
GitLab 6.0 Released - conductor
http://blog.gitlab.org/gitlab-6-dot-0-released
======
shmageggy
I wish they would spend a bit more time streamlining the installation
procedure and/or streamlining dependencies. It looks like a great product, but
attempting to get it set up left me with the feeling that it's extremely
bloated. And 2-4Gb recommended RAM is... a lot. I know, I'm bitching about
something that they are giving away for free, but oh well.

~~~
sytse
We're working hard on streamlining the installation but for now the focus is
on a reliable installation method for most situations. The recommended RAM is
1GB, see
[https://github.com/gitlabhq/gitlabhq/blob/master/doc/install...](https://github.com/gitlabhq/gitlabhq/blob/master/doc/install/requirements.md)
(I'm a GitLab.com co-founder)

~~~
binderbizingdos
Thanks for creating Gitlab. It helped us a lot internally. We were using plain
Gitosis before. Now nobody gives a hoot about that anymore :)

My only request would be to focus more on stability. We run it for 1 year now
and there were many problems with upgrades _and_ various changing issues with
the different versions.

So for us less new features but a better tested Gitlab would be great. Maybe
some kind of "stable" release? Not sure...

~~~
sytse
Hi binderbizingdos, GitLab.com co-founder here. I'm glad to hear GitLab meets
your needs. We know some upgrades have been painful, especially to 5.0 where
Gitolite was removed. Since then we try to have smoother upgrades with
complete documentation. Of course we can't avoid deprecation in major releases
to move things forward. Each release is stable but if you want to be extra
careful upgrade two weeks after release. But please let us know if there is
anything specific we should focus on.

~~~
binderbizingdos
Thanks. Yes the upgrades are much better now.

I think Gitlab kind of suffers from the Ubuntu syndrome when they were still
pushing the non-LTS release as default. Many things were not tested long
enough and would cause issues for many people while they were using it.

For example after one upgrade browsing the repos didn't work because
apparently the Git version hat to be a specific version. I think this was
neither tested nor is the Git version mentioned anywhere as a requisite.

Or with v5.3 the Git satellites would get into an unclean state sometimes and
had to be cleaned out manually.

I took quite some time to find this out too.

So my suggestion: more polish and testing and less new features.

~~~
sytse
Suggestion noted, thanks. By the way, both issues you mention (git version and
satellite state) are now in the gitlab:check rake task so at least they are
easier to detect. I'll make sure that the git version is added to the readme.

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tsm
It's always annoyed and confused me that GitHub Enterprise exists. GitHub is
founded on the premise that open source is a good idea...yet for self-hosted
git management the freedom-friendly solution is...GitLab.

So good for GitLab for existing at all, and congratulations to the team for
releasing v. 6.0! May there be many more!

~~~
conductor
Actually... This is a quote from the article:

"GitLab 6.0 will be the first release that will also be available in an
Enterprise Edition, for more information please see the GitLab.com Blog [1]"

[1] - [http://www.gitlab.com/2013/08/22/introducing-
gitlab-6-0-ente...](http://www.gitlab.com/2013/08/22/introducing-
gitlab-6-0-enterprise-edition/)

~~~
kylec
The cost breakdown:

    
    
        * GitHub Enterprise: $5000 per 20 users per year, effectively $416.67
          per 20 users per month. (You have to pay yearly though)
        * GitLab Enterprise: $39.80 per 20 users per month, or $398 per
          20 users per year
        * GitLab Community: Free
    

Basically, GL Enterprise is roughly 1/12 the cost of GitHub when purchased
yearly, and 1/10 the cost if paying month-to-month (which GitHub doesn't
offer).

Interestingly, GitLab is taking a page from GitHub's book and requiring
customers to purchase user packs in groups of 20.

~~~
teraflop
Also, it's worth mentioning that GitLab Enterprise is open source. It'll be
interesting to see how well that model works out for them.

------
overshard
Every time I see a new GitLab release I get excited to install it. Then I see
the install instructions and immediately give up. The number one thing GitLab
needs is an easier way to get it setup.

~~~
X-Istence
The install instructions are incredibly simple. As long as you follow the
instructions it is set up in less than 30 minutes...

~~~
Diederich
I would not call them "incredibly simple", but I have also gotten gitlab going
in about half an hour, twice.

~~~
X-Istence
It is as simple as copy and paste, make some small modifications to the
configuration file and you go from a stock Ubuntu server install to having
Gitlab up and running.

I would call that simple.

------
X-Istence
We run this at work, switching from Gitorious actually, and so far everyone on
the development teams has been really impressed. It is fast, works well, and
the web interface provides everything we need, and more.

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Rygu
We use Atlassian Stash at work after having tried a bunch of different git
review & merge tools, including Phabricator, GitLab, Gerrit and more.
Atlassian's Stash provides the best code review tools like per file diff +
commenting. GitLab was our second choice but unfortunately it doesn't handle
bigger diffs (feature braches etc) well. Maybe if a GitLab-dev is reading
this, we need per file reviews! (And better notification settings!)

~~~
sytse
GitLab.com co-founder / GitLab core team member here. Thanks for detailing
your needs. Many people use GitLab merge requests to do large code reviews for
feature branches. These can be up to 100 commits and include per file diffs
with line commenting. How many commits are your feature branches? We now have
notification settings per project and mentions in issues and merge requests,
would you want anythings else regarding notifications?

------
neumann
I coaxed the team at uni over to git by installing Gitlab. The ease of a web
interface to view the repositories impressed even those academics who version
control by copy and pasting folders of their code and adding a '_works'
suffix. It also allows the SVN users to start using git as it was based on a
client-server model.

The gem dependencies are incredibly large, but I found the install process
well documented.

~~~
MetaCosm
And generally the upgrade blog posts are dead on (cut & paste to do your
upgrades).

------
ausjke
Tried a few Gitlab versions, stick with Redmine for now, though I do hope
Ubuntu to support newer Redmine versions, which should not be too hard, but
most plugins are not catching up with newer core releases.

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kriro
"Today we present a new major GitLab version. There are a lot of improvements
to make GitLab even more awesome."

I think the first sentence of every new release should at least explain what
GitLab is. A new version of GitLab the tool for X,Y,Z. Some people will see a
link to it in their tech news source of choice and think "oh that's
interesting, let's check what it is"

Keep up the good work :D

~~~
sytse
Thank you for the suggestion, will try to remember during the next release.

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ksec
Um... I dont get it.

So they release a GitLab Enterprise Version. And Killed off GitLab Cloud? Well
not actually killing it but offering it for free.

Why?

What's the business case behind it? Or GitLab simply dont want to run a
Commercial, High quality Code Hosting Services?

Without some sort of payment, I think any business will be hesitant to use
GitLab Cloud.

~~~
sytse
GitLab Cloud gets our full attention. We just discovered that the majority of
our income is from on-premises installations and generate revenue from that.
Many of our now subscribers started with Cloud so we'll make sure to provide a
great service.

------
dbalan
Ironic is gitlab using github for development, reminds early days of GNU
running their infrastructure on UNIX.

~~~
Rovanion
They do use their own Gitlab installation for internal development. But they
serve different purposes. Gitlab is used by developers accustomed to the
project and Github to get new developers in.

~~~
sytse
GitLab.com co-founder here. Thanks for explaining Rovanion.

------
simlevesque
It's silly but the thing I miss in Gitlab is that you can't use tables in
Gitlab flavored Markdown.

~~~
roryokane
Have you tried using `<table>` tags? Standard Markdown allows you to write
arbitrary HTML tags in your text. I used it recently to write a table in a
GitHub issue comment.

If GitLab doesn’t even allow you to use `<table>` tags, that’s probably not a
problem with their Markdown flavor, but a problem with the sanitization step
that runs after the Markdown compilation. Unless GitLab is using a broken
implementation of Markdown that doesn’t allow _any_ inline tags.

~~~
simlevesque
It is the case, Gitlab flavored Markdown strips inline html.

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senthilnayagam
do you think a vagrant or docker image can make it popular?

~~~
fsiefken
actually there appear to be vagrant and docker images already:
[https://github.com/gitlabhq/gitlab-vagrant-
vm](https://github.com/gitlabhq/gitlab-vagrant-vm)
[https://github.com/crashsystems/gitlab-
docker](https://github.com/crashsystems/gitlab-docker)

~~~
bdcravens
The Vagrant image appears to be using Vagrant 1.0.X, as it requires password
for NFS shares on OSX, something not required in 1.1+

------
inthewind
Sorry, but why would I want gitlab? And what are the alternatives?

~~~
sytse
GitLab is used to collaborate on software. It uses git repositories and has an
issue tracker. (GitLab.com co-founder)

