Configure from command line

Normally, GitBucket configuration is saved to GITBUCKET_HOME/gitbucket.conf and database connection is configured by GITBUCKET_HOME/database.conf. All configuration items of these files can be given as system properties or environmental variables too. In particular, it's useful when running GitBucket in a docker container.

For example, it's possible to run GitBucket with a specified database as follows:

$ java -Dgitbucket.db.url=jdbc:postgresql://localhost/gitbucket \
       -Dgitbucket.db.user=test \
       -Dgitbucket.db.password=test \
       -jar gitbucket.war

While system properties are used in the above example, environmental variables can be used instead:

$ export GITBUCKET_DB_URL=jdbc:postgresql://localhost/gitbucket
$ export GITBUCKET_DB_USER=test
$ export GITBUCKET_DB_PASSWORD=test
$ java -jar gitbucket.war

An another example is giving a base url which is normally configured in gitbucket.conf as system properties:

$ java -Dgitbucket.base_url=http://localhost:8080 -jar gitbucket.war

Or as environmental variables:

$ export GITBUCKET_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080
$ java -jar gitbucket.war

GitBucket look for each configuration item in following order:

1. System property
2. Environment variable
3. Configuration file

So you can overwrite specific configuration items by specifying system properties or defining environment variables.