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GitLab

Repository mirroring (FREE)

You can mirror a repository to and from external sources. You can select which repository serves as the source, and modify which parts of the repository are copied. Branches, tags, and commits can be mirrored.

Several mirroring methods exist:

  • Push: for mirroring a GitLab repository to another location.
  • Pull: for mirroring a repository from another location to GitLab.
  • Bidirectional mirroring is also available, but can cause conflicts.

Mirror a repository when:

  • The canonical version of your project has migrated to GitLab. To keep providing a copy of your project at its previous home, configure your GitLab repository as a push mirror. Changes you make to your GitLab repository are copied to the old location.
  • Your GitLab project is private, but some components can be shared publicly. Configure your primary repository as a push mirror and push the portions you want to make public. With this configuration, you can open-source specific projects, contribute back to the open-source community, and protect the sensitive parts of your project.
  • You migrated to GitLab, but the canonical version of your project is somewhere else. Configure your GitLab repository as a pull mirror of the other project. Your GitLab repository pulls copies of the commits, tags, and branches of project. They become available to use on GitLab.

Create a repository mirror

Prerequisite:

  • You must have at least the Maintainer role for the project.
  • If your mirror connects with ssh://, the host key must be detectable on the server, or you must have a local copy of the key.

  1. On the top bar, select Menu > Projects and find your project.

  2. On the left sidebar, select Settings > Repository.

  3. Expand Mirroring repositories.

  4. Enter a Git repository URL. For security reasons, the URL to the original repository is only displayed to users with the Maintainer role or the Owner role for the mirrored project.

  5. Select a Mirror direction.

  6. If you entered a ssh:// URL, select either:

    • Detect host keys: GitLab fetches the host keys from the server and displays the fingerprints.
    • Input host keys manually, and enter the host key into SSH host key.

    When mirroring the repository, GitLab confirms at least one of the stored host keys matches before connecting. This check can protect your mirror from malicious code injections, or your password from being stolen.

  7. Select an Authentication method. To learn more, read Authentication methods for mirrors.

  8. If you authenticate with SSH host keys, verify the host key to ensure it is correct.

  9. To prevent force-pushing over diverged refs, select Keep divergent refs.

  10. Optional. Select Mirror only protected branches.

  11. Select Mirror repository.

If you select SSH public key as your authentication method, GitLab generates a public key for your GitLab repository. You must provide this key to the non-GitLab server. To learn more, read Get your SSH public key.

Update a mirror

When the mirror repository is updated, all new branches, tags, and commits are visible in the project's activity feed. A repository mirror at GitLab updates automatically. You can also manually trigger an update:

Force an update

While mirrors are scheduled to update automatically, you can force an immediate update unless:

  • The mirror is already being updated.
  • The interval, in seconds for pull mirroring limits has not elapsed after its last update.

Prerequisite:

  • You must have at least the Maintainer role for the project.
  1. On the top bar, select Menu > Projects and find your project.
  2. On the left sidebar, select Settings > Repository.
  3. Expand Mirroring repositories.
  4. Scroll to Mirrored repositories and identify the mirror to update.
  5. Select Update now ({retry}): Repository mirroring force update user interface

Mirror only protected branches (PREMIUM)

Moved to GitLab Premium in 13.9.

You can choose to mirror only the protected branches in the mirroring project, either from or to your remote repository. For pull mirroring, non-protected branches in the mirroring project are not mirrored and can diverge.

To use this option, select Only mirror protected branches when you create a repository mirror.

Authentication methods for mirrors

When you create a mirror, you must configure the authentication method for it. GitLab supports these authentication methods:

SSH authentication

SSH authentication is mutual:

  • You must prove to the server that you're allowed to access the repository.
  • The server must also prove to you that it's who it claims to be.

For SSH authentication, you provide your credentials as a password or public key. The server that the other repository resides on provides its credentials as a host key. You must verify the fingerprint of this host key manually.

If you're mirroring over SSH (using an ssh:// URL), you can authenticate using:

  • Password-based authentication, just as over HTTPS.
  • Public key authentication. This method is often more secure than password authentication, especially when the other repository supports deploy keys.

