Importing Existing Repositories

The most reliable way to import an existing Git repository into Gitolite is:

• Let Gitolite create an empty repository, e.g. my-repo (by defining it in gitolite.conf).

• Mirror clone the existing remote to your home directory

git clone --mirror existing-remote-url

• Add your new gitolite service as a remote to just cloned local repository.

git remote add gitolite git@my-server:/my-repo.git

• Push your entire history to Gitolite.

git push --mirror gitolite

• Remove your local clone afterwards

This avoids permission issues and ensures the repository structure and access controls are handled correctly.

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