Introduction to GitLab at UNT

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Okay, here is a detailed article introducing GitLab at the University of North Texas (UNT), aiming for approximately 5000 words.

Harnessing Collaboration and Innovation: A Comprehensive Introduction to GitLab at the University of North Texas

Introduction: The Digital Foundation for UNT’s Future

The University of North Texas (UNT) stands as a beacon of higher education, research, and innovation in the North Texas region and beyond. In an increasingly digital world, the tools we use to create, manage, and share knowledge are paramount. From groundbreaking research projects involving complex data analysis and simulations to innovative software development in computer science courses, and even the collaborative drafting of documents and management of digital assets, the need for robust, reliable, and collaborative platforms is undeniable.

Recognizing this need, UNT provides its community – students, faculty, and staff – access to GitLab, a powerful, comprehensive DevOps platform delivered as a single application. While many might initially associate GitLab solely with Git, the distributed version control system, it offers a much broader suite of tools designed to streamline the entire software development lifecycle, enhance collaboration on digital projects, and foster a culture of efficient, transparent, and reproducible work.

This article serves as a comprehensive guide to understanding and utilizing GitLab within the UNT environment. We will delve into what GitLab is, why its availability is a significant asset for the UNT community, how to access and navigate the UNT GitLab instance, explore its core features in detail, walk through practical getting-started steps, introduce the power of automation with CI/CD, touch upon advanced capabilities, discuss best practices specific to our academic setting, and point you towards resources for help and further learning. Whether you are a student embarking on your first coding project, a researcher managing complex datasets and analysis scripts, a faculty member designing collaborative assignments, or staff involved in university software development, this guide aims to equip you with the knowledge to leverage GitLab effectively.

Our goal is to demystify GitLab, showcase its potential to transform how we work individually and collectively at UNT, and empower you to integrate this platform into your academic and research endeavors, ultimately contributing to the university’s mission of creativity, discovery, and innovation.

Section 1: What is GitLab? Beyond Version Control

At its core, GitLab is built upon Git, the ubiquitous open-source distributed version control system (DVCS) created by Linus Torvalds. Git allows multiple people (or even a single person over time) to work on a project’s files, tracking every change, enabling branching for parallel development, and facilitating merging of different versions. It’s the foundation for managing code, documents, configuration files, and virtually any text-based asset where history tracking and collaboration are important.

However, GitLab elevates Git from a command-line tool or a simple repository host into a complete DevOps platform. DevOps (Development and Operations) is a set of practices that combines software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops) to shorten the systems development life cycle and provide continuous delivery with high software quality. GitLab embodies this philosophy by integrating various tools needed throughout this lifecycle into a single application with a unified interface and data store.

This “single application” approach is GitLab’s defining characteristic. Instead of patching together separate tools for version control, issue tracking, continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD), code review, security scanning, monitoring, and project management, GitLab provides these capabilities natively. This integration offers significant advantages:

  1. Seamless Workflow: Features work together smoothly. For example, a code change (commit) can automatically trigger a test pipeline (CI), and upon success, a merge request can be created for review, linked back to the original issue it addresses.
  2. Reduced Toolchain Complexity: Fewer tools to learn, manage, configure, and integrate means less overhead and potential for compatibility issues.
  3. Improved Collaboration: A unified platform makes it easier for developers, researchers, students, and project managers to communicate and track progress in one place.
  4. Enhanced Visibility: Gain insights across the entire project lifecycle, from planning to deployment and monitoring.

Key Functional Areas within GitLab:

  • Source Code Management (SCM): Robust Git repository hosting with features like branching strategies, merge requests (GitLab’s term for Pull Requests), code review tools, and file locking.
  • Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD): Powerful, built-in automation for building, testing, and deploying applications or websites. Defined via a simple YAML file (.gitlab-ci.yml).
  • Project Management: Issue tracking (bugs, features, tasks), milestones, labels, assignees, time tracking, roadmaps, and Agile boards (Kanban/Scrum).
  • Security: Integrated security scanning capabilities like Static Application Security Testing (SAST), Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST), dependency scanning, container scanning, and secret detection (availability may depend on UNT’s specific GitLab tier).
  • Collaboration: Wikis for documentation, code snippets for sharing fragments, inline commenting on code changes, group/project discussions.
  • Registry: Container Registry for Docker images, Package Registry for various language packages (npm, Maven, PyPI, etc.).
  • Monitoring: Basic application performance monitoring and logging features.
  • GitLab Pages: Free hosting for static websites directly from a GitLab repository.

Understanding that GitLab is more than just a place to store Git repositories is crucial for unlocking its full potential within the UNT context. It’s a platform designed to support the entire lifecycle of digital projects, fostering efficiency, collaboration, and quality.

