Enforcing repository management policies in your enterprise

Configuring the default visibility of new repositories on your appliance

Each time someone creates a new repository on your GitHub Enterprise Server instance, that person must choose a visibility for the repository. When you configure a default visibility setting for the instance, you choose which visibility is selected by default. For more information on repository visibility, see "About repository visibility."

If a site administrator disallows members from creating certain types of repositories, members will not be able to create that type of repository even if the visibility setting defaults to that type. For more information, see "Restricting repository creation in your instance."

1. In the upper-right corner of any page, click .
   
2. In the left sidebar, click Enterprise.
   
3. In the enterprise account sidebar, click Settings.
   
4. Under " Settings", click Options.
   
5. Under "Default repository visibility", use the drop-down menu and select a default visibility.
   

Setting a policy for changing a repository's visibility

When you prevent members from changing repository visibility, only site administrators have the ability to make public repositories private or make private repositories public.

If a site administrator has restricted repository creation to organization owners only, then members will not be able to change repository visibility. If a site administrator has restricted member repository creation to private repositories only, then members will only be able to change repositories from public to private. For more information, see "Setting a policy for repository creation."

1. In the upper-right corner of any page, click .

   

2. In the left sidebar, click Enterprise.

   

3. In the enterprise account sidebar, click Policies.

   

4. Under " Policies", click Repositories.

   

5. Under "Repository visibility change", review the information about changing the setting. Optionally, to view the setting's current configuration for all organizations in the enterprise account before enforcing the setting, click View your organizations' current configurations.

   

6. Under "Repository visibility change", use the drop-down menu and choose a policy.

   

Setting a policy for repository creation

Organization owners can always create any type of repository, and outside collaborators can never create any type of repository. For more information, see "About repository visibility."

1. In the upper-right corner of any page, click .

   

2. In the left sidebar, click Enterprise.

   

3. In the enterprise account sidebar, click Policies.

   

4. Under " Policies", click Repositories.

   

5. Under "Repository creation", review the information about changing the setting. Optionally, to view the setting's current configuration for all organizations in the enterprise account before enforcing the setting, click View your organizations' current configurations.

   

6. Under "Repository creation", use the drop-down menu and choose a policy.

   

Setting a policy for repository deletion and transfer

1. In the upper-right corner of any page, click .

   

2. In the left sidebar, click Enterprise.

   

3. In the enterprise account sidebar, click Policies.

   

4. Under " Policies", click Repositories.

   

5. Under "Repository deletion and transfer", review the information about changing the setting. Optionally, to view the setting's current configuration for all organizations in the enterprise account before enforcing the setting, click View your organizations' current configurations.

   

6. Under "Repository deletion and transfer", use the drop-down menu and choose a policy.

   

Setting a policy for Git push limits

To keep your repository size manageable and prevent performance issues, you can configure a file size limit for repositories on your instance.

By default, when you enforce repository upload limits, people cannot add or update files larger than 100 MB.

1. In the upper-right corner of any page, click .
   
2. In the left sidebar, click Enterprise.
   
3. In the enterprise account sidebar, click Settings.
   
4. Under " Settings", click Options.
   
5. Under "Repository upload limit", use the drop-down menu and click a maximum object size.
   
6. Optionally, to enforce a maximum upload limit for all repositories on your GitHub Enterprise Server instance, select Enforce on all repositories
   

Configuring the merge conflict editor for pull requests between repositories

Requiring users to resolve merge conflicts locally on their computer can prevent people from inadvertently writing to an upstream repository from a fork.

1. In the upper-right corner of any page, click .
   
2. In the left sidebar, click Enterprise.
   
3. In the enterprise account sidebar, click Settings.
   
4. Under " Settings", click Options.
   
5. Under "Conflict editor for pull requests between repositories", use the drop-down menu, and click Disabled.
   

Configuring force pushes

Each repository inherits a default force push setting from the settings of the user account or organization to which it belongs. Likewise, each organization and user account inherits a default force push setting from the force push setting for the entire appliance. If you change the force push setting for the appliance, it will change for all repositories owned by any user or organization.

Blocking all force pushes on your appliance

1. In the upper-right corner of any page, click .
   
2. In the left sidebar, click Enterprise.
   
3. In the enterprise account sidebar, click Settings.
   
4. Under " Settings", click Options.
   
5. Under "Force pushes", use the drop-down menu, and click Allow, Block or Block to the default branch.
   
6. Optionally, select Enforce on all repositories, which will override organization and repository level settings for force pushes.

Blocking force pushes to a specific repository

1. Sign in to your GitHub Enterprise Server instance at http(s)://HOSTNAME/login.
2. In the upper-right corner of any page, click .
   
3. In the search field, type the name of the repository and click Search.
   
4. In the search results, click the name of the repository.
   
5. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Admin.
   
6. In the left sidebar, click Admin.
   
7. Select Block or Block to the default branch under Push and Pull.
   

Blocking force pushes to repositories owned by a user account or organization

Repositories inherit force push settings from the user account or organization to which they belong. User accounts and organizations in turn inherit their force push settings from the force push settings for the entire appliance.

You can override the default inherited settings by configuring the settings for a user account or organization.

1. Sign in to your GitHub Enterprise Server instance at http(s)://HOSTNAME/login.
2. In the upper-right corner of any page, click .
   
3. In the search field, type the name of the user or organization and click Search.
   
4. In the search results, click the name of the user or organization.
   
5. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Admin.
   
6. In the left sidebar, click Admin.
   
7. Under "Repository default settings" in the "Force pushes" section, select
   • Block to block force pushes to all branches.
   • Block to the default branch to only block force pushes to the default branch.
     
8. Optionally, select Enforce on all repositories to override repository-specific settings. Note that this will not override an appliance-wide policy.
   

Configuring anonymous Git read access

If you have enabled private mode on your instance, you can allow repository administrators to enable anonymous Git read access to public repositories.

Enabling anonymous Git read access allows users to bypass authentication for custom tools on your instance. When you or a repository administrator enable this access setting for a repository, unauthenticated Git operations (and anyone with network access to GitHub Enterprise Server) will have read access to the repository without authentication.

If necessary, you can prevent repository administrators from changing anonymous Git access settings for repositories on your GitHub Enterprise Server instance by locking the repository's access settings. After you lock a repository's Git read access setting, only a site administrator can change the setting.

To see the repositories with anonymous Git read access enabled, filter the repositories list in the site admin dashboard.

Setting anonymous Git read access for all repositories

1. In the upper-right corner of any page, click .
   
2. In the left sidebar, click Enterprise.
   
3. In the enterprise account sidebar, click Settings.
   
4. Under " Settings", click Options.
   
5. Under "Anonymous Git read access", use the drop-down menu, and click Enabled.
   
6. Optionally, to prevent repository admins from changing anonymous Git read access settings in all repositories on your instance, select Prevent repository admins from changing anonymous Git read access.
   

Setting anonymous Git read access for a specific repository

1. In the upper-right corner of any page, click .
   
2. In the search field, type the name of the repository and click Search.
   
3. In the search results, click the name of the repository.
   
4. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Admin.
   
5. In the left sidebar, click Admin.
   
6. Under "Danger Zone", next to "Enable Anonymous Git read access", click Enable.
   
7. Review the changes. To confirm, click Yes, enable anonymous Git read access.
   
8. Optionally, to prevent repository admins from changing this setting for this repository, select Prevent repository admins from changing anonymous Git read access.