Support for GitHub private repositories is making substantial progress: we are proud to announce that the first milestone has been completed and is available for early access.

By using GerritHub on top of your existing GitHub private repositories, you can now define a safer set of commit policies and prevent Git forced pushes on a per-branch basis.

What is exactly GerritHub private repository support ?

With GitHub you can share code with other people and collaborate with the community of developers using public Git repositories on the Web. Your code is public by default and readable by anyone on the Web. This is the most typical case of using GitHub for the development of OpenSource projects.

However sometimes you want to restrict the access to your repository to a limited set of people or teams. Your code is not accessible to anonymous users but only the people you have selected from your GitHub Team security panel. This is typically the scenario of using GitHub for a private business or organisation.

How can GerritHub support private GitHub repositories ?

GerritHub is a public instance of Gerrit Code Review, which provides highly customisable  sofisticated security. Whilst right now all GerritHub projects have shared a common public polity for all projects, you can customise your Gerrit project security and further restrict or extends the default permissions.

What are the benefits of GerritHub on private GitHub repositories ?

By using Gerrit Code Review on top of GitHub private repositories you can improve the security, collaboration and visibility of changes in your development team:

• Provide a common dashboard with all pending changes on a per-project basis
• Define validation rules for code to be merged, based on quality, scoring and build validation results
• Notify people on what is happening on the project’s code
• Define fine-grained permissions on a per-branch basis
• Limit collateral damage by blocking accidental force-push on release branches

How can I get early access to GerritHub for private repositories ?

GerritHub for private repositories is FREE for the initial 30 days of early access: it would then be charged at 25% of your GitHub private subscription fee. This means that starting from the 3rd of April 2014 if you are paying  $48/year on your GitHub personal plan, the GerritHub would cost only $12/year.

In order to switch to GerritHub private plan, you need to perform the following steps:

1. Clear your browser cookies and cache
2. Login to GerritHub.io using this url:
   https://review.gerrithub.io/login?scope=scopesPrivate
3. Accept the GitHub modify authorisation screen: you will be requested to grant full access to your GitHub personal profile and public/private repositories
4. Confirm your GitHub password

How can I import my private GitHub repositories ?

Once you logged in with a private scope in GerritHub, the full list of organisations and repositories are available on your import screen.

You can access the GitHub import screen by choosing the “GitHub” top-menu and “Repositories” entry,
or visit the URL https://review.gerrithub.io/plugins/github-plugin/static/repositories.html

How can I customise my private repository security on GerritHub ?

You are free to use Gerrit Code Review security configuration screen on your imported private repositories, using the “Projects” top-menu, inserting your project name on the search box and select your project. The security configuration is available on the “Access” menu. Alternatively you can access the screen directly using the URL https://review.gerrithub.io/#/admin/projects/organisation/repository,access, where organisation is your username or organisation and repository is your GitHub repository name.

Where can I find more information Gerrit Code Review security and review rules ?

Gerrit Code Review on-line documentation at https://review.gerrithub.io/Documentation/access-control.html provides a very detailed set of information useful for customising your projects security.

Alternatively if you would like a more gradual and descriptive step-by-step guide, the “Learning Gerrit Code Review” book at http://gerrithub.io/book available on Amazon provides an easy and accessible introduction to code review and security.

This is cool, but how can I provide feedback ?

GerritHub is nothing more than Gerrit Code Review plus a collection of selected plugins, including the GitHub integration plugin (see http://www.packtpub.com/article/using-gerrit-with-github). You are welcome to subscribe to the Gerrit mailing list at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/repo-discuss‎ and to the GitEnterprise blog at http://gitenterprise.me.

Comments, suggestions and hints are more than welcome !

What about Enterprise Support with guaranteed SLA on problems and incidents ?

GerritForge Enterprise Support on Gerrit Code Review covers the GerritHub cloud usage on private repositories as well. If you need guaranteed SLA you choose from one of the currently available support plans at http://gerritforge.com/support.