Section 2: Why GitLab at UNT? The University Advantage

Providing a dedicated GitLab instance for the University of North Texas community offers numerous benefits tailored to the unique needs of students, faculty, researchers, and staff. It’s not just about having a version control system; it’s about having a comprehensive, integrated, and university-managed platform.

  1. Centralized Platform for UNT Projects: Instead of scattering projects across various public platforms (like GitHub.com, Bitbucket) or personal storage, UNT’s GitLab instance provides a single, official location. This simplifies discovery, management, and collaboration within the university ecosystem. It ensures that institutional knowledge and project assets are retained within a UNT-controlled environment.
  2. Enhanced Collaboration Across Campus: GitLab’s integrated tools facilitate seamless collaboration:
    • Students: Can easily work together on group projects for courses, sharing code, tracking tasks via issues, and using merge requests for integrating contributions.
    • Faculty & Researchers: Can collaborate on research code, analysis scripts, manuscripts, grant proposals, and datasets. They can manage contributions from graduate students, postdocs, and external collaborators (if permitted by UNT policy).
    • Cross-functional Teams: Staff involved in developing internal applications or managing university web assets can leverage GitLab for streamlined workflows.
    • Faculty & Students: Faculty can use GitLab to distribute assignment templates, review student submissions via merge requests, and provide feedback directly on the code.
  3. Streamlined Workflows through Automation (CI/CD): The built-in CI/CD is a game-changer for efficiency and quality:
    • Automated Testing: Automatically run tests (unit, integration) whenever code is pushed, ensuring changes don’t break existing functionality. This is invaluable for coding assignments and research software.
    • Automated Builds: Compile code, build software packages, or generate static websites automatically.
    • Reproducibility: CI/CD pipelines document and automate the build and test process, contributing significantly to research reproducibility. Anyone (with access) can see exactly how software was built and tested.
    • Static Site Generation: Easily deploy project websites, documentation sites (using tools like MkDocs, Jekyll, Hugo), or personal academic websites using GitLab Pages.
  4. Secure and Managed Environment: UNT’s IT division manages the GitLab instance, ensuring:
    • Authentication: Integration with UNT’s standard authentication system (likely EUID via CAS/Shibboleth) simplifies login and ensures only authorized UNT members can access internal resources.
    • Data Control: University-related project data resides within an environment managed according to UNT policies, which can be crucial for sensitive research data or internal projects.
    • Support: Access to UNT-specific support channels for platform-related issues.
    • Potential Compliance: Helps in meeting certain compliance requirements for research grants regarding data management and security.
  5. Alignment with Industry Standards: Git and GitLab (along with DevOps practices) are standard tools in the tech industry. By using GitLab at UNT, students gain hands-on experience with tools and workflows they will encounter in their future careers, making them more competitive job candidates. Faculty can ensure their curriculum stays relevant.
  6. Support for Research Reproducibility and Open Science: Version control is fundamental for reproducible research. GitLab allows researchers to track every change to code, analysis scripts, and even manuscript drafts. Combined with CI/CD for automated analysis execution and GitLab Pages for publishing results or supplementary materials, it provides a powerful toolkit for open and transparent science.
  7. Cost-Effectiveness: Access to a powerful platform like GitLab is provided as a university resource, potentially saving individual students, research groups, or departments the cost and administrative overhead of subscribing to comparable commercial services or self-hosting.
  8. Flexibility for Diverse Disciplines: While originating in software development, GitLab’s utility extends beyond computer science. Researchers in computational biology, digital humanities, data journalism, engineering, physics, and many other fields dealing with code, data analysis scripts, configuration files, or collaborative document writing can benefit immensely from version control and project management features.

In essence, UNT’s GitLab instance provides a modern, integrated, and secure digital workbench, fostering best practices in development, research, and collaboration across the university.

Section 3: Accessing UNT’s GitLab Instance

Getting started with GitLab at UNT begins with accessing the university’s specific instance. While the exact URL might vary, it typically follows a pattern like gitlab.unt.edu or a similar subdomain.

Finding the Correct URL:

  • Check the UNT IT Services website or knowledge base.
  • Look for announcements from your department or college IT support.
  • Consult course materials if using GitLab for a specific class.
  • Ask colleagues or fellow students who are already using the service.

(Note: For the remainder of this article, we will use the hypothetical URL https://gitlab.unt.edu. Please replace this with the actual URL provided by UNT.)*

The Login Process:

UNT’s GitLab instance will almost certainly leverage the university’s Single Sign-On (SSO) system. This means you won’t create a separate GitLab password; instead, you’ll use your standard UNT credentials.

  1. Navigate to the URL: Open your web browser and go to https://gitlab.unt.edu.
  2. Authentication Prompt: You will likely be redirected to the familiar UNT login page (often managed by systems like CAS or Shibboleth).
  3. Enter Credentials: Log in using your official UNT EUID (Enterprise User ID) and password – the same credentials you use for MyUNT, Canvas, or UNT email.
  4. Authorization: Upon successful authentication, you might be asked to authorize GitLab to access basic information from your UNT account (like your name and email address). This is standard procedure. Grant authorization.
  5. GitLab Dashboard: You should now be logged into the UNT GitLab instance and see your personalized dashboard.

First-Time Login and Profile Setup:

The first time you log in, it’s a good idea to review and complete your user profile:

  1. Access Profile Settings: Click on your user avatar (usually in the top-right corner) and select “Settings” or “Profile Settings”.
  2. Review Information: Check that your name and primary email address (usually your official UNT email) are correct.
  3. Add Profile Picture (Optional): Uploading a profile picture can make collaboration feel more personal.
  4. Set Status (Optional): You can set a status message (e.g., “Working on thesis,” “TA for CSCE 1030”).
  5. Configure Preferences: Explore other preference settings (e.g., syntax highlighting theme, notification settings).

Crucial Step: Setting up SSH Keys

While you can interact with GitLab repositories using HTTPS and your UNT password (or personal access tokens), the recommended and more secure method for command-line Git operations (like git push, git pull, git clone) is using SSH keys.

SSH (Secure Shell) keys provide a secure way to authenticate without needing to enter your password every time. You generate a pair of keys: a private key (kept secret on your computer) and a public key (uploaded to GitLab).

How to Generate and Add SSH Keys:

  1. Check for Existing Keys:
    • Open a terminal or Git Bash on your computer.
    • Type ls -al ~/.ssh. Look for files named id_rsa.pub, id_ed25519.pub, or similar. If you see one, you likely already have a key pair. You can usually reuse it. Proceed to step 3 to copy the public key.
  2. Generate New Keys (if needed):
    • If you don’t have keys or want a new pair, type the following command in your terminal (Ed25519 is generally recommended):
      bash
      ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "[email protected]"

    • You’ll be prompted to choose a file location (press Enter to accept the default: ~/.ssh/id_ed25519).
    • You’ll be asked to enter a passphrase. This is an optional password for your private key, adding an extra layer of security. It’s highly recommended to use a strong passphrase. You’ll need to enter it whenever you use the key (though keychain tools can often manage this).
  3. Copy the Public Key:
    • You need to copy the content of the public key file (the one ending in .pub).
    • Use a command appropriate for your operating system:
      • macOS: pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
      • Linux (with xclip): xclip -selection clipboard < ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
      • Windows (Git Bash): cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub | clip
      • Alternatively: Open the .pub file in a text editor (notepad ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub on Windows, gedit ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub or nano ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub on Linux/macOS) and manually copy the entire content (it starts with ssh-ed25519 or ssh-rsa and ends with your email address).
  4. Add Public Key to GitLab:
    • Go back to your GitLab profile settings in the web browser (https://gitlab.unt.edu/-/profile/keys).
    • Navigate to the “SSH Keys” section in the left sidebar.
    • Paste the copied public key into the “Key” text box.
    • Give the key a descriptive “Title” (e.g., “My UNT Desktop”, “MacBook Pro”).
    • Leave the “Usage type” as “Authentication & Signing” (or just “Authentication” if that’s the only option).
    • Set an optional “Expiration date” if required by policy or personal preference.
    • Click “Add key”.

Now you can clone, pull, and push to your GitLab repositories using the SSH URL (e.g., [email protected]:username/projectname.git) without needing your password, relying instead on your secure SSH key pair.

Section 4: Core Concepts and Features Explored

GitLab is rich with features. Let’s explore the core concepts you’ll encounter most frequently within the UNT instance.

1. Projects:

  • Definition: A project is the fundamental container in GitLab. It typically houses a single codebase, research project, documentation set, or related collection of files.
  • Contents: Each project contains:
    • A Git repository for source code management.
    • An issue tracker for managing tasks and bugs.
    • Tools for CI/CD pipelines.
    • A wiki for documentation.
    • Settings for managing members, integrations, and visibility.
  • Organization: Projects can be personal (under your username) or belong to Groups. Groups are used to organize related projects and manage permissions for multiple users (e.g., a group for a research lab, a specific course, or a department). UNT might pre-configure groups or allow users to create them.

2. Repositories (Git): The Heart of Version Control

  • Concept: Every GitLab project includes a Git repository. This is where your project’s files and their entire revision history are stored.
  • Git Basics Refresher:
    • git clone [URL]: Copies a remote repository (from GitLab) to your local machine. Use the SSH URL after setting up keys.
    • git add [file(s)]: Stages changes, telling Git you want to include updates to specific files in the next commit.
    • git commit -m "Descriptive message": Records the staged changes permanently in the repository’s history. The message explains why the change was made.
    • git push: Uploads your local commits to the remote repository on GitLab.
    • git pull: Downloads changes from the remote repository and merges them into your local working copy.
    • git status: Shows the current state of your working directory and staging area.
    • git log: Displays the commit history.
  • Branches:
    • Why Use Them? Branches allow you to work on different features, bug fixes, or experiments in isolation without affecting the main (main or master) codebase. This is crucial for collaboration and managing complex changes.
    • Workflow: Create a new branch (git checkout -b new-feature-branch), make your changes, commit them, push the branch (git push -u origin new-feature-branch), and then propose merging it back into the main branch via a Merge Request.
  • Merge Requests (MRs): The Collaboration Hub
    • Purpose: An MR is a formal request to merge changes from one branch (e.g., your feature branch) into another (e.g., main). In other platforms like GitHub, these are called Pull Requests (PRs).
    • Key Features:
      • Code Review: Team members can view the exact changes (diffs), add inline comments, ask questions, and suggest improvements.
      • Discussion: Provides a central place for discussion about the proposed changes.
      • CI/CD Integration: MRs often trigger automated pipelines to test the changes before merging.
      • Approval Workflows: GitLab can be configured to require approvals from specific individuals or groups before merging is allowed.
      • Link to Issues: MRs can be linked to the issues they resolve, automatically closing the issue upon merge.

3. Issue Tracking: Managing Tasks and Ideas

  • Purpose: GitLab Issues are used to track discrete pieces of work like bug reports, feature proposals, tasks, questions, or any actionable item related to the project.
  • Key Features:
    • Title & Description: Clearly define the issue (supports Markdown for formatting).
    • Assignees: Assign responsibility to specific team members.
    • Milestones: Group issues together for a specific deadline or release (e.g., “Sprint 1”, “Version 1.0”, “End of Semester”).
    • Labels: Categorize issues using customizable labels (e.g., bug, feature, documentation, high-priority, needs-review, course-module-3). This allows for easy filtering and organization.
    • Due Dates: Set deadlines for individual issues.
    • Confidentiality: Mark issues as confidential if they contain sensitive information (visible only to project members with sufficient permissions).
    • Related Issues & Merge Requests: Link issues to each other or to the MRs that address them.
    • Boards: Visualize and manage issues using Kanban-style boards, dragging issues between columns (e.g., “To Do”, “Doing”, “Review”, “Done”).

4. Collaboration Tools:

  • Code Review within MRs: As mentioned, this is a primary collaboration feature, enabling detailed feedback on specific lines of code.
  • Wikis: Each project can have its own wiki, perfect for more permanent documentation, user guides, project setup instructions, meeting notes, or research protocols. Supports Markdown formatting.
  • Snippets: Share small pieces of code or text without creating a full repository. Can be personal or project-specific, public or private. Useful for sharing quick examples, configuration snippets, or notes.
  • Comments and Discussions: Comment almost anywhere – on issues, merge requests, specific commits, even lines of code. Use @mentions (e.g., @username) to notify specific users.

Understanding these core components provides a solid foundation for navigating and utilizing UNT’s GitLab instance for a wide variety of academic and research tasks.

Section 5: Getting Started: Your First UNT GitLab Project

Let’s walk through the practical steps of creating and managing your first project on UNT’s GitLab instance.

1. Creating a New Project:

  1. Log in: Access https://gitlab.unt.edu using your UNT EUID.
  2. Navigate: From your dashboard, look for a “New project” button (often near the top right or via a “+” icon).
  3. Choose Project Creation Method: You’ll typically see options like:
    • Create blank project: Start from scratch with an empty repository. This is the most common choice.
    • Create from template: Use a predefined template (GitLab offers built-in templates for various frameworks like Ruby on Rails, Spring, etc., or UNT might provide custom templates for specific courses or research types).
    • Import project: Import an existing project from another platform (like GitHub, Bitbucket) or from a Git repository URL.
    • Run CI/CD for external repository: Connect GitLab CI/CD to a repository hosted elsewhere (less common for starting out).
  4. Select “Create blank project” (Recommended for beginners).
  5. Fill in Project Details:
    • Project name: Choose a descriptive name (e.g., “CSCE 4901 Senior Design”, “My Research Analysis Scripts”, “Digital Humanities Text Analysis”). Spaces are allowed; GitLab will create a URL-friendly “slug”.
    • Project slug: This is the URL path for your project (e.g., my-research-analysis-scripts). GitLab usually generates this from the name, but you can customize it (use hyphens instead of spaces).
    • Project description (Optional but Recommended): Briefly describe the project’s purpose.
    • Visibility Level: This is critical! Understand the options:
      • Private: Only explicitly granted members can see and access the project. This is the recommended default for most student work, sensitive research, or internal projects.
      • Internal: Any logged-in UNT GitLab user can see and clone the project. Use this if you want to share your work broadly within the UNT community but not make it publicly accessible on the internet. Suitable for shared tools, non-sensitive research code meant for internal collaboration, or course examples shared with all students.
      • Public: Anyone on the internet can see the project (code, issues, wiki). Use with extreme caution. Only suitable for open-source projects, public documentation, or non-sensitive data explicitly intended for public dissemination. Always check UNT policies before making a project public, especially if it contains research data or university-related code.
    • Initialize repository with a README: Check this box! It creates an initial file (README.md) in your repository, making it easier to clone immediately. It’s good practice to edit this file later to provide detailed information about your project.
  6. Click “Create project”.

You’ll be taken to your newly created project’s main page.

2. Cloning the Repository Locally:

Now, you need a copy of the project on your computer to start working.

  1. Find the Clone URL: On your project’s main page, click the blue “Clone” button. You’ll see two options: “Clone with SSH” and “Clone with HTTPS”.
  2. Copy the SSH URL: Since you (ideally) set up SSH keys earlier, click the copy button next to the “Clone with SSH” URL. It will look something like [email protected]:your-username/your-project-slug.git or [email protected]:group-name/your-project-slug.git.
  3. Open Terminal/Git Bash: Navigate to the directory on your computer where you want to store the project (e.g., cd Documents/UNT_Projects).
  4. Run the Clone Command: Type git clone followed by the pasted SSH URL:
    bash
    git clone [email protected]:your-username/your-project-slug.git
  5. Enter SSH Passphrase (if set): If you protected your SSH key with a passphrase, you’ll be prompted to enter it.
  6. Success: Git will download the repository (which currently just contains the README.md file) into a new folder named after your project slug.

3. Making Your First Change, Commit, and Push:

Let’s make a simple change to the README file.

  1. Navigate into Project Directory: cd your-project-slug
  2. Open README.md: Open the README.md file in your preferred text editor (e.g., VS Code, Sublime Text, Notepad++, Vim).
  3. Edit the File: Add some information about your project. Markdown (.md) files use simple syntax for formatting (e.g., # Heading 1, ## Heading 2, *italic*, **bold**, - list item).
  4. Save the File.
  5. Check Status: In your terminal, type git status. Git will show that README.md has been modified.
  6. Stage the Change: Tell Git you want to include this change in the next commit:
    bash
    git add README.md
  7. Commit the Change: Record the change in the project history with a descriptive message:
    bash
    git commit -m "Update README with initial project description"
    (Good commit messages explain the why or what of the change).
  8. Push the Change to GitLab: Upload your commit to the remote repository on gitlab.unt.edu:
    bash
    git push origin main
    (Or git push origin master if your default branch is named master). You might need your SSH passphrase again.
  9. Verify on GitLab: Refresh your project page in the web browser. You should see your updated README.md file and your latest commit listed in the activity feed or repository history.

Congratulations! You’ve successfully created a project, cloned it, made changes locally, and pushed them back to UNT’s GitLab instance using Git. This basic workflow (pull, edit, add, commit, push) is the foundation for using GitLab for version control.

Section 6: Unleashing Automation: Introduction to GitLab CI/CD at UNT

One of GitLab’s most powerful features is its integrated Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) system. This allows you to automate various stages of your project lifecycle, triggered by events like pushing code to the repository.

What is CI/CD?

  • Continuous Integration (CI): The practice of frequently merging code changes from all developers/contributors into a central repository, after which automated builds and tests are run. The goal is to detect integration issues early.
  • Continuous Delivery (CD): Extends CI by automatically deploying validated code changes to a testing or staging environment.
  • Continuous Deployment (CD): Goes a step further by automatically deploying changes that pass all tests to the production environment.

In the UNT context, CI/CD can automate:

  • Running tests: Unit tests, integration tests for code (Python, Java, C++, R, etc.).
  • Linting/Formatting: Checking code style consistency (e.g., using flake8 for Python, eslint for JavaScript).
  • Building artifacts: Compiling code, creating executables, building Docker images.
  • Generating documentation: Building documentation sites from source files.
  • Deploying static websites: Publishing websites via GitLab Pages.
  • Running analysis pipelines: Executing research data analysis scripts in a controlled environment.

The .gitlab-ci.yml File:

GitLab CI/CD pipelines are defined in a YAML file named .gitlab-ci.yml placed in the root directory of your repository. YAML (YAML Ain’t Markup Language) is a human-readable data serialization format.

Key Concepts in .gitlab-ci.yml:

  • Jobs: Define specific tasks to be executed (e.g., build, test, deploy). Each job runs independently (potentially in parallel).
  • Scripts: The shell commands that a job executes.
  • Stages: Group jobs that should run in a specific order (e.g., build stage runs before test stage, which runs before deploy stage). Jobs within the same stage can run in parallel.
  • Image: Specifies the Docker image to use for running the job’s scripts (e.g., image: python:3.9, image: gcc, image: node:16). This ensures a consistent environment.
  • Artifacts: Define files or directories that should be saved after a job completes successfully and potentially passed to jobs in later stages.
  • Rules/Only/Except: Control when jobs should run (e.g., only on the main branch, only for tags, except for merge requests).

GitLab Runners:

  • What are they? GitLab Runners are the agents that actually execute the jobs defined in your .gitlab-ci.yml file.
  • Types:
    • Shared Runners: Provided and maintained by the GitLab instance administrators (UNT IT). These are available to all projects on the instance (though usage limits might apply). They often support common environments (like Docker). This is likely the primary type you will use at UNT.
    • Specific Runners: Dedicated to specific projects or groups. You might set these up yourself on lab machines or personal computers if you need specialized hardware or software not available on shared runners (requires more setup).
    • Group Runners: Shared among all projects within a specific group.

Simple CI/CD Example: Linting Python Code

Let’s say you have a Python project and want to automatically check code style using flake8 every time you push code.

  1. Create .gitlab-ci.yml: In the root of your project directory, create a file named .gitlab-ci.yml.

  2. Add Content:
    “`yaml
    # .gitlab-ci.yml
    stages:

    • lint # Define a single stage named ‘lint’

    lint_python_code: # Define a job named ‘lint_python_code’
    stage: lint # Assign this job to the ‘lint’ stage
    image: python:3.9 # Use a Docker image with Python 3.9 pre-installed
    before_script: # Commands to run before the main script
    – pip install flake8 # Install flake8 tool
    script: # The main task of the job
    – flake8 . –count –select=E9,F63,F7,F82 –show-source –statistics # Run flake8
    # The options check for specific errors, show source code, and provide stats
    # Adjust flake8 command/options as needed for your project
    3. **Add, Commit, and Push:**bash
    git add .gitlab-ci.yml
    git commit -m “Add basic CI pipeline for Python linting”
    git push
    ``
    4. **Check Pipeline Status:** Go to your project in GitLab and navigate to "CI/CD" > "Pipelines" in the left sidebar. You should see a new pipeline running (or completed). Click on it to see the stages and jobs. Click on the    lint_python_codejob to see the log output, including theflake8results. Ifflake8` finds errors, the job will fail, alerting you to the issues.

Example: Building a Static Website with GitLab Pages

GitLab Pages allows you to host static websites directly from your repository. CI/CD can automate the build process. Let’s assume you’re using a simple static site generator like Hugo.

  1. Project Setup: Have your Hugo site source code in the repository.

  2. Create .gitlab-ci.yml:
    “`yaml
    # .gitlab-ci.yml
    image: registry.gitlab.com/pages/hugo/hugo_extended:latest # Use official Hugo image

    variables:
    GIT_SUBMODULE_STRATEGY: recursive # Ensure themes (if using submodules) are fetched

    pages: # Special job name for GitLab Pages deployment
    stage: deploy # Often runs in a ‘deploy’ stage (you might need to define it)
    script:
    – hugo # Run Hugo to build the site (outputs to ‘public/’ directory by default)
    artifacts:
    paths:
    – public # Tell GitLab Pages where the built website files are
    rules:
    – if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH # Only run on pushes to the default branch (e.g., main)
    ``
    3. **Add, Commit, and Push.**
    4. **Check Pipeline & Pages:** The pipeline will run the    pagesjob. Once it succeeds, go to your project's "Settings" > "Pages". GitLab will provide the URL where your website is hosted (usuallyhttps://.gitlab.unt.edu/`).

These are simple examples, but GitLab CI/CD can handle much more complex workflows, significantly boosting productivity and code quality for both individual and team projects at UNT. Exploring the extensive GitLab CI/CD documentation is highly recommended as you become more comfortable.

