Git clone – fail instead of prompting for credentials

automationgit

When cloning git repositories in automated tools – web front ends, CI systems, sometimes the git clone invocation opens up a prompt asking for the username and password (for example, when cloning a non-existent Github repo or on a new node missing ssh keys).

How do I make git just fail (preferably with a sensible error message and exit code) instead of waiting for the server process to give it a username and password?

Best Answer

In git version 2.3 there's an environment variable GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT which when set to 0 will disable prompting for credentials.

You can get more info about it in man git (after updating to git version 2.3) or in this blog post on github.

Examples:

git clone https://github.com/some/non-existing-repo will prompt for username & password
GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0 git clone https://github.com/some/non-existing-repo will fail without prompting for username & password

Related Solutions

Manage http access to git repositories using gitosis

Gitosis uses gitweb for http publishing of repositories.

You need to have gitweb running.

Please ensure that gitweb is installed. Your gitweb.conf should look like:

# Location of the git binary
$GIT = "/usr/bin/git";

# Project root for gitweb
$projectroot = "/srv/git/repositories";

$stylesheet = "/gitweb.css";
$logo = "/git-logo.png";
$favicon = "/git-favicon.png";

# Site name
$site_name = "My site";

# URL formatting
#$my_uri = "http://git.somewhere.net/";
#$home_link = $my_uri;

# Base URL for project trees
@git_base_url_list = ("ssh://git\@somewhere.net");

# Length of the project description column in the webpage.
$projects_list_description_width = 50;

# Which repos are allowed to export
$export_ok = "git-daemon-export-ok";

# Enable PATH_INFO so the server can produce URLs of the
# form: http://git.hokietux.net/project.git/xxx/xxx
$feature{'pathinfo'}{'default'} = [1];

# Enable blame, pickaxe search, snapshop, search, and grep
$feature{'blame'}{'default'} = [1];
$feature{'blame'}{'override'} = [1];

$feature{'pickaxe'}{'default'} = [1];
$feature{'pickaxe'}{'override'} = [1];

$feature{'snapshot'}{'default'} = [1];
$feature{'snapshot'}{'override'} = [1];

$feature{'search'}{'default'} = [1];

$feature{'grep'}{'default'} = [1];
$feature{'grep'}{'override'} = [1];

Example gitweb config in apache:

Alias /gitweb/gitweb.css /usr/share/gitweb/gitweb.css
Alias /gitweb/git-logo.png /usr/share/gitweb/git-logo.png
Alias /gitweb/git-favicon.png /usr/share/gitweb/git-favicon.png
ScriptAlias /gitweb /usr/lib/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi
<Directory /usr/share/gitweb>
  Options FollowSymLinks +ExecCGI
  AddHandler cgi-script .cgi
</Directory>
<Location /gitweb>
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
    #AuthType Basic
    #AuthName "GITOLITE"
    #AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/gitweb.htpasswd
    #Require valid-user
</Location>
# Securing with users example
<Location /gitweb/SomethingToHide.git>
        Require user myusername
</Location>

I've switched to gitolite because...

it is easier to use
it has more options (security, grouping etc.)

Git for Windows – How to Tell Git Where to Find Private RSA Key

For Git Bash

If you are running msysgit (I am assuming you are) and are looking to run Git Bash (I recommend it over TortoiseGit, but I lean to the CLI more than GUI now), you need to figure out what your home directory is for Git Bash by starting it then type pwd (On Windows 7, it will be something like C:\Users\phsr I think). While you're in Git Bash, you should mkdir .ssh.

After you have the home directory, and a .ssh folder under that, you want to open PuTTYgen and open the key (.ppk file) you have previously created. Once your key is open, you want to select Conversions -> Export OpenSSH key and save it to HOME\.ssh\id_rsa. After you have the key at that location, Git Bash will recognize the key and use it.

Note: Comments indicate that this doesn't work in all cases. You may need to copy the OpenSSH key to Program Files\Git\.ssh\id_rsa (or Program Files (x86)\Git\.ssh\id_rsa).

For TortoiseGit

When using TortoiseGit, you need to set the SSH key via pacey's directions. You need to do that for every repository you are using TortoiseGit with.