Create Through SSH

Creating a new repository over SSH is perhaps the easiest way to configure a new project:

ssh -p 29418 review.example.com gerrit create-project --name new/project

See gerrit create-project for more details.

Manual Creation

Projects may also be manually created.

Create Git Repository

Create a Git repository under gerrit.basePath:

git --git-dir=$base_path/new/project.git init
Tip
 By tradition the repository directory name should have a .git suffix.

To also make this repository available over the anonymous git:// protocol, don’t forget to create a git-daemon-export-ok file:

touch $base_path/new/project.git/git-daemon-export-ok

Register Project

Either restart the server, or flush the project_list cache:

ssh -p 29418 localhost gerrit flush-caches --cache project_list

Change Submit Action

The method Gerrit uses to submit a change to a project can be modified by any project owner through the project console, Projects > List > my/project. The following methods are supported:

  • Fast Forward Only

    This method produces a strictly linear history. All merges must be handled on the client, prior to uploading to Gerrit for review.

    To submit a change, the change must be a strict superset of the destination branch. That is, the change must already contain the tip of the destination branch at submit time.

  • Merge If Necessary

    This is the default for a new project.

    If the change being submitted is a strict superset of the destination branch, then the branch is fast-forwarded to the change. If not, then a merge commit is automatically created. This is identical to the classical git merge behavior, or git merge --ff.

  • Always Merge

    Always produce a merge commit, even if the change is a strict superset of the destination branch. This is identical to the behavior of git merge --no-ff, and may be useful if the project needs to follow submits with git log --first-parent.

  • Cherry Pick

    Always cherry pick the patch set, ignoring the parent lineage and instead creating a brand new commit on top of the current branch head.

    When cherry picking a change, Gerrit automatically appends onto the end of the commit message a short summary of the change’s approvals, and a URL link back to the change on the web. The committer header is also set to the submitter, while the author header retains the original patch set author.

    Note that Gerrit ignores patch set dependencies when operating in cherry-pick mode. Submitters must remember to submit changes in the right order since inter-change dependencies will not be enforced for them.

  • Rebase If Necessary

    If the change being submitted is a strict superset of the destination branch, then the branch is fast-forwarded to the change. If not, then the change is automatically rebased and then the branch is fast-forwarded to the change.

When Gerrit tries to do a merge, by default the merge will only succeed if there is no path conflict. A path conflict occurs when the same file has also been changed on the other side of the merge.

If Automatically resolve conflicts is enabled, Gerrit will try to do a content merge when a path conflict occurs.

Registering Additional Branches

Branches can be created over the SSH port by any git push client, if the user has been granted the Create Reference access right.

Additional branches can also be created through the web UI, assuming at least one commit already exists in the project repository. A project owner can create additional branches under Projects > List > my/project > Branches. Enter the new branch name, and the starting Git revision. Branch names that don’t start with refs/ will automatically have refs/heads/ prefixed to ensure they are a standard Git branch name. Almost any valid SHA-1 expression can be used to specify the starting revision, so long as it resolves to a commit object. Abbreviated SHA-1s are not supported.

Part of Gerrit Code Review