Upgrading self-compiled instances

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Upgrading self-compiled instances to a later version of GitLab requires several steps, many specific to self-compiled installations.

If you are changing from GitLab Community Edition to GitLab Enterprise Edition, see the Upgrading from CE to EE documentation.

Upgrading to a new major version

Major versions introduce backwards-incompatible changes. You should first upgrade to the latest available minor version of your current major version. Follow the Upgrade Recommendations to identify the ideal upgrade path.

Before upgrading to a new major version, you should ensure that any background migration jobs from previous releases have been completed. To see the current size of the background_migration queue, Check for background migrations before upgrading.

Upgrade a self-compiled instance

To upgrade a self-compiled GitLab instance:

1. Consult changes for different versions of GitLab to ensure compatibility before upgrading:
   • GitLab 17 changes
   • GitLab 16 changes
   • GitLab 15 changes
2. Check for background migrations. All migrations must finish running before each upgrade.
3. Create a backup.
4. Stop GitLab.
5. Update Ruby.
6. Update Node.js.
7. Update Go.
8. Update Git.
9. Update PostgreSQL.
10. Update the GitLab codebase.
11. Update configuration files.
12. Install libraries and run migrations.
13. Update GitLab Shell.
14. Update GitLab Workhorse.
15. Update Gitaly.
16. Update GitLab Pages.

After you've upgraded:

1. Start GitLab and NGINX.
2. Check GitLab status.

Create a backup

Prerequisites:

• Make sure rsync is installed.

Perform the backup:

cd /home/git/gitlab

sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:backup:create RAILS_ENV=production

Stop GitLab

# For systems running systemd
sudo systemctl stop gitlab.target

# For systems running SysV init
sudo service gitlab stop

Update Ruby

In GitLab 17.5 and later, only Ruby 3.2.x is supported. Be sure to upgrade if necessary. You can check which version of Ruby you have with:

ruby -v

Install Ruby.

Update Node.js

To check the minimum required Node.js version, see Node.js versions.

GitLab also requires Yarn >= v1.10.0 to manage JavaScript dependencies.

To update Yarn for Debian or Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get remove yarn

npm install --global yarn

For more information, see the Yarn website.

Update Go

To check the minimum required Go version, see Go versions.

You can check which version you are running:

go version

Download and install Go. For example, for 64-bit Linux:

# Remove former Go installation folder
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/go

curl --remote-name --location --progress-bar "https://go.dev/dl/go1.22.5.linux-amd64.tar.gz"
echo '904b924d435eaea086515bc63235b192ea441bd8c9b198c507e85009e6e4c7f0  go1.22.5.linux-amd64.tar.gz' | shasum -a256 -c - && \
  sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.22.5.linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo ln -sf /usr/local/go/bin/{go,gofmt} /usr/local/bin/
rm go1.22.5.linux-amd64.tar.gz

Update Git

To check you are running the minimum required Git version, see Git versions.

Use the Git version provided by Gitaly that:

• Is always at the version required by GitLab.
• May contain custom patches required for proper operation.

# Install dependencies
sudo apt-get install -y libcurl4-openssl-dev libexpat1-dev gettext libz-dev libssl-dev libpcre2-dev build-essential

# Clone the Gitaly repository
git clone https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitaly.git -b <X-Y-stable> /tmp/gitaly

# Compile and install Git
cd /tmp/gitaly
sudo make git GIT_PREFIX=/usr/local

Replace <X-Y-stable> with the stable branch that matches the GitLab version you want to install. For example, if you want to install GitLab 16.7, use the branch name 16-7-stable.

Remember to set git -> bin_path to /usr/local/bin/git in config/gitlab.yml.

Update PostgreSQL

The latest version of GitLab might depend on a more recent PostgreSQL version than what you are running. You may also have to enable some extensions. For more information, see the PostgreSQL requirements

WARNING: GitLab 17.0 requires PostgreSQL 14. GitLab 17.5 is compatible with up to PostgreSQL 16.

To upgrade PostgreSQL, refer to its documentation.

Update the GitLab codebase

To update your clone of the GitLab codebase:

1. Fetch repository metadata:

   cd /home/git/gitlab
   
   sudo -u git -H git fetch --all --prune
   sudo -u git -H git checkout -- Gemfile.lock db/structure.sql locale

2. Check out the branch for the version you want to upgrade to:

   • For GitLab Community Edition:

     cd /home/git/gitlab
     
     sudo -u git -H git checkout <BRANCH>

   • For GitLab Enterprise Edition:

     cd /home/git/gitlab
     
     sudo -u git -H git checkout <BRANCH-ee>

Update configuration files

To update configuration files for an upgrade, apply new configuration options for:

• gitlab.yml
• database.yml
• NGINX (or Apache)
• SMTP
• systemd
• SysV

New configuration for gitlab.yml

There might be new configuration options available for gitlab.yml.

1. View possible new configuration:

   cd /home/git/gitlab
   git diff origin/PREVIOUS_BRANCH:config/gitlab.yml.example origin/BRANCH:config/gitlab.yml.example

2. Apply new configuration manually to your current gitlab.yml.

New configuration for database.yml

• Changed in GitLab 16.0 to have ci: section in config/database.yml.postgresql.

There might be new configuration options available for database.yml.