Section 7: Advanced Features Overview (Tailored for UNT)

Beyond the core features, GitLab offers several advanced capabilities that can be particularly useful in the UNT academic and research environment. (Note: Availability of some features, especially advanced security scanning, might depend on the specific GitLab edition/tier licensed by UNT – e.g., Free, Premium, Ultimate).

  • GitLab Pages: As demonstrated, this is invaluable for:
    • Project websites (showcasing research, software documentation).
    • Personal academic websites or portfolios for students and faculty.
    • Hosting course materials or syllabi.
    • Publishing supplementary materials for papers.
  • Container Registry:
    • What: A private Docker image registry built into your project/group.
    • Use Cases: Store custom Docker images needed for research environments, CI/CD jobs, or application deployments. Ensures consistent runtime environments for computational research or software development courses. Researchers can share pre-configured analysis environments as Docker images.
  • Package Registry:
    • What: A private registry for hosting software packages and dependencies (e.g., Python (PyPI), Node.js (npm), Java (Maven), C# (NuGet), C++ (Conan)).
    • Use Cases: Host internal libraries developed within a research group or for a course. Cache external dependencies for faster, more reliable CI/CD builds. Manage project dependencies within a controlled environment.
  • Security Scanning (Potential Feature):
    • SAST (Static Application Security Testing): Analyzes source code for potential security vulnerabilities.
    • DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing): Analyzes a running application for vulnerabilities.
    • Dependency Scanning: Checks project dependencies for known vulnerabilities.
    • Secret Detection: Scans the repository history for accidentally committed secrets (API keys, passwords).
    • Container Scanning: Scans Docker images for OS-level vulnerabilities.
    • Use Cases: If available, these tools can significantly improve the security posture of software developed at UNT, whether for research, teaching, or internal operations. They help identify risks early in the development cycle. Check with UNT IT or documentation for availability.
  • Wikis: Already mentioned, but their potential for detailed, collaborative documentation shouldn’t be underestimated. Use them for:
    • Onboarding new lab members or project contributors.
    • Documenting research methodologies or standard operating procedures.
    • Creating detailed user manuals for software projects.
    • Collaborative writing of non-code documents (though Git is better for line-by-line history).
  • Snippets: Useful for quickly sharing configuration files, useful command sequences, example code for assignments, or reusable analysis functions without the overhead of a full project.
  • Environments and Deployments: For projects involving software deployment, GitLab allows defining different environments (e.g., staging, production) and tracking deployments to each, providing visibility and control over the release process.

Exploring these features can further enhance your workflow and the capabilities of your projects hosted on UNT’s GitLab instance.

Section 8: Best Practices for Using GitLab at UNT

To maximize the benefits of GitLab and ensure smooth collaboration, adhering to some best practices is essential, especially within the shared university context.

  1. Meaningful Commit Messages: Write clear, concise commit messages explaining the purpose of the change, not just what changed. Follow conventional formats (e.g., a short subject line, followed by a more detailed body if needed). Example: Fix calculation error in analysis script is better than fixed stuff.
  2. Frequent, Small Commits: Commit your work often, ideally after completing a small, logical unit of work. This makes the history easier to understand and reduces the risk of losing work or creating massive, hard-to-review changes.
  3. Use Branches Effectively:
    • Always create a new branch for new features, bug fixes, or experiments. Avoid committing directly to the main (or master) branch.
    • Use descriptive branch names (e.g., feature/user-authentication, fix/data-parsing-error, experiment/alternative-algorithm).
    • Keep branches relatively short-lived; merge them back via MRs once the work is complete and reviewed.
  4. Leverage Merge Requests (MRs):
    • Use MRs even if working alone – it provides a record of changes and allows you to review your own work.
    • Write clear MR descriptions, explaining the purpose of the changes and linking to relevant issues (Closes #issue-number).
    • Use the “Work In Progress” (WIP) or “Draft” status for MRs that are not yet ready for review/merging.
    • Participate actively in code reviews (both giving and receiving feedback constructively).
  5. Utilize Issue Tracking:
    • Create issues for all tasks, bugs, and feature ideas. This keeps work organized and visible.
    • Use labels, milestones, and assignees effectively to manage workflow.
    • Break down large tasks into smaller, manageable issues.
  6. Keep Repositories Clean:
    • Use a .gitignore file to prevent committing unnecessary files (e.g., compiled binaries, log files, temporary files, large data files, sensitive configuration). GitLab provides templates for common languages/frameworks.
    • Avoid committing large binary files or datasets directly to Git repositories. Consider using Git LFS (Large File Storage) if supported and necessary, or store large data elsewhere (e.g., UNT research storage) and reference it. Git is optimized for text.
  7. Manage Access and Visibility Carefully:
    • Choose the appropriate visibility level (Private, Internal, Public) based on the project’s content and audience. Err on the side of caution (Private).
    • Use Groups to manage team access efficiently rather than adding users individually to many projects.
    • Assign appropriate roles (e.g., Guest, Reporter, Developer, Maintainer, Owner) to collaborators based on the level of access they need.
    • Protect your SSH keys and Personal Access Tokens (PATs). Use strong passphrases for SSH keys. Generate PATs with specific scopes and expiration dates when needed for API access or HTTPS Git operations.
  8. Adhere to UNT Policies:
    • Be mindful of UNT’s Acceptable Use Policy, data classification policies, and any specific guidelines related to intellectual property, research data management, and security when using the platform.
    • Do not store highly sensitive or regulated data (e.g., FERPA-protected student records, HIPAA data) in GitLab unless explicitly approved and configured for such use according to UNT guidelines. Consult UNT IT or the Institutional Review Board (IRB) if unsure.
  9. Document Your Work: Use the README file, Wiki, and comments in code/issues/MRs to document your project effectively. This helps collaborators (and your future self).

