Help Center

To use the service it is necessary to log in with you valid institution credentials to AcademicCloud.

Every user can create, manage projects or groups. Users outside of these institutions can be invited to existing projects.

If you use the web interface no installation is needed. Log in with your institutional credentials and start with creating your (new) project.

Web interface

Project: A project is the virtual working environment or area for a defined task. A user can create several projects. Among other things, the associated files can be stored in the project and the work can be planned and distributed. A Wiki for publishing documentation is also available. If a new project is created, all GitLab functions are activated (see also fig. 1 and 2). Functions that are not needed can be deactivated.

Repository: A repository is part of a project. This is where the files are stored. A repository is a managed directory for storing and describing digital objects.

Issue Tracker: The Issue Tracker is the place to add things that need to be improved or solved in a project. These can be bugs, tasks or ideas that can be discussed and commented on.

Milestones: Milestones summarize several “issues” to one section or goal of the project.

Branches: Branches are Git branching strategies that allow to work together on a code. It is possible to protect branches to prevent code from flowing into the main development branch without verification.

Merging: In Git, merging means the merging of multiple branches.

Merge Requests: Merge Request is the title of a project participant's request to merge a particular branch with another branch. The changes made to a project can be discussed and improved with other participants until they meet the project's quality standards and are then merged by a project administrator.

You can share projects with respective colleagues (use the “private” option) or the online community in general (use the “public” option).

If you set a project on “public” it is possible that it can be cloned without login in GitLab. It is recommended that you group public projects so that they are not dependent on personal GitLab IDs. If a project is to be publicly visible, the group to which the project belongs must also be made publicly visible.

For public projects, the following information is publicly visible (generally accessible): For each commit, the name and email address as stored in the Git configuration. For GitLab, the GitLab username as defined in the User Settings section of the Account section. The username is visible in the path for personal projects.

If you change your GitLab username, GitLab automatically adjusts web addresses and repository URLs for personal projects. For projects that belong to a group, nothing changes because there is no username in the URLs concerned. For more details on changing your GitLab username, see the GitLab documentation.

Since Git is designed for versioning of text files (source code and other files in text format), Git repositories should remain relatively small (in the two-digit MB range).

For sharing binary formats such as image archives, Microsoft Office files (.doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx etc.), LibreOffice / OpenOffice files (.odt, .ods etc.) or very dynamic data please use the Sync & Share Service.

For projects that logically belong together, the use of GitLab groups is recommended. There is no limit to the number of projects within a GitLab group. A group also has the advantage that rights management is usually easier and clearer. In addition, the role of a user in a group is inherited by all projects in the group.

The official gitlab manual is available here.

Q:Is the number of projects restricted which a user can create?

A: Yes, users can create up to 50 GitLab projects. If one needs a higher number of projects you can send a request to support@gwdg.de

Q: Can I give external colleagues access to GitLab?

A: In justified individual cases this is possible. Please contact support@gwdg.de.