push commits to git (gitolite) repository messes up file permissions (no more trac access)

Solution 1:

setting the umask/default umask has no effect because gitolite has it's own setting.

at ~/.gitolite.rc

$REPO_UMASK = 0027;

set it as you like :)

Solution 2:

Git only tracks filenames and the data of those files. It does not track filesystem metadata (ownreship, permissions, ...).

A umask can be an effective solution if you want all the files have the same permissions.

I was tracking system files on multiple servers with Git for 3 years now. I needed a way of tracking the changes to permissions as well as the data. I wrote a Ruby script for capturing file permissions /ownership and putting it into a file. This file can now be tracked by git. Whenever need to restore that metadata I use another Ruby script that reads the file and restores the permissions.

For 3 years I use these script regularly and they haven't let me down.

Here they are:

Script: save-fs-permissions

#!/usr/bin/ruby

RM   = "/bin/rm"
SORT = "/usr/bin/sort"
TMP  = "/tmp/save_fs_permissions_#{Time.now.to_i}_#{rand * 899 + 100}"

require 'find'

IGNORE = [".git"]

def numeric2human(m)
  return sprintf("%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c",
            (m & 0400 == 0 ? ?- : ?r),
            (m & 0200 == 0 ? ?- : ?w),
            (m & 0100 == 0 ? (m & 04000 == 0 ? ?- : ?S) :
                             (m & 04000 == 0 ? ?x : ?s)),
            (m & 0040 == 0 ? ?- : ?r),
            (m & 0020 == 0 ? ?- : ?w),
            (m & 0010 == 0 ? (m & 02000 == 0 ? ?- : ?S) :
                             (m & 02000 == 0 ? ?x : ?s)),
            (m & 0004 == 0 ? ?- : ?r),
            (m & 0002 == 0 ? ?- : ?w),
            (m & 0001 == 0 ? (m & 01000 == 0 ? ?- : ?T) :
                             (m & 01000 == 0 ? ?x : ?t)))
end


File.open(TMP, "w") do |permissions_file|

  # TODO: Instead of the current dir, find the .git dir, which could be
  #       the same or outside of the current dir
  Find.find(".") do |path|

    next if IGNORE.collect {|ig| !!(path[2..-1] =~ /\A#{ig}/)}.include? true
    next if File.symlink?(path)

    stat = File.lstat(path)
    type = stat.ftype[0..0].sub('f', '-') # Single character for the file type
                                          # But a "-" istead of "f"
    owner_id = stat.uid
    group_id = stat.gid
    rules    = "#{type}#{numeric2human(stat.mode)}" 

    permissions_file.puts "#{path} #{rules} #{owner_id} #{group_id}"
  end
end

`#{SORT} #{TMP} > ./fs-permissions`
`#{RM}   #{TMP}`

• The above script sholud be executed at the root of your Git working directory (GIT_WORK_TREE). The fs permissions, owner, and group ids will be stored in the file fs-permissions at the root of GIT_WORK_TREE directory.

Script: restore-fs-permissions

#!/usr/bin/ruby


# Restore from...
FROM  = "./fs-permissions"

MKDIR = "/bin/mkdir"
CHMOD = "/bin/chmod"
CHOWN = "/bin/chown"
known_content_missing = false


def numeric2human(m)
  return sprintf("%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c%c",
            (m & 0400 == 0 ? ?- : ?r),
            (m & 0200 == 0 ? ?- : ?w),
            (m & 0100 == 0 ? (m & 04000 == 0 ? ?- : ?S) :
                             (m & 04000 == 0 ? ?x : ?s)),
            (m & 0040 == 0 ? ?- : ?r),
            (m & 0020 == 0 ? ?- : ?w),
            (m & 0010 == 0 ? (m & 02000 == 0 ? ?- : ?S) :
                             (m & 02000 == 0 ? ?x : ?s)),
            (m & 0004 == 0 ? ?- : ?r),
            (m & 0002 == 0 ? ?- : ?w),
            (m & 0001 == 0 ? (m & 01000 == 0 ? ?- : ?T) :
                             (m & 01000 == 0 ? ?x : ?t)))
end

def human2chmod(mode)
  raise unless mode =~ /([r-][w-][xtsTS-])([r-][w-][xtsTS-])([r-][w-][xtsTS-])/
  triple = [$1, $2, $3]
  u,g,o = triple.collect do |i|
    i.sub('s', 'sx').sub('t', 'tx').downcase.gsub('-', '')
  end

  return "u=#{u},g=#{g},o=#{o}" 
end



File.open(FROM).each do |permissions|
  raise unless permissions =~ /\A(([^ ]*? )+)([^ ]+) ([^ ]+) ([^ ]+)\Z/
  path, rules, owner_id, group_id = $1, $3, $4, $5
  path = path.strip
  owner_id = owner_id.to_i
  group_id = group_id.to_i

  if !File.exists?(path) and !File.symlink?(path)
    if rules =~ /\Ad/
      STDERR.puts "Restoring a missing directory: #{path}"
      STDERR.puts "Probably it was an empty directory. Git goes not track them."
      `#{MKDIR} -p '#{path}'` # Creating the any parents
    else
      known_content_missing = true
      STDERR.puts "ERROR: Permission is listed but the file is missing: #{path}"
      next
    end
  end

  s = File.lstat(path)
  t = s.ftype[0..0].sub('f', '-') # Single character for the file type
                                  # But a "-" istead of "f"

  # Actual, but not neccesarely Desired 
  actual_rules    = "#{t}#{numeric2human(s.mode)}"
  actual_owner_id = s.uid 
  actual_group_id = s.gid 

  unless [actual_rules, actual_owner_id, actual_group_id] ==
    [rules, owner_id, group_id]

    chmod_argument = human2chmod(rules)

    # Debug
    #p chmod_argument
    #p s.mode

    ## Verbose
    puts path
    puts "Wrong: #{[actual_rules, actual_owner_id, actual_group_id].inspect}"
    puts "Fixed: #{[rules, owner_id, group_id].inspect}"
    puts

    `#{CHOWN} #{owner_id}:#{group_id} '#{path}'`
    `#{CHMOD} #{chmod_argument} '#{path}'`

    #puts
  end

end

if known_content_missing
  STDERR.puts "-" * 80 
  STDERR.puts "Some files that are listed in #{FROM.inspect} are missing in " +
              "the current directory."
  STDERR.puts
  STDERR.puts "Is #{FROM.inspect} outdated?"
  STDERR.puts "(Try retrograding the current directory to an earlier version)"
  STDERR.puts
  STDERR.puts "Or is the current directory incomplete?"
  STDERR.puts "(Try to recover the current directory)"
  STDERR.puts "-" * 80 
end