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I've just initialized a GIT repo in an existing website root. I have a local development copy of this site, which is already a GIT repo. I can't just clone one from the other, as the local/live versions have fallen out of sync over the years.

I'm trying to get them lined back up with GIT again, but I want to be able to do a fetch on the live site and run git diff

My problem is, on the local site I've added the live site as a remote repo:

git remote add live [email protected]:/path/to/repo

I can successfully log in via ssh to my server:

ssh [email protected]

But when I try to fetch, and type in the ssh password, the command line just returns the password prompt, as if I've typed it wrong. But I know the password is correct, as I can use SSH to log in.

Do I have to specify ssh:// before my remote URL? Is there something I have to do to get ssh remote repos working

UPDATE

I've added the ssh:// prefix, but it's made no difference. This is how it looks in .git/config

[remote "live"] url = ssh://[email protected]/path/to/repo fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/live/*

Running GIT_TRACE=true git fetch live adds in the lines:

trace: run_command 'ssh' '[email protected]' 'git-upload-pack '\''/path/to/repo'\'''

I have to type the password in 3 times before I get the message:

fatal: the remote end hung up unexpectedly
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  • did you initialized with '--bare' option? Commented May 2, 2012 at 8:53
  • On the live site, no. Not sure what the difference is between "git init" and "git init --bare" Commented May 2, 2012 at 8:56
  • as @tigran said, you need to build a repo on the live server with --bare flag. about the difference, you can read it from here: progit.org/book/ch4-2.html Commented May 2, 2012 at 9:06
  • The website is live though, I'm turning an existing set of files into a repository. Doesn't that mean the working directory isn't empty? Or the site root is the working directory? Commented May 2, 2012 at 9:11
  • I assume the ssh user has full permissions on the server-side repo, path and files? Commented May 2, 2012 at 9:25

3 Answers 3

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I think you're missing an alias for the remote.

git remote add origin [email protected]:/path/to/repo

Note the origin bit.

Is the .git/config you posted accurate? If it is, try changing the remote url from

url = ssh://[email protected]/path/to/repo

to

url = [email protected]:/path/to/repo

Note the : separating the server name from the server path.

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3 Comments

I've got "live" as the alias, I've updated my question to show the config file.
Adding the : gives me "ssh: Could not resolve hostname server.co.uk:: Name or service not known fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly"
OK, I can reproduce your error now actually, which is encouraging. I can reproduce it with a url like ssh://[email protected]:/path/to/repo but not with a url like [email protected]:/path/to/repo. I have again amended the answer above. Try with a url string in .git/config like [email protected]:/path/to/repo. To be clear, the ssh:// part is dropped and the colon separating the server from the path is preserved.
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yes, you need ssh://. Just change it in .git/config file:

url = ssh://[email protected]:/path/to/repo
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4 Comments

I have the same setup and I don't need the ssh:// prefix. Can you elaborate on why he needs it?
Tried it with and without, gives the same response, just keeps asking for the password
try to run git on remote host: ssh [email protected] "git --version"
ssh [email protected] "git --version" works fine, returns "git version 1.7.4.1"
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Following only applys if you have shell access to the server. Probably not what you want but incase you want to try set up a public/private key auth. Simply generate a RSA keypair with command :

ssh-keygen -t rsa I would reccomend you to use a passphrase since you can store it in ssh-agent after generating a keypair copy the public key over to your server you can use scp :

scp -p ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub host:~/.ssh/ and then in server do cat id_rsa.pub >> authorized_keys

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2 Comments

I did wonder if GIT just doens't work without SSH keypairs, but ssh [email protected] "git --version" seems to work ok without. I might give this a try though
Git does work without keypairs but I always set it up using SSH keypairs it just makes my life 10 times easier.

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