Connect xltrail with a Git repository

Add a repository via http with username and token/password

1. Login to xltrail as admin user (this is the user you signed up with).

2. Click on the "+" button and select Git Integration or go to Settings > Integrations > Git. Then click on Add Repository:

   

3. If you are using an external system like GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket etc.: Paste the Git url of your repository as shown in the screenshot.

   Make sure to paste the http(s) (and not the ssh) version of your git url. Also, if your Git provider (e.g. Bitbucket) starts the url with your username, make sure to remove it including the @. If you prefer to use an ssh key, see below.

   Enterprise only: If you are using a git remote directly on the file system, you need to:

   • Mount the directory as subdirectory of the following directory on the xltrail server: /var/lib/xltrail/integrations/git. Make sure to replace /var/lib/xltrail with the value of your DATA_DIR if you have changed that in your config file.
   • Specify Repository URL as follows: file:///xltrail/integrations/git/<my-repo>, leaving user and password empty.
   Please restart xltrail after mounting the directory by running `xltrail restart` as root.

4. Set the username and password/token to access your repository. Note, you should generate a read-only token to use as password. Follow the instructions below for the most popular Git providers.

Git Tokens

Github Cloud & Enterprise

Under Personal settings > Developer settings > Personal access tokens, you can Generate new token. Tick the repo checkbox so you get access to all the subitems in that box.

Note: If your company is using a Single Sign On (SSO) service like e.g. Okta, you'll need to make sure to enable your token for SAML, see: https://help.github.com/en/github/authenticating-to-github/authorizing-a-personal-access-token-for-use-with-saml-single-sign-on

GitLab Cloud & CE/EE

You can either use a token that is bound to a specific repository or to your user:

Repository Deploy Token

• This requires at least GitLab 10.7
• The token will give you read-only access to a single repository.
• In your repository, go to Settings > Repository, then Deploy Tokens (not Deploy Keys!). Give it a Name, check read_repository under Scopes and click on Create deploy token. It will give you both an automatically generated username and token that you'll need to use with xltrail.

Personal Access Token

• You will be able to access every repository that you have access to with a personal access token:
• Create a personal access token under User Settings > Access Tokens. Tick the read_repository checkbox under Scopes. Use your GitLab username with that token as password in xltrail. If you are on an older version of GitLab, you might not have read_repository available. In that case use the api checkbox.

Bitbucket Cloud

• Personal Accounts: You can create an app password under Bitbucket Settings > Access Management > App password. Tick the checkboxes Repository (read) and Pull Requests (read).

• Team Accounts: You can create an API key to use with your team name under Bitbucket Settings> Access Management > API key.

Bitbucket Server

Bitbucket Server (the on-premise version of Bitbucket) introduced personal access tokens with version 5.5, see Bitbucket Cloud above for the details.

On lower versions, you can either use an existing user or create a dedicated xltrail user:

• Log in as Bitbucket administrator
• Under "Administration" click on Users, then Create user
• Pick something like xltrail as the username

To finalize, you need to give this user read access either on Project or Repository level.

Add a repository via ssh with deploy keys

Step 1: Create your SSH keys

For the following command, use the Terminal on Linux/macOS or use Git Bash on Windows (Git Bash is part of Git). Run the following command (you can replace xltrail deploy key with anything that helps you remember the purpose of this key:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "xltrail deploy key"

This will first prompt you for the location of the key. It's usually ok to go with the default by hitting Enter. In case there is already a file existing at this location, you will be warned. Next, it will ask for a passphrase. Leave this empty (important!) and hit the Enter key. Finally, it will ask to Enter the same passphrase again - hit Enter again without filling in anything.

Next, you fill find two files (id_rsa and id_rsa.pub) in the directory that was indicated in the first step, usually under ~/.ssh.

Step 2: Add the public key to your Git provider

Different providers offer different options to add a deploy key. Some providers only allow a key to be used with a user while other providers allow to add a proper "deploy key" to specific repositories or groups of repositories.

Azure DevOps

Click on the user icon on the top right, then select Security. On the left side bar, click on SSH public keys towards the bottom. Click on + New Key on the top right and copy paste the content of rsa_id.pub into Public Key Data. Give it a Name like "xltrail deploy key". Make sure that the user you are doing this for has access to the repositories that you want to sync with xltrail.

Step 3: Add the private key to xltrail

Add a new Project with type Git. For Repository URL, make sure to paste the ssh version of the URL (not the http version). Leave User empty. For Token or Password, paste the content of id_rsa (make sure to not have any spaces before and after your key):

Then, click on Create Git Integration.