Cannot pull or push to Git repository as normal user

abrinister · 10-14-2012, 09:04 PM

I am encountering a problem on Arch where I cannot pull or push a Git repository to the Internet.

I receive this error when I push and pull my repository

Code:

error: couldn't connect to host while accessing http://github.com/Nashoba-Robotics/Nashoba-Robotics2012/info/refs
fatal: HTTP request failed

However, when I do this as root, it works perfectly. I also experience this problem when pulling from the kernel Git repository.

Has anybody else experienced this problem?

Alex Brinister

Snark1994 · 10-15-2012, 07:44 AM

What does

Code:

git remote -v

give you? My urls have '.git' on the end... And how does this compare to the same command run as root?

abrinister · 10-15-2012, 05:39 PM

I don't think Git cares about the .git at the end if using HTTP/S. Adding it to the end in the repository config file doesn't change anything.

Running git remote -v gives me

Code:

origin	http://github.com/Nashoba-Robotics/Nashoba-Robotics2012.git (fetch)
origin	http://github.com/Nashoba-Robotics/Nashoba-Robotics2012.git (push)

I get the same thing as root.

Thanks for your reply!

Alex Brinister

abrinister · 10-15-2012, 08:40 PM

I might also add that I get a

Code:

curl: (7) couldn't connect to host

every time I try to 'makepkg' as a normal user. I have to

Code:

sudo makepkg --asroot

to get it to download the appropriate archives.

Alex Brinister

Snark1994 · 10-16-2012, 06:36 AM

Hm... That sounds odd. Can you use curl to grab e.g. google.com ? I never have to run makepkg as root (as it's generally a bad idea), so it may well be a deeper problem (i.e. not git)...

abrinister · 10-17-2012, 06:29 PM

Yes, I don't run makepkg as root on my other Arch sytems. But with this one I have to.

When I try

Code:

curl google.com

It gives me

Code:

curl: (7) couldn't connect to host

Alex Brinister

Snark1994 · 10-18-2012, 07:20 AM

Right, there's your problem: curl isn't working.

Does

Code:

ping www.google.com

work?

What about visiting google.com in your browser? Do you have a proxy set up that curl doesn't know about, or a firewall that could be blocking the connection? And what about

Code:

telnet www.google.com 80

?

rob.rice · 10-18-2012, 10:14 PM

it works for root
it dose not work for user
this is a permissions problem
common problem on low level distros
(you do the configuration by hand distros)
like arch gentoo and slackware

check the permissions on git make sure it is set for execute by others
is your user a member of group netdev?
don't know how git works but if it sends commands to your NIC user needs to be a member of group netdev
or run it from su

it is considered by some blasphemy but go ahead and run it as root
be warned you can destroy your system as root

Snark1994 · 10-19-2012, 02:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rob.rice

check the permissions on git make sure it is set for execute by others
is your user a member of group netdev?

We have already established that the problem is wider than git: curl seems to be affected, causing the git errors. However, your comment on permissions would be a good one, except for the fact that curl is obviously running: curl itself produces an error, not the shell saying "permission denied"

Quote:

or run it from su

it is considered by some blasphemy but go ahead and run it as root
be warned you can destroy your system as root

Yep, blasphemy.

For the reason you stated, pretty much! And if your default solution is "Run it as root" you neither understand why the problem is occurring, nor learn anything about Linux, nor make your system any securer.

Regards,

abrinister · 10-22-2012, 05:44 PM

There is no group netdev on Arch. There is a network group which I am already a member of.

The problem also occurs when I run makepkg as root when logged through su. Strangely, it works fine when I run it with sudo.

So this does not work:

Code:

su -

makepkg --asroot

curl: (7) couldn't connect to host

But this works

Code:

su -

sudo makepkg --asroot

I don't use any proxys or anything like that. I can access things from my browser and I am able to ping.

Alex Brinister

Snark1994 · 10-25-2012, 07:16 AM

Hm. Okay, how about running:

Code:

sudo curl www.duckduckgo.com --trace-ascii trace_file_sudo

and

Code:

curl www.duckduckgo.com --trace-ascii trace_file_normal

and comparing the two files.

(also, I would be interested in seeing the output of

Code:

$ su -
$ groups
$ sudo groups

)

abrinister · 10-25-2012, 05:52 PM

I get a normal connection as sudo but when I run as normal user, this is what is in the trace file:

Quote:

== Info: About to connect() to proxy 127.0.0.1 port 9050 (#0)
== Info: Trying 127.0.0.1...
== Info: Connection refused
== Info: couldn't connect to host
== Info: Closing connection #0

It is attempