15.8 or later (please check the issue for updates) will allow syncing the default branch with the upstream fork. Fetch new upstream contents when fork is behind (#330243) · Issues · GitLab.org / GitLab · GitLab
Cheers,
Michael
maybe the form needs a refresh, I’ve found it a bit wonky when adding a new item. Or the URL you’re providing above is the same as the current repository. Can you share a screenshot?
Cheers,
Michael
Look valid to me. Maybe try hitting refresh once, then copy the URL again. I had some issues with the different form states until it allowed me to change the mirror direction. Though I was using gitlab.com, not sure whether this is an advanced option only applicable in EE.
Cheers,
Michael
Ah, I see. Didn’t look into the specific docs section where this feature is marked as a paid tier feature.
In that case (assuming you’re using the free tier), I’d suggest going the manual scripted way with adding that to a cronjob somewhere. Or you’ll migrate to Premium/Ultimate 
Cheers,
Michael
Thanks, I thought I had added the feature availability note. I have edited my response from before joining GitLab, and added that pull is available in the Premium tier, more details in Pull from a remote repository | GitLab
Cheers,
Michael
I have (amongst other things) /usr/ports with the configuration shown below.
Can I use git commands with this repo, which already uses git.freebsd.org, to periodically refresh my fork of the secondary mirror? https://gitlab.com/grahamperrin/freebsd-ports
% git -C /usr/ports config --local --list | sort
branch.main.merge=refs/heads/main
branch.main.remote=freebsd
core.bare=false
core.filemode=true
core.logallrefupdates=true
core.repositoryformatversion=0
remote.freebsd.fetch=+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/freebsd/*
remote.freebsd.url=https://git.freebsd.org/ports.git
% cat /usr/ports/.git/config
[core]
repositoryformatversion = 0
filemode = true
bare = false
logallrefupdates = true
[remote "freebsd"]
url = https://git.freebsd.org/ports.git
fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/freebsd/*
[branch "main"]
remote = freebsd
merge = refs/heads/main
I think that could work. Before starting, I noticed the remote being freebsd, which is a great idea to avoid accidental git pull origin ... calls. I’d suggest following the naming schema with remote being something else than origin, so you always know where things are pushed/pulled from.
I’m not deeply familiar with how FreeBSD ports handle refreshing the ports tree (been years since I last touched 11.x), but I’d say it is safe to fetch and pull for testing purposes manually.
cd /usr/ports
git fetch freebsd
git checkout main
git pull freebsd main
Syncing to 2nd remote
For syncing to a secondary remote, add the following configuration via CLI (or edit the config manually, mocking what’s already there).
git remote add glmirror https://gitlab.com/grahamperrin/freebsd-ports.git
git checkout main
git pull freebsd main # optional, can also be done with FreeBSD ports tools refresh
git push -u glmirror main
.git/config result.
[remote "glmirror"]
url = https://gitlab.com/grahamperrin/freebsd-ports.git
fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/glmirror/*
Push needs an access token stored the git configuration for the system’s user credential store. git-credential-manager/credstores.md at main · GitCredentialManager/git-credential-manager · GitHub I’d suggest creating a project access token which is scoped to only this project, with read/write repository permissions. Project access tokens | GitLab
Sync with SSH instead of HTTPs
If the credentials store does not work with HTTPs, it could be easier to generate an SSH key for the FreeBSD user managing the ports tree, and add that into your account on GitLab.com, Use SSH keys to communicate with GitLab | GitLab
If you chose SSH, the remote add looks different:
git remote add glmirror [email protected]:grahamperrin/freebsd-ports.git
Note that SSH needs a manual run to accept the host key verification. git fetch glmirror should be sufficient to trigger once.
Sync script and cronjob
For automated syncing, create a small script and call it in a cron job. AFAIK FreeBSD requires sh, not bash. Please test before putting in production, below script is not tested.
$ cat >/usr/local/bin/sync_ports_gitlab_mirror.sh<<EOF
#!/bin/sh
# Uncomment if the script should run as root only
#if [ $(id -u) -ne 0 ]; then
# echo "This script must be run as root"
# exit;
#TODO: Add logging and error handling when needed.
cd /usr/ports
git checkout main
# optional pull
#git pull freebsd main
# sync to GitLab mirror (note: If someone modified the mirror accidentally and the push fails, use `git push -f` )
git push glmirror main
$ chmod +x /usr/local/bin/sync_ports_gitlab_mirror.sh
$ crontab -e
# hourly git mirror sync
0 * * * * /usr/local/bin/sync_ports_gitlab_mirror.sh
If ports require to keep a specific branch being checked out, the script needs to take care of that, e.g. by reading the current git branch first into a variable, and later checking it out again after syncing the main branch.
If you want to sync more than the main branch, the script needs to either know a static list of branches and go over it in a loop, or you’ll work with git branch -r | grep freebsd/ to get a list of branches to sync. git push --mirror should sync all branches AFAIK.
Conclusion
Looks more complicated than it is; I tried to be as verbose as possible above. Cuts down to 1) Git push access 3) git push commands 3) sync script and cronjob.
i forked a repository from gitlab archlinux into archlinux gitlab. set the upstream and the clone as remote. but it would not let me refresh the clone, saying i cannot push another authors commit. painful this gitlab is 
> git push st
Enumerating objects: 129, done.
Counting objects: 100% (129/129), done.
Delta compression using up to 4 threads
Compressing objects: 100% (51/51), done.
Writing objects: 100% (99/99), 14.29 KiB | 7.14 MiB/s, done.
Total 99 (delta 71), reused 70 (delta 44), pack-reused 0
remote: GitLab: Author '[email protected]' is not a member of team
To ssh://gitlab.archlinux.org:222/soloturn/pacman.git
! [remote rejected] master -> master (pre-receive hook declined)
error: failed to push some refs to 'ssh://gitlab.archlinux.org:222/soloturn/pacman.git'