Following these practices will lead to more organized, maintainable, secure, and collaborative projects on UNT’s GitLab instance.

Section 9: Getting Help and Further Learning

As you delve deeper into GitLab, you’ll inevitably have questions or encounter challenges. Fortunately, numerous resources are available.

  1. UNT Specific Support:
    • UNT Help Desk: For general login issues (EUID problems) or initial access queries.
    • College/Department IT Support: May offer more specialized support or guidance relevant to your specific field or course.
    • UNT IT Documentation/Knowledge Base: Check for any UNT-specific guides, FAQs, or policy documents related to the GitLab service. Look for pages detailing the instance URL, supported features, or specific usage guidelines.
  2. Official GitLab Documentation:
    • GitLab Docs (docs.gitlab.com): This is the comprehensive, official documentation covering every aspect of GitLab. It’s well-organized and searchable. Start here for detailed information on specific features (CI/CD syntax, API usage, feature configuration, etc.).
  3. GitLab Community Forum:
    • GitLab Forum (forum.gitlab.com): A place to ask questions, share experiences, and learn from other GitLab users worldwide. Search for existing topics before posting a new question.
  4. Git and Version Control Basics:
    • Pro Git Book (git-scm.com/book): An excellent, free online book covering Git from basics to advanced topics.
    • Numerous Online Tutorials: Websites like Atlassian Git Tutorials, GitHub Guides (concepts often overlap with GitLab), and various interactive learning platforms offer Git tutorials.
  5. UNT Workshops or User Groups (Check Availability):
    • Keep an eye out for potential workshops offered by UNT Libraries, Research IT, or specific departments on topics like version control, Git/GitLab, or research computing.
    • Consider forming or joining an informal UNT GitLab user group to share tips and best practices.
  6. Experimentation: The best way to learn is often by doing. Create test projects, experiment with different features (especially CI/CD and issues), and explore the GitLab interface.

Don’t hesitate to seek help when needed. Leveraging these resources will accelerate your learning curve and help you overcome any obstacles.

Conclusion: Empowering UNT’s Digital Future with GitLab

GitLab at the University of North Texas represents more than just a tool; it’s a strategic asset empowering students, faculty, and researchers to embrace modern workflows, enhance collaboration, and drive innovation. By providing a unified platform for version control, project management, automation, and security, UNT is fostering an environment where digital projects – from complex research simulations and software applications to collaborative writing and data analysis – can be managed efficiently, transparently, and reproducibly.

For students, GitLab offers invaluable experience with industry-standard tools and practices, preparing them for future careers while facilitating collaboration on coursework. For faculty and researchers, it provides a robust infrastructure for managing research projects, ensuring code and analysis integrity, supporting open science principles, and streamlining collaboration within labs and across disciplines. For staff, it offers a powerful platform for developing and maintaining university digital assets.

This article has provided a comprehensive introduction, covering the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of GitLab at UNT, detailing access procedures, exploring core and advanced features, outlining getting-started steps, introducing the power of CI/CD automation, and emphasizing best practices within our academic community.

The journey with GitLab begins with understanding its potential and taking the first steps to integrate it into your work. We encourage you to log in to gitlab.unt.edu, create your first project, experiment with branching and merge requests, explore the issue tracker, and venture into the world of CI/CD automation. Embrace the collaborative features, adhere to best practices, and leverage the available support resources.

By harnessing the capabilities of GitLab, the UNT community can build upon its strengths in creativity, research, and education, forging a more connected, efficient, and innovative digital future. Start exploring today and discover how GitLab can transform your work at the University of North Texas.

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