Docker gitlab/gitlab-ee:latest -- where is the actual gitlab.rb?

How to Use GitLab
1

I have Gitlab installed per GitLab Docker images | GitLab

My gitlab.rb is:

      external_url 'https://gitserver.mba.ac.uk'
      nginx['redirect_http_to_https'] = true
      nginx['redirect_http_to_https_port'] = 80
      letsencrypt['enable'] = false
#      letsencrypt['contact_emails'] = ['derbro@mba.ac.uk']
…

I’m having trouble with LetsEncrypt: it always tries to renew my certificate (it is < 30 days from expiry), whether or not I have letsencrypt['enable'] = false; and it always fails with “Connection refused”

The “Connection refused” is entirely understandable, if I run curl localhost from inside the container, I’ll get the same response! But this suggests that both the redirect_http_to_https and letsencrypt['enable'] settings are being ignored.

So, I try to look at /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb and every line is commented. How can I see what settings are actually in use?

2

Where is your gitlab.rb if not at /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb?

/etc/gitlab/ should be a host mounted volume (see here). So the config file should actually reside somewhere on the host, not within the container, though it will appear to be at /etc/gitlab/ from within the container.

Also did you run gitlab-ctl reconfigure (or restart the container) after making your configuration changes?

1 Like
3

As I said, installed per the instructions at GitLab Docker images | GitLab.

So:

volumes:
  - $GITLAB_HOME/data:/var/opt/gitlab
  - $GITLAB_HOME/logs:/var/log/gitlab
  - $GITLAB_HOME/config:/etc/gitlab
environment:
  GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG: "from_file('/omnibus_config.rb')"
configs:
  - source: gitlab
    target: /omnibus_config.rb

and

configs:
  gitlab:
    file: ./gitlab.rb

So, my gitlab.rb is in the directory from which I run docker swarm deploy. Inside the container it should be, and is, found in /omnibus_config.rb. But it does not appear to be the file that is actually being used, which is why I want to find where the actual running config really should be.

And, no, I haven’t run gitlab-ctl reconfigure. This is a Docker deployment, there is no “configuration change”, this is the initial configuration (and just to be sure, I’ve been deploying it with an initially empty directory at $GITLAB_HOME/config:/etc/gitlab—$GITLAB_HOME/config:/etc/gitlab always gets recreated and is always only comments ).

Wait… Is that a bug in the Docker directions? Surely

configs:
  - source: gitlab
    target: /omnibus_config.rb

either source should not be preceded by a dash or target should! But, it does get copied to target, so that can’t be it.

4

Sorry, for some reason I didn’t receive a notification of your response.

I didn’t want to assume that you’re using Docker Swarm based on the link you posted, and I’m only running GitLab as a container for dev purposes using Docker Engine. So in your context my knowledge is limited, however I did a bit more reading…

One interesting thing I found is here: " The settings contained in GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG aren’t written to the gitlab.rb configuration file, and are evaluated on load." I think this explains why you’re not seeing anything in /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb.

Perhaps you can find some innocuous setting to test whether any of your settings are actually being applied? For example disabling a certain feature that’s visible in the UI, or something along those lines.

Otherwise you might be able to use the rails console to check the state/value of particular settings, but that’s just an idea and not something I’ve tried myself.

By the way, I think the Docker directions are fine as source and target are relevant to one particular config, so one dash makes sense here.

5

That’s helpful. Somehow I’d always missed that line about not being written to the gitlab.rb file, but that’s good, because it means I shouldn’t be seeing anything in the one in my mounted directory.

Which takes me to the second part of the question. “How can I see what settings are actually in use?” I’m sure it should be possible in the rails console, but I can’t find instructions for that, and know nothing about Ruby to be able to deduce it. I know some settings are in effect, because my gitlab.rb contains LDAP configuration which works fine.