS. For example, if you want to upload a very large file and
|
|
check it into your Git repository:
|
|
|
|
```shell
|
|
git clone git@gitlab.example.com:group/project.git
|
|
git lfs install # initialize the Git LFS project
|
|
git lfs track "*.iso" # select the file extensions that you want to treat as large files
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
Once a certain file extension is marked for tracking as a LFS object you can use
|
|
Git as usual without having to redo the command to track a file with the same extension:
|
|
|
|
```shell
|
|
cp ~/tmp/debian.iso ./ # copy a large file into the current directory
|
|
git add . # add the large file to the project
|
|
git commit -am "Added Debian iso" # commit the file meta data
|
|
git push origin master # sync the git repo and large file to the GitLab server
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
**Make sure** that `.gitattributes` is tracked by Git. Otherwise Git
|
|
LFS will not be working properly for people cloning the project:
|
|
|
|
```shell
|
|
git add .gitattributes
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
Cloning the repository works the same as before. Git automatically detects the
|
|
LFS-tracked files and clones them via HTTP. If you performed the `git clone`
|
|
command with a SSH URL, you have to enter your GitLab credentials for HTTP
|
|
authentication.
|
|
|
|
```shell
|
|
git clone git@gitlab.example.com:group/project.git
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
If you already cloned the repository and you want to get the latest LFS object
|
|
that are on the remote repository, such as for a branch from origin:
|
|
|
|
```shell
|
|
git lfs fetch origin master
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
Make sure your files aren't listed in `.gitignore`, otherwise, they will be ignored by Git thus will not
|
|
be pushed to the remote repository.
|
|
|
|
### Migrate an existing repo to Git LFS
|
|
|
|
Read the documentation on how to [migrate an existing Git repository with Git LFS](migrate_to_git_lfs.md).
|
|
|
|
### Removing objects from LFS
|
|
|
|
To remove objects from LFS:
|
|
|
|
1. Use [`git filter-repo`](../../../user/project/repository/reducing_the_repo_size_using_git.md) to remove the objects from the repository.
|
|
1. Delete the relevant LFS lines for the objects you have removed from your `.gitattributes` file and commit those changes.
|
|
|
|
## File Locking
|
|
|
|
See the documentation on [File Locking](../../../user/project/file_lock.md).
|
|
|
|
## LFS objects in project archives
|
|
|
|
> - Support for including Git LFS blobs inside [project source downloads](../../../user/project/repository/index.md) was [introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/15079) in GitLab 13.5.
|
|
> - It was [deployed behind a feature flag](../../../user/feature_flags.md), disabled by default.
|
|
> - [Became enabled by default](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/268409) on GitLab 13.6.
|
|
> - It's enabled on GitLab.com.
|
|
> - It's recommended for production use.
|
|
> - For GitLab self-managed instances, GitLab administrators can opt to [disable it](#enable-or-disable-lfs-objects-in-project-archives).
|
|
|
|
CAUTION: **Warning:**
|
|
This feature might not be available to you. Check the **version history** note above for details.
|
|
|
|
Prior to GitLab 13.5, [project source
|
|
downloads](../../../user/project/repository/index.md) would include Git
|
|
LFS pointers instead of the actual objects. For example, LFS pointers
|
|
look like the following:
|
|
|
|
```markdown
|
|
version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
|
|
oid sha256:3ea5dd307f195f449f0e08234183b82e92c3d5f4cff11c2a6bb014f9e0de12aa
|
|
size 177735
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
Starting with GitLab 13.5, these pointers are converted to the uploaded
|
|
LFS object if the `include_lfs_blobs_in_archive` feature flag is
|
|
enabled.
|
|
|
|
Technical details about how this works can be found in the [development documentation for LFS](../../../development/lfs.md#including-lfs-blobs-in-project-archives).
|
|
|
|
### Enable or disable LFS objects in project archives
|
|
|
|
_LFS objects in project archives_ is under development but ready for production use.
|
|
It is deployed behind a feature flag that is **enabled by default**.
|
|
[GitLab administrators with access to the GitLab Rails console](../../../administration/feature_flags.md)
|
|
can opt to disable it.
|
|
|
|
To enable it:
|
|
|
|
```ruby
|
|
Feature.enable(:include_lfs_blobs_in_archive)
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
To disable it:
|
|
|
|
```ruby
|
|
Feature.disable(:include_lfs_blobs_in_archive)
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
## Troubleshooting
|
|
|
|
### error: Repository or object not found
|
|
|
|
There are a couple of reasons why this error can occur:
|
|
|
|
- You don't have permissions to access certain LFS object
|
|
|
|
Check if you have permissions to push to the project or fetch from the project.
