100 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
100 lines
3.8 KiB
Markdown
# File Locking **(PREMIUM)**
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> [Introduced](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/merge_requests/440) in [GitLab Premium](https://about.gitlab.com/pricing/) 8.9.
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File Locking helps you avoid merge conflicts and better manage your binary files.
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Lock any file or directory, make your changes, and then unlock it so another
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member of the team can edit it.
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## Overview
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Working with multiple people on the same file can be a risk. Conflicts
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when merging a non-text file are hard to overcome and will require a lot
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of manual work to resolve. With GitLab Premium, File
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Locking helps you avoid merge conflicts and better manage your binary
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files by preventing everyone, except you, from modifying a specific file
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or entire directory.
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## Use-cases
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The file locking feature is useful in situations when:
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- Multiple people are working on the same file and you want to avoid merge
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conflicts.
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- Your repository contains binary files in which situation there is no easy
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way to tell the diff between yours and your colleagues' changes.
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- Prevent design assets from being overwritten.
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Locked directories are locked recursively, which means that everything that
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lies under them is also locked.
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## Locking a file or a directory
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NOTE: **Note:**
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Locking only works for the default branch you have set in the project's settings
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(usually `master`).
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To lock a file:
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1. Navigate to your project's **Repository > Files**.
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1. Pick the file you want to lock.
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1. Click the "Lock" button.
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To lock an entire directory, look for the "Lock" link next to "History".
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After you lock a file or directory, it will appear as locked in the repository
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view.
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Once locked, any merge request to the default branch will fail
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to merge until the file becomes unlocked.
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## Unlocking a file or a directory
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To unlock a file or a directory, follow the same procedure as when you locked
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them. For a detailed view of every existing lock, see the next section on
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"Viewing and managing existing locks".
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You can unlock a file that yourself or someone else previously locked as long
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as you have Maintainer or above [permissions](../permissions.md) to the project.
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## Viewing and managing existing locks
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To view or manage every existing lock, navigate to the
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**Project > Repository > Locked Files** area. There, you can view all existing
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locks and [remove the ones you have permission for](#permissions-on-file-locking).
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## Permissions on file locking
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The user that locks a file or directory **is the only one** that can edit and
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push their changes back to the repository where the locked objects are located.
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Locks can be created by any person who has [push access](../permissions.md) to the repository; i.e.,
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Developer and higher level, and can be removed solely by their author and any
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user with Maintainer permissions and above.
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If a file is locked and you are not the author of its locked state, a
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pre-receive hook will reject your changes when you try to push. In the
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following example, a user who has no permissions on the locked `.gitignore`
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file will see the message below:
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```bash
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Counting objects: 3, done.
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Delta compression using up to 4 threads.
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Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.
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Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 320 bytes | 0 bytes/s, done.
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Total 3 (delta 1), reused 0 (delta 0)
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remote: GitLab: The path '.gitignore' is locked by Administrator
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To https://example.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce.git
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! [remote rejected] master -> master (pre-receive hook declined)
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error: failed to push some refs to 'https://example.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce.git'
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```
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Similarly, when a user that is not the author of the locked state of a file
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accepts a merge request, an error message will appear stating that the file
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is locked.
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