Gitlab Runner is an open source, multi-platform tool used to run jobs, tests, and deployments for software projects hosted on Gitlab. It is a great tool for automating your development process and making sure your code is always up-to-date and bug-free. In this blog post, we’ll walk you through the steps to install Gitlab Runner on Ubuntu 20.

Step 1: Install Prerequisites

Before we can install Gitlab Runner, we need to install some prerequisites. To do this, open up a terminal and type in the following command:

sudo apt-get install curl openssh-server ca-certificates

This will install the necessary prerequisites for Gitlab Runner. Once the installation is complete, you can move on to the next step.

Step 2: Download and Install Gitlab Runner

Now that the prerequisites are installed, we can download and install Gitlab Runner. To do this, use the following command:

curl -L https://packages.gitlab.com/install/repositories/runner/gitlab-runner/script.deb.sh | sudo bash

This will download the necessary files and install them on your system. Once the installation is complete, you can move on to the next step.

Step 3: Register Gitlab Runner

Now that Gitlab Runner is installed, we need to register it with our Gitlab instance. To do this, use the following command:

sudo gitlab-runner register

This will prompt you to enter your Gitlab instance URL, token, and a few other pieces of information. Once you’ve entered all the required information, the registration process will be complete.

Step 4: Start Gitlab Runner

Now that Gitlab Runner is registered, we need to start it. To do this, use the following command:

sudo gitlab-runner start

This will start Gitlab Runner and make it available for use. You can check the status of Gitlab Runner by running the following command:

sudo gitlab-runner status

This will display the current status of Gitlab Runner and let you know if it is running or not.

Step 5: Configure Gitlab Runner

Finally, we need to configure Gitlab Runner so that it will work with our Gitlab instance. To do this, open the file /etc/gitlab-runner/config.toml in a text editor and add the following lines:

[[runners]]
  name = "gitlab-runner"
  url = "https://your-gitlab-instance.com"
  token = "your_gitlab_token"
  executor = "shell"

Be sure to replace “your-gitlab-instance.com” with the URL of your Gitlab instance, and “your_gitlab_token” with the token provided when you registered Gitlab Runner. Once you’ve done this, save the file and restart Gitlab Runner with the following command:

sudo gitlab-runner restart

That’s it! You’ve successfully installed and configured Gitlab Runner on Ubuntu 20. Now you can start using it to run jobs, tests, and deployments for your software projects.