homelab/active/podman_gitea/gitea.md

Gitea

• Gitea
  • Gitea on Rootless Podman
    • A note on directories
    • Create the gitea user
    • Convert Compose to Quadlet
    • Install Quadlets
    • Upgrade
    • Editing Gitea Config
  • Gitea Runners
    • Firewall Rules
    • Install
    • Cache Cleanup
  • Email Notifications

Gitea on Rootless Podman

A note on directories

2025/07/30 16:49:12 cmd/web.go:116:showWebStartupMessage() [I] * AppPath: /usr/local/bin/gitea
2025/07/30 16:49:12 cmd/web.go:117:showWebStartupMessage() [I] * WorkPath: /var/lib/gitea
2025/07/30 16:49:12 cmd/web.go:118:showWebStartupMessage() [I] * CustomPath: /var/lib/gitea/custom
2025/07/30 16:49:12 cmd/web.go:119:showWebStartupMessage() [I] * ConfigFile: /etc/gitea/app.ini

2025/07/30 16:49:12 modules/storage/storage.go:176:initAttachments() [I] Initialising Attachment storage with type: local
2025/07/30 16:49:12 modules/storage/local.go:33:NewLocalStorage() [I] Creating new Local Storage at /var/lib/gitea/data/attachments
2025/07/30 16:49:12 modules/storage/storage.go:166:initAvatars() [I] Initialising Avatar storage with type: local
2025/07/30 16:49:12 modules/storage/local.go:33:NewLocalStorage() [I] Creating new Local Storage at /var/lib/gitea/data/avatars
2025/07/30 16:49:12 modules/storage/storage.go:192:initRepoAvatars() [I] Initialising Repository Avatar storage with type: local
2025/07/30 16:49:12 modules/storage/local.go:33:NewLocalStorage() [I] Creating new Local Storage at /var/lib/gitea/data/repo-avatars
2025/07/30 16:49:12 modules/storage/storage.go:198:initRepoArchives() [I] Initialising Repository Archive storage with type: local
2025/07/30 16:49:12 modules/storage/local.go:33:NewLocalStorage() [I] Creating new Local Storage at /var/lib/gitea/data/repo-archive
2025/07/30 16:49:12 modules/storage/storage.go:208:initPackages() [I] Initialising Packages storage with type: local
2025/07/30 16:49:12 modules/storage/local.go:33:NewLocalStorage() [I] Creating new Local Storage at /var/lib/gitea/data/packages
2025/07/30 16:49:12 modules/storage/storage.go:219:initActions() [I] Initialising Actions storage with type: local
2025/07/30 16:49:12 modules/storage/local.go:33:NewLocalStorage() [I] Creating new Local Storage at /var/lib/gitea/data/actions_log
2025/07/30 16:49:12 modules/storage/storage.go:223:initActions() [I] Initialising ActionsArtifacts storage with type: local
2025/07/30 16:49:12 modules/storage/local.go:33:NewLocalStorage() [I] Creating new Local Storage at /var/lib/gitea/data/actions_artifacts

Create the gitea user

useradd gitea
loginctl enable-linger $(id -u gitea)
systemctl --user --machine=gitea@.host enable podman-restart
systemctl --user --machine=gitea@.host enable --now podman.socket
su -l gitea
mkdir -p .config/containers/systemd
mkdir data config postgres
exit

Convert Compose to Quadlet

# Run this in Homelab, not on the server.
mkdir $(pwd)/active/podman_gitea/quadlets

# Generate the systemd service
podman run \
--network none \
--rm \
-v $(pwd)/active/podman_gitea/compose:$(pwd)/active/podman_gitea/compose:z \
-v $(pwd)/active/podman_gitea/quadlets:$(pwd)/active/podman_gitea/quadlets:z \
quay.io/k9withabone/podlet \
-f $(pwd)/active/podman_gitea/quadlets \
-i \
--overwrite \
compose $(pwd)/active/podman_gitea/compose/compose.yaml

# Copy the files to the server
scp -r $(pwd)/active/podman_gitea/quadlets/. 3dserver:/home/gitea/.config/containers/systemd/

Install Quadlets

First, set up the volumes needed by the container.

# Enter the container namespace
podman unshare

# Create the volumes
mkdir gitea_data
chown -R 1000:1000 gitea_data
mkdir gitea_etc
chown -R 1000:1000 gitea_etc
exit

Now launch the service. The first user you register will be the admin.

# Create a systemctl viable shell
machinectl shell gitea@
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user restart gitea postgres
# Enables auto-update service which will pull new container images automatically every day
systemctl --user enable --now podman-auto-update.timer

Upgrade

1. Check the blog for any breaking changes.
2. Update the compose.yaml with any needed changes
3. Regenerate the quadlets
4. Upload the new quadlets and restart the service

# Upload quadlets and restart
export PODMAN_SERVER=3dserver
scp -r active/podman_gitea/quadlets/. $PODMAN_SERVER:/home/gitea/.config/containers/systemd/
ssh $PODMAN_SERVER chown -R gitea:gitea /home/gitea/.config/containers/systemd/

ssh $PODMAN_SERVER
machinectl shell gitea@
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user restart gitea postgres

Editing Gitea Config

# Use podman unshare to work within the container's namespace
podman unshare vim ~/gitea_data/gitea/conf/app.ini

Gitea Runners

https://docs.gitea.com/next/usage/actions/act-runner/#install-with-the-docker-image

Firewall Rules

Since our runner will be contacting our public IP, we need to add a firewall rule to allow traffic from our DMZ network to our DMZ network. Do this in Unifi or whatever equivalent you have.

Install

touch config.yaml

export GITEA_TOKEN=
docker run \
-v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
-e GITEA_INSTANCE_URL=https://gitea.reeseapps.com \
-e GITEA_RUNNER_REGISTRATION_TOKEN=$GITEA_TOKEN \
-e GITEA_RUNNER_NAME=gitea_runner \
--restart always \
--name gitea_runner \
-d docker.io/gitea/act_runner:latest

Cache Cleanup

Each org or project with a package registry will have its own cleanup rules. For example, services -> settings -> Packages -> Add Cleanup Rule will allow you to create a cleanup rule for packages stored under the "services" org. These cleanup rules should run automatically.

You'll need to enable cron and cron.cleanup_packages in the app.ini (/data/gitea/conf).

Cron: https://docs.gitea.com/administration/config-cheat-sheet#cron-cron

Package Cleanup: https://docs.gitea.com/1.19/administration/config-cheat-sheet#cron---cleanup-hook_task-table-croncleanup_hook_task_table

[cron]
ENABLED             = true
RUN_AT_START        = true
NOTICE_ON_SUCCESS   = true
SCHEDULE            = @midnight

[cron.cleanup_packages]
ENABLED             = true
RUN_AT_START        = true
SCHEDULE            = @midnight
NOTICE_ON_SUCCESS   = true

On the other hand, the docker builder cache will balloon out of control over time. The gitea docker runner is handled outside of Gitea's context, so you'll need to clean it up yourself.

# Check used system resources
docker system df

You should run something like this on a schedule:

# Prune the builder cache
docker builder prune -a

To run it every day at noon: crontab -e

0 12 * * * yes | docker builder prune -a
0 12 * * * docker image prune -a -f

Email Notifications

In /data/gitea/conf/app.ini add (yes, the `` around the password matters):

[mailer]
ENABLED        = true
FROM           = gitea@reeseapps.com
PROTOCOL       = smtps
SMTP_ADDR      = email-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
SMTP_PORT      = 465
USER           = ABC123
PASSWD         = `ABC123...`