Get your SSH public key

When you mirror a repository and select the SSH public key as your authentication method, GitLab generates a public key for you. The non-GitLab server needs this key to establish trust with your GitLab repository. To copy your SSH public key:

  1. On the top bar, select Menu > Projects and find your project.
  2. On the left sidebar, select Settings > Repository.
  3. Expand Mirroring repositories.
  4. Scroll to Mirrored repositories.
  5. Identify the correct repository, and select Copy SSH public key ({copy-to-clipboard}).
  6. Add the public SSH key to the other repository's configuration:
    • If the other repository is hosted on GitLab, add the public SSH key as a deploy key.
    • If the other repository is hosted elsewhere, add the key to your user's authorized_keys file. Paste the entire public SSH key into the file on its own line and save it.

If you must change the key at any time, you can remove and re-add the mirror to generate a new key. Update the other repository with the new key to keep the mirror running.

NOTE: The generated keys are stored in the GitLab database, not in the file system. Therefore, SSH public key authentication for mirrors cannot be used in a pre-receive hook.

Verify a host key

When using a host key, always verify the fingerprints match what you expect. GitLab.com and other code hosting sites publish their fingerprints for you to check:

Other providers vary. You can securely gather key fingerprints with the following command if you:

  • Run self-managed GitLab.
  • Have access to the server for the other repository.
$ cat /etc/ssh/ssh_host*pub | ssh-keygen -E md5 -l -f -
256 MD5:f4:28:9f:23:99:15:21:1b:bf:ed:1f:8e:a0:76:b2:9d root@example.com (ECDSA)
256 MD5:e6:eb:45:8a:3c:59:35:5f:e9:5b:80:12:be:7e:22:73 root@example.com (ED25519)
2048 MD5:3f:72:be:3d:62:03:5c:62:83:e8:6e:14:34:3a:85:1d root@example.com (RSA)

Older versions of SSH may require you to remove -E md5 from the command.

Related topics

Troubleshooting

Should an error occur during a push, GitLab displays an Error highlight for that repository. Details on the error can then be seen by hovering over the highlight text.

Received RST_STREAM with error code 2 with GitHub

If you receive this message while mirroring to a GitHub repository:

13:Received RST_STREAM with error code 2

Your GitHub settings might be set to block pushes that expose your email address used in commits. To fix this problem, either:

Deadline Exceeded

When upgrading GitLab, a change in how usernames are represented means that you must update your mirroring username and password to ensure that %40 characters are replaced with @.

Connection blocked because server only allows public key authentication

The connection between GitLab and the remote repository is blocked. Even if a TCP Check is successful, you must check any networking components in the route from GitLab to the remote server for blockage.

This error can occur when a firewall performs a Deep SSH Inspection on outgoing packets.

Could not read username: terminal prompts disabled

If you receive this error after creating a new project using GitLab CI/CD for external repositories:

"2:fetch remote: "fatal: could not read Username for 'https://bitbucket.org':
terminal prompts disabled\n": exit status 128."

Check if the repository owner is specified in the URL of your mirrored repository:

  1. On the top bar, select Menu > Projects and find your project.

  2. On the left sidebar, select Settings > Repository.

  3. Expand Mirroring repositories.

  4. If no repository owner is specified, delete and add the URL again in this format, replacing OWNER, ACCOUNTNAME, and REPONAME with your values:

    https://OWNER@bitbucket.org/ACCOUNTNAME/REPONAME.git

When connecting to the repository for mirroring, Bitbucket requires the repository owner in the string.

Pull mirror is missing LFS files

In some cases, pull mirroring does not transfer LFS files. This issue occurs when:

  • You use an SSH repository URL. The workaround is to use an HTTPS repository URL instead. An issue exists to fix this problem for SSH URLs.
  • You're using GitLab 14.0 or older, and the source repository is a public Bitbucket URL. Fixed in GitLab 14.0.6.
  • You mirror an external repository using object storage. An issue exists to fix this problem.