|
|
|
|
- Project is not allowed to access the LFS object
|
|
|
|
LFS object you are trying to push to the project or fetch from the project is not
|
|
available to the project anymore. Probably the object was removed from the server.
|
|
|
|
- Local Git repository is using deprecated LFS API
|
|
|
|
### Invalid status for `<url>` : 501
|
|
|
|
Git LFS will log the failures into a log file.
|
|
To view this log file, while in project directory:
|
|
|
|
```shell
|
|
git lfs logs last
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
If the status `error 501` is shown, it is because:
|
|
|
|
- Git LFS is not enabled in project settings. Check your project settings and
|
|
enable Git LFS.
|
|
|
|
- Git LFS support is not enabled on the GitLab server. Check with your GitLab
|
|
administrator why Git LFS is not enabled on the server. See
|
|
[LFS administration documentation](../../../administration/lfs/index.md) for instructions
|
|
on how to enable LFS support.
|
|
|
|
- Git LFS client version is not supported by GitLab server. Check your Git LFS
|
|
version with `git lfs version`. Check the Git configuration of the project for traces
|
|
of deprecated API with `git lfs -l`. If `batch = false` is set in the configuration,
|
|
remove the line and try to update your Git LFS client. Only version 1.0.1 and
|
|
newer are supported.
|
|
|
|
### getsockopt: connection refused
|
|
|
|
If you push a LFS object to a project and you receive an error similar to:
|
|
`Post <URL>/info/lfs/objects/batch: dial tcp IP: getsockopt: connection refused`,
|
|
the LFS client is trying to reach GitLab through HTTPS. However, your GitLab
|
|
instance is being served on HTTP.
|
|
|
|
This behavior is caused by Git LFS using HTTPS connections by default when a
|
|
`lfsurl` is not set in the Git configuration.
|
|
|
|
To prevent this from happening, set the LFS URL in project Git configuration:
|
|
|
|
```shell
|
|
git config --add lfs.url "http://gitlab.example.com/group/project.git/info/lfs"
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
### Credentials are always required when pushing an object
|
|
|
|
NOTE: **Note:**
|
|
With 8.12 GitLab added LFS support to SSH. The Git LFS communication
|
|
still goes over HTTP, but now the SSH client passes the correct credentials
|
|
to the Git LFS client, so no action is required by the user.
|
|
|
|
Given that Git LFS uses HTTP Basic Authentication to authenticate the user pushing
|
|
the LFS object on every push for every object, user HTTPS credentials are required.
|
|
|
|
By default, Git has support for remembering the credentials for each repository
|
|
you use. This is described in [Git credentials man pages](https://git-scm.com/docs/gitcredentials).
|
|
|
|
For example, you can tell Git to remember the password for a period of time in
|
|
which you expect to push the objects:
|
|
|
|
```shell
|
|
git config --global credential.helper 'cache --timeout=3600'
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
This will remember the credentials for an hour after which Git operations will
|
|
require re-authentication.
|
|
|
|
If you are using OS X you can use `osxkeychain` to store and encrypt your credentials.
|
|
For Windows, you can use `wincred` or Microsoft's [Git Credential Manager for Windows](https://github.com/Microsoft/Git-Credential-Manager-for-Windows/releases).
|
|
|
|
More details about various methods of storing the user credentials can be found
|
|
on [Git Credential Storage documentation](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Tools-Credential-Storage).
|
|
|
|
### LFS objects are missing on push
|
|
|
|
GitLab checks files to detect LFS pointers on push. If LFS pointers are detected, GitLab tries to verify that those files already exist in LFS on GitLab.
|
|
|
|
Verify that LFS is installed locally and consider a manual push with `git lfs push --all`.
|
|
|
|
If you are storing LFS files outside of GitLab you can disable LFS on the project by setting `lfs_enabled: false` with the [projects API](../../../api/projects.md#edit-project).
|
|
|
|
### Hosting LFS objects externally
|
|
|
|
It is possible to host LFS objects externally by setting a custom LFS URL with `git config -f .lfsconfig lfs.url https://example.com/<project>.git/info/lfs`.
|
|
|
|
You might choose to do this if you are using an appliance like a Sonatype Nexus to store LFS data. If you choose to use an external LFS store,
|
|
GitLab will not be able to verify LFS objects which means that pushes will fail if you have GitLab LFS support enabled.
|
|
|
|
To stop push failure, LFS support can be disabled in the [Project settings](../../../user/project/settings/index.md). This means you will lose GitLab LFS value-adds (Verifying LFS objects, UI integration for LFS).
|