--- type: configuration title: Gitea description: Gitea deployment on Dankclaw with its web UI reverse-proxied by the canonical Caddy service. tags: - gitea - dankclaw - quadlet - caddy timestamp: 2026-08-26 --- # Gitea Gitea is a self-hosted Git service with issues, pull requests, and a web UI. On Dankclaw it runs as two Quadlet-managed containers in the rootless Podman session of user `dank`. The canonical Caddy on the same host reverse-proxies its web UI at `gitea.franksdank.cloud`. **Host:** Dankclaw — **LAN access:** `http://dankclaw:3000` (or `http://192.168.0.143:3000`) — **Proxy domain:** `gitea.franksdank.cloud` — **Docs:** https://docs.gitea.com ## Containers | Container | Unit | Image | Purpose | |-----------|------|-------|---------| | `gitea-postgres` | `gitea-postgres.service` | `docker.io/library/postgres:16-alpine` | Database | | `gitea-server` | `gitea-server.service` | `docker.io/gitea/gitea:latest` | Web UI, API, git (HTTP :3000, SSH :2222) | The containers share the private bridge network `systemd-gitea`. The quadlet network file `gitea.network` enables DNS, so the containers resolve each other by name. The automatic `podman` default network has DNS disabled. Do not run the Gitea containers on it. ## Hosted repositories | Repository | Purpose | |------------|---------| | `dank/serverAppConfigs` | this repo — Podman stacks + LLM fleet | | `dank/vllmScripts` | retired 2026-08-22 — merged into `dank/serverAppConfigs` (history preserved) | The LLM fleet knowledge base: [serverAppConfigs-docs/LLM/index.md](../LLM/index.md) ## Management Run all commands as `dank` on Dankclaw. | Action | Command | |--------|---------| | Start all | `systemctl --user start gitea-postgres gitea-server` | | Stop all | `systemctl --user stop gitea-server gitea-postgres` | | Restart Gitea only | `systemctl --user restart gitea-server` | | Status | `systemctl --user status gitea-postgres gitea-server` | | Container logs | `podman logs -f gitea-server` | | Unit logs | `journalctl --user -u gitea-server -f` | The units start in dependency order: ```mermaid graph LR N[gitea-network.service] --> P[gitea-postgres.service] P --> S[gitea-server.service] ``` ## Boot persistence User-level linger is enabled for `dank` (`loginctl enable-linger dank`). The units start at host boot without a login session. Each unit carries `[Install] WantedBy=default.target`. The podman generator applies it at boot; no symlink is needed. The containers use the quadlet fresh-start model. A stop removes the container (`podman run --rm --replace`). The next start recreates it. The bind-mounted data survives. The canonical Caddy is managed separately by the Dankclaw stack. ## Secrets The database password lives in `/home/dank/Containers/gitea/env` on the host (mode 0600); `gitea-postgres.container` and `gitea-server.container` load it via `EnvironmentFile=` (verified from the live units — the `${GITEA_DB_PASSWORD}` placeholders are expanded by systemd at start). The password never enters this repository. Placeholders live in [`dankclaw/gitea/.env.example`](../../dankclaw/gitea/.env.example). Do not change the password in place. Change the PostgreSQL role first, then update the env file and the `[database] PASSWD` line in the app.ini (see Gotchas), then restart the stack. ## Configuration files | File | Location | Repo copy | |------|----------|-----------| | Quadlet units | `~/.config/containers/systemd/gitea-{postgres,server}.container`, `gitea.network` | [`dankclaw/gitea/quadlet/`](../../dankclaw/gitea/quadlet/) | | Caddyfile | `/home/dank/Containers/caddy/Caddyfile` | [`dankclaw/Caddyfile`](../../dankclaw/Caddyfile) | | Secrets | `/home/dank/Containers/gitea/env` (0600; loaded via `EnvironmentFile=`) | [`dankclaw/gitea/.env.example`](../../dankclaw/gitea/.env.example) | After editing a repo copy, deploy through `scripts/deploy.sh dankclaw`. The Gitea database/server units are installed from this directory; the canonical Caddy and its rendered Caddyfile are deployed as the separate `caddy` service. Do not manually recreate the retired `gitea-caddy` unit. ## Data volumes Per the live quadlet units (`Volume=` lines): | Container path | Host path | Contents | |----------------|-----------|----------| | `/data` | `/home/dank/Containers/gitea/data` | Git repositories, app.ini, attachments | | `/var/lib/postgresql/data` | `/home/dank/Containers/gitea/postgres` | PostgreSQL data | Back up `/home/dank/Containers/gitea/` (tar) or `pg_dump` the database. See the knowledge base page [[Gitea]]. ## Gotchas - **Data files are owned by `dank` (uid 1000), not root.** The quadlet units run podman in the user manager with no `--user`/UserNS override, so container uid 1000 is literally dank's host uid — there is no subuid offset for these containers. Edit files as the owning user with `podman exec --user 1000 gitea-server ...`. - **The host auto-reboots.** `unattended-upgrades` reboots Dankclaw when a package needs it. The quadlet units make Gitea survive that. See the 2026-08-16 incident below. - **Port 3000 vs 3001.** The live host port is 3000. The full-stack [`dankclaw/compose.yaml`](../../dankclaw/compose.yaml) maps 3001. Align the two before deploying the full stack. - **Legacy compose retired.** `/opt/gitea/podman-compose.yml` is retired to `/opt/gitea/.deprecated/`. Do not run it. Its containers collide with the Quadlet units on ports 3000 and 2222. - **Canonical proxy.** `gitea.franksdank.cloud` is served by the Caddy service in `dankclaw/compose.yaml`, which proxies to `192.168.0.143:3000`. Do not recreate a Gitea-specific Caddy unit or publish another proxy on ports 80/443. During migration, the deployer stages any installed legacy unit under `~/.AGENTTRASH/YYYYMMDD-gitea-caddy/` before starting canonical Caddy. ## Incident: 2026-08-16 — down after unattended reboot `unattended-upgrades` rebooted Dankclaw at 15:01 on 2026-08-16. The Gitea containers ran through podman-compose with `restart: unless-stopped` and no systemd units. Rootless podman does not auto-start containers at boot without units. Gitea stayed down until a manual start at 16:02. The fix: migrate the stack to quadlet units with linger (this page). After the fix, verify on the next reboot. ## See Also - [[Dankclaw Stack]] - [[Postgres]] - Knowledge base: [[Gitea]] (tools)