vole

Clone

Read only, no credentials:

https://rodent.software/git/vole.git

Write over SSH with a registered key:

git clone ssh://git@0.0.0.0:2222/vole.git

A free and open-source forge that lives in your Git repo.

Blame · docs/go-modules.md

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d37d301f Keenan Nemetz 15h ago	1	# Go modules
	2
	3	A public repository on a Vole instance is a Go module. The import path is the
	4	instance's host and the repository name:
	5
	6	```text
	7	https://<host>/<repository>
	8	```
	9
	10	Vole serves the metadata the `go` command looks for, so an import path needs no
	11	vanity service, no redirect, and no separate web host in front of the forge.
	12	Vole itself is published this way: `rodent.software/vole`.
	13
	14	## How the lookup works
	15
	16	`go get` cannot clone an arbitrary URL from an import path, so it first asks the
	17	path for directions: it fetches `https://<host>/<repository>?go-get=1` and reads
	18	the `<meta name="go-import">` tag in the answer. Vole answers for a public
	19	repository with that repository's Git transport:
	20
	21	```console
	22	$ curl -s 'https://rodent.software/vole?go-get=1'
	23	<!doctype html>
	24	...
b7396a11 Keenan Nemetz 2h ago	25	<meta name="go-import" content="rodent.software/vole git https://rodent.software/vole.git">
d37d301f Keenan Nemetz 15h ago	26	```
	27
	28	Then `go` clones the repository over the smart-HTTP transport and resolves the
	29	package from the tag it finds there, exactly as it would for a module on any
b7396a11 Keenan Nemetz 2h ago	30	other forge. The transport lives beside the pages: `/<repository>` is the
	31	repository and `/<repository>.git` is its Git URL, so the tag's clone URL and the
	32	page a person opens are the same name.
	33
	34	A package inside the module (`rodent.software/vole/server/web`) resolves from the
	35	same tag: the go command asks the full path first, and the tag it gets names the
	36	repository prefix. That path is not a page, and it does not need to be — the
	37	probe is answered before the router, for any path whose first segment names a
	38	public repository.
d37d301f Keenan Nemetz 15h ago	39
	40	Add the repository to a project as usual:
	41
	42	```console
	43	$ go get rodent.software/vole
	44	$ go doc rodent.software/vole/server/web
	45	```
	46
	47	## What the instance must have
	48
	49	- `public_url` set to the origin people use, in `[server]` in the
	50	configuration file. The metadata's import prefix is that origin's host name;
	51	without `public_url` Vole falls back to the request's host, which is not
	52	something the go command's discovery can rely on.
	53	- The host in the import path is the host name alone. A module path cannot carry
	54	a port, so an instance reached only at `https://forge.example.com:8443` can
	55	still serve its pages, but its repositories are not importable paths; clone
	56	them by URL instead.
	57
	58	## Which repositories answer
	59
	60	Only a repository an anonymous reader may read, which is the same rule that makes
	61	its pages public. The tag is fetched without credentials — that is the discovery
	62	protocol — so answering for a private repository would confirm to anyone who
	63	guessed the name that it exists. Vole answers 404 for those, like every other
	64	private path.
	65
	66	A private repository is therefore not resolvable from its import path. Clone it
	67	where the build runs and point a `replace` at that checkout, or mirror the code in
	68	a repository that is public.
	69
	70	## Naming
	71
	72	The import path is `<host>/<repository>`, so the repository name is also the last
b7396a11 Keenan Nemetz 2h ago	73	element of every import path inside the module. Every name is available for this
	74	except the four the forge keeps at the root for reasons a URL cannot avoid:
	75	`static` (assets), and `robots.txt`, `sitemap.xml`, and `sitemap-pages.xml`
	76	(crawlers only look for those at the root). The forge's own pages live under
	77	`/-/`, a prefix no repository name can start with, so `admin`, `login`, `activity`
	78	and the rest are ordinary repository names.
	79
	80	Because the name is the import path, renaming a repository that other modules
	81	import breaks them: there is no forwarding layer in front of the forge. Rename
	82	the pages, or keep the name a published module depends on.
d37d301f Keenan Nemetz 15h ago	83
	84	## Vole's own module
	85
	86	The Vole repository is `rodent.software/vole`, so fetching the source is:
	87
	88	```console
	89	$ go get rodent.software/vole
	90	```
	91
	92	and building from a checkout uses the same path:
	93
	94	```sh
	95	go build -tags libsqlite3,sqlite_fts5 -o vole rodent.software/vole/cmd/vole
	96	```