GitHub Landing Page

This page collects common questions and answers about the GitHub Enterprise service on GitHub.mit.edu. For an overview of the service, see GitHub.mit.edu Overview

On this page:

What is github.mit.edu?

GitHub.mit.edu is a MIT site running GitHub Enterprise, a hosted version of the GitHub software. It lets people upload and share programming code with others.

What's the difference between GitHub.com and GitHub Enterprise ?

GitHub.com is a public site that allows people to create public repositories. You have to pay to create private repositories on GitHub.com.

GitHub Enterprise runs the same software as GitHub.com, but is hosted at MIT. You can sign in with your MIT account, your data is at MIT, and you can create private or public repositories as you desire. However, repositories are private by default. You can make them public by following instructions here.

*A public repository allows anyone connected to MIT's instance of GitHub access to the repository. A private repository only allows specified members of MIT's instance access.

What documentation is available?

This page will cover some common topics, particularly related to MIT's GitHub Enterprise service.

For topics not specific to MIT, general GitHub documentation is available at:

• General GitHub help: https://help.github.com/
• Getting started with Git and GitHub: https://help.github.com/categories/bootcamp/
• Topics specific to GitHub Enterprise: https://enterprise.github.com/help

Who can use it?

All MIT faculty, students, and staff may use the service via http://github.mit.edu/ (requires Touchstone login).

Can non-MIT people get accounts?

IS&T is no longer offering Touchstone Collaboration accounts. Until a new collaboration account system is launched, please contact the IS&T Service Desk if you need access to any products or services.

As originally implemented, you could share with users who hold CAMS accounts. Now that CAMS has been deprecated, we will normally need a staff or faculty member to sponsor an MIT account, if you need to add an external collaborator.

• How can I sponsor a community member or colleague for an MIT Kerberos account?
• [What is a Touchstone Collaboration Account?]
• Log in using a Touchstone Collaboration Account
• Github Accounts After Graduation or Leaving MIT

Sharing with my team

Your lab or group can establish an "organization" within github.mit.edu, which allows you to create and manage teams. This can be fully self-service, and will allow you to hand off ownership or repositories when you leave MIT. In the repository layout, this will take the place of the username in the repository path.

What is the address or URL of my repositories?

Github uses HTTPS (two ways) or SSH.

If you plan to visit with a web browser, your url will look like:

• https://github.mit.edu/[username]/[repo-name]
  In this case you will be doing touchstone auth, as your MIT user.

The repository address for SSH (to clone over ssh) will be of the pattern:

• git@github.mit.edu:[username]/[repo-name].git
  If you use SSH, you need to generate SSH keys and add them to your account (it does not accept your kerberos password). See Generating SSH keys, but be aware that steps 3 and 4 connect to the public GitHub.com site. You will want to adapt those steps, to connect to MIT's github.mit.edu site.

The repository address to clone over HTTPS will be of the pattern:

• https://github.mit.edu/[username]/[repo-name].git

This is used by applications such as the Github desktop application. If you wish to clone over HTTPS, be aware that the system does not know (or use) your MIT Kerberos password. You need to create an GitHub access token and use it as your password. See Creating an access token but be aware that you need to create the access token in your MIT GitHub account on github.mit.edu (and not on github.com).

Less Common issues

Is there an API?

See GitHub's documentation at: https://developer.github.com/v3/enterprise/

API endpoints are prefixed with the MIT GitHub URL: https://github.mit.edu/api/v3/

Authenticate via OAuth token, as described at https://developer.github.com/v3/#authentication and https://developer.github.com/v3/auth/ .

Examples:

• curl -u [OAuth_token]:x-oauth-basic -i https://github.mit.edu/api/v3/
• curl -H 'Authorization: token [OAuth_token]' -i https://github.mit.edu/api/v3/

How can I use connect using GitHub for Windows?

See GitHub's instructions at: Using CAS with GitHub for Windows

Some tips

• for step 5 (name the token):
  • Give the token a descriptive name, so that a year from now you can still tell where you are using the token.
  • Example of a good name: "GitHub for Windows on my Dell E7240 Laptop"
  • Example of a bad name: "My Token".
• for step 8 (copy token to clipboard):
  • When copying the token, make sure you copy only the numbers and not the space at the end. If you copy the space at the end, it won't work as a password in step 12. Paste the token into Notepad if you need to check it.
• for step 12 (enter login details):
  • Your GitHub Enterprise username is your MIT Kerberos account username
  • MIT's GitHub Enterprise URL is https://github.mit.edu/

How can I use connect using GitHub for Mac?

1. Create an access token
2. Set up command-line "git", and configure it to Cache the access token as the password
3. Get the GitHub for Mac program
4. Launch GitHub for Mac. You can sign into the MIT GitHub Enterprise server during setup, or can use Preferences > Accounts to sign in later.
   • MIT's GitHub Enterprise Login URL is https://github.mit.edu/
   • You will not be able to enter a username or password.
   • When you press the "Sign In" button you will be sent to a web page to sign in. After web page signin finishes, the web page will ask permission to send an access token back to the GitHub app on your Mac.

It's not quite clear why you need two access tokens (one for commandline and one for the app), but our tests did need both.

Email notifications of issues and comments say noreply@mit.edu

According to GitHub support, the GitHub Enterprise product does not support replying to issues and comments via email, although it's true that github.com does. The GitHub Enterprise product is currently only capable of sending email from the noreply@domain address, and users must visit the web interface to respond.

Sometimes there is no notification when users post issues

The most common cause of not receiving a notification is if an account is lacking an associated email address or if no address has been designated the "primary email address". To fix this, have the user go to their email settings page and enter a primary email address. Note that by default github.mit.edu does not attach an email address to your account - everyone starts with a blank primary email address.

When is the next version going to be published?

App Delivery needs to have key stakeholders test Github Enterprise version updates in a test environment. [hdarchive:MIT Github Upgrade Schedule]

Is there support for Github Apps?

Although GitHub Enterprise Server does not support the GitHub Marketplace. Version 2.17 and above does support GitHub apps. Some apps are available for both GitHub.com and GitHub Enterprise Server; you'll have to check with each vendor for availability on Enterprise Server and for specific installation instructions.

Have Questions or Still Need Help?

• Contact the IS&T Service Desk

Additional escalation information for Help Staff can be found here: [hd:GitHub Recon].