A new service is now available to employees and students in pilot operation: git.nrw!
The associated git.nrw project was launched to provide a central platform to facilitate the exchange of code and ideas between developers, students, and teachers. The aim of the project is to provide a shared central GitLab instance for all universities in North Rhine-Westphalia to facilitate cross-institutional work.
The technical requirements have now been met to gradually open up the instance. RWTH is one of the first universities in North Rhine-Westphalia to be allowed to use the platform. Other universities will be connected step by step.
Find out what the git.nrw service can do and how you can use it for your everyday tasks in the blog post.
What Does git.nrw Offer?
As its name suggests, git.nrw is based on the well-known version control system GitLab. GitLab is used to exchange software code and data and to collaborate on software projects. It allows users to track changes to the code, manage tasks, and automate the development process. It is a useful tool for teams that develop software.
The features offered can be used in many other processes in research, teaching, and IT operations.
The Ultimate license from GitLab is used for git.nrw, which offers several additional features. For example, it is possible to start CI/CD pipelines using runners. Another advantage of this license is that there are no usage restrictions, as is currently the case with the two RWTH instances git.rwth-aachen.de and git-ce.rwth-aachen.de. All features of the Ultimate license can be found on the GitLab website.
In addition, the project team provides a community area where users can share their experiences with git.nrw or GitLab in general. Announcements about the project are also published in this area and on the project website.
To use the community area, you must first log in to git.nrw. You can then log in via the “Mattermost” chat portal interface.
Who Can Use the Service in Pilot Operation?
Employees and students of RWTH Aachen University can use git.nrw with the Ultimate license, including all benefits. Access is gained by clicking on “git.nrw University Login” and then via the RWTH Single Sign-On.
How git.nrw Can Support You
In addition to general functions such as the exchange of software code and data, git.nrw is also suitable for managing projects in general. The integrated “issues” can be divided into tasks and transferred to milestone planning.
For students, git.nrw is suitable for software development or personal data management, for example for theses. Git.nrw can also be used for group work or collaboration in courses.
Employees can benefit from the digital collaboration offered by git.nrw: It supports the presentation of organizational processes and joint work on data and projects.
Training Opportunities for You
In addition to providing the operational infrastructure, training content for self-study has been and is being developed to cover both the different target groups and the use cases developed in the project. Anyone interested is welcome to actively participate in the development and design of these training courses. Please contact us using the git.nrw support form!
A Look Into the Future
In addition to collaboration within RWTH and across university boundaries, it should also be possible in the future to invite external guests who do not belong to their own university to participate in projects in order to work even better collaboratively.
In addition, upgrades are to be carried out with zero downtime, which means that the platform can also be used during maintenance.
The aim is also to develop templates for specific purposes so that all preselections do not have to be made again for each new project.
The Project Behind the git.nrw Service
The associated git.nrw project is a cooperation project of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and is being implemented jointly by five universities: In addition to RWTH Aachen University as the consortium leader, the University of Cologne, the University of Münster, the University of Duisburg-Essen, and the Cologne University of Applied Sciences are also participating. The project is supported by DH.NRW and funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science.
Information on the start of the pilot operation at the respective universities will be announced via their channels.
Would You Like to Know More About git.nrw?
Information and instructions for use at RWTH Aachen University can be found on our documentation portal IT Center Help.
More detailed information on the project and current developments can be found on the project website git.nrw.
There you will also find an FAQ section and a support form for your questions. Please be sure to indicate RWTH as the responsible institution so that your request is forwarded to the right person.
Responsible for the content of this article are Lena Becker, Miriam Petry and Linda Stroh.
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