Gitolite allows you to split up access rules for repositories into multiple chunks which are not necessarily contiguous. It will then combine all these chunks (in the order they were read) and apply the combined set of rules to the repository in question.

There's a very good use for this behavior. Combining groups, that include statement, and rule accumulation, makes Gitolite administration easier than it already is. Here's an example, with some comments, to give you some idea of what can be done.

include "groups.conf"
# contains definitions of all groups used in the rest of the conf file.  All
# membership changes happen here

include "foss.conf"
# contains rules for open source repositories.  For example, "R = @all" is
# pretty much expected for such repositories.  There may be other rules
# specific to different FOSS repositories that may also be specified here

include "boss.conf"
# contains rules that define what kind of access management has to the
...