Cloning Private GGU Repositories

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Cloning Private GGU Repositories
Gitea SSH & HTTPS Workflow
This guide may be updated as GGU policies, procedures, platforms, and organizational needs change.

Use this guide to clone private GGU repositories.

 

Before Cloning

• Confirm you have repository access.
• Use the repository's Clone button to copy the current SSH or HTTPS URL.
• Do not reuse URLs from unrelated repositories.

 

SSH Example

Example:
git clone <SSH URL copied from Gitea>

 

HTTPS Example

Example:
git clone <HTTPS URL copied from Gitea>

 

Private Repository Security

• Do not publish private repository URLs with embedded credentials.
• Do not commit tokens or passwords.
• Keep local clones on devices you control.

 

Change Control

• Know what you are changing and why.
• Back up or ensure a rollback path for high-impact changes.
• Avoid combining unrelated changes.
• Record material production changes.
• Test before production when practical.

 

Validation

• Confirm the service starts successfully.
• Review logs for new errors.
• Test the exact behavior changed.
• Confirm permissions and integrations still work.
• Monitor briefly after deployment for delayed failures.

 

Escalation

If a change affects systems outside your responsibility, creates a security concern, or cannot be safely reversed, stop and escalate rather than continuing to experiment in production.

 

Repository Safety

• Verify remote URL with git remote -v.
• Do not clone sensitive repositories onto shared/public machines.
• Keep credential helpers secure.

 

Prerequisites

• Confirm you are authorized to make the change.
• Confirm the target system/server/repository.
• Read current project or service documentation.
• Identify the expected result.
• Identify a rollback or recovery path for high-impact work.

 

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Copying commands or values from a different server without checking context.
• Making several unrelated changes before testing.
• Ignoring warnings because the service still appears to start.
• Editing production directly when a safer test or review path exists.
• Deleting old files or backups before the replacement is verified.
• Treating permissions errors as a reason to grant broad administrator access.
• Failing to record what changed.

 

Operational Record

For material changes, record enough information for another administrator to understand the target, change, reason, result, and rollback point. This may be a ticket, issue, pull request, deployment note, incident record, or appropriate Leadership message.

 

If Something Goes Wrong

1. Stop making unrelated changes.
2. Preserve the current logs and error output.
3. Determine whether immediate rollback is safer than continued troubleshooting.
4. Restore the last known-good state where practical.
5. Escalate with the exact error, target service, recent changes, and reproduction steps.
6. After recovery, document the cause and any preventative follow-up.

 

Copy the current clone URL from Gitea and keep credentials out of Git history.