1. View possible new configuration:

   cd /home/git/gitlab
   git diff origin/PREVIOUS_BRANCH:config/database.yml.postgresql origin/BRANCH:config/database.yml.postgresql

2. Apply new configuration manually to your current database.yml:

New configuration for NGINX or Apache

Ensure you're still up-to-date with the latest NGINX configuration changes:

cd /home/git/gitlab

# For HTTPS configurations
git diff origin/PREVIOUS_BRANCH:lib/support/nginx/gitlab-ssl origin/BRANCH:lib/support/nginx/gitlab-ssl

# For HTTP configurations
git diff origin/PREVIOUS_BRANCH:lib/support/nginx/gitlab origin/BRANCH:lib/support/nginx/gitlab

The GitLab application no longer sets Strict-Transport-Security in your installation. You must enable it in your NGINX configuration to continue using it.

If you are using Apache instead of NGINX, see the updated Apache templates. Because Apache does not support upstreams behind Unix sockets, you must let GitLab Workhorse listen on a TCP port by using /etc/default/gitlab.

SMTP configuration

If you use SMTP to deliver mail, you must add the following line to config/initializers/smtp_settings.rb:

ActionMailer::Base.delivery_method = :smtp

See smtp_settings.rb.sample for an example.

Configure systemd units

1. Check if the systemd units have been updated:

   cd /home/git/gitlab
   
   git diff origin/PREVIOUS_BRANCH:lib/support/systemd origin/BRANCH:lib/support/systemd

2. Copy them over:

   sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/lib/systemd/system
   sudo cp lib/support/systemd/* /usr/local/lib/systemd/system/
   sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Configure SysV init script

There might be new configuration options available for gitlab.default.example.

1. View possible new configuration:

   cd /home/git/gitlab
   
   git diff origin/PREVIOUS_BRANCH:lib/support/init.d/gitlab.default.example origin/BRANCH:lib/support/init.d/gitlab.default.example

2. Apply them manually to your current /etc/default/gitlab.

Ensure you're still up-to-date with the latest init script changes:

cd /home/git/gitlab

sudo cp lib/support/init.d/gitlab /etc/init.d/gitlab

If you are using the init script on a system running systemd as init, because you have not switched to native systemd units yet, run:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Install libraries and run migrations

1. Make sure you have the required PostgreSQL extensions.

2. Install the needed libraries:

   cd /home/git/gitlab
   
   # If you haven't done so during installation or a previous upgrade already
   sudo -u git -H bundle config set --local deployment 'true'
   sudo -u git -H bundle config set --local without 'development test kerberos'
   
   # Update gems
   sudo -u git -H bundle install
   
   # Optional: clean up old gems
   sudo -u git -H bundle clean
   
   # Run database migrations
   sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake db:migrate RAILS_ENV=production
   
   # Update node dependencies and recompile assets
   sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake yarn:install gitlab:assets:clean gitlab:assets:compile RAILS_ENV=production NODE_ENV=production NODE_OPTIONS="--max_old_space_size=4096"
   
   # Clean up cache
   sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake cache:clear RAILS_ENV=production

Update GitLab Shell

To update GitLab Shell:

cd /home/git/gitlab-shell

sudo -u git -H git fetch --all --tags --prune
sudo -u git -H git checkout v$(</home/git/gitlab/GITLAB_SHELL_VERSION)
sudo -u git -H make build

Update GitLab Workhorse

Install and compile GitLab Workhorse:

cd /home/git/gitlab

sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake "gitlab:workhorse:install[/home/git/gitlab-workhorse]" RAILS_ENV=production

Update Gitaly

Upgrade Gitaly servers to the newer version before upgrading the application server. This prevents the gRPC client on the application server from sending RPCs that the old Gitaly version does not support.

If Gitaly is located on its own server, or you use Gitaly Cluster, see Zero-downtime upgrades.

During the build process, Gitaly compiles and embeds Git binaries, which requires additional dependencies.

# Install dependencies
sudo apt-get install -y libcurl4-openssl-dev libexpat1-dev gettext libz-dev libssl-dev libpcre2-dev build-essential

# Fetch Gitaly source with Git and compile with Go
cd /home/git/gitlab
sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake "gitlab:gitaly:install[/home/git/gitaly,/home/git/repositories]" RAILS_ENV=production

Update GitLab Pages

Install and compile GitLab Pages:

cd /home/git/gitlab-pages

sudo -u git -H git fetch --all --tags --prune
sudo -u git -H git checkout v$(</home/git/gitlab/GITLAB_PAGES_VERSION)
sudo -u git -H make

Start GitLab and NGINX

# For systems running systemd
sudo systemctl start gitlab.target
sudo systemctl restart nginx.service

# For systems running SysV init
sudo service gitlab start
sudo service nginx restart

Check GitLab status

1. Check if GitLab and its environment are configured correctly:

   cd /home/git/gitlab
   sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:env:info RAILS_ENV=production

2. To make sure you didn't miss anything, run a more thorough check:

   cd /home/git/gitlab
   
   sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:check RAILS_ENV=production

If all items are green, then congratulations, the upgrade is complete!

Troubleshooting

If you have trouble during the upgrade, try some of the steps in the following sections.

Revert the code to the previous version

To revert to a previous version, you must follow the upgrading guides for the previous version.

For example, if you have upgraded to GitLab 16.6 and want to revert back to 16.5, follow the guides for upgrading from 16.4 to 16.5.

When reverting:

• You should not follow the database migration guides, because the backup has already been migrated to the previous version.
• If you ran database migrations, you must restore a backup after the downgrade. The version of the code must be compatible with the version of the schema that's used. The older schema is in the backup.

Restore from a backup

To restore from a backup:

cd /home/git/gitlab

sudo -u git -H bundle exec rake gitlab:backup:restore RAILS_ENV=production

If you have more than one backup *.tar file, add BACKUP=timestamp_of_backup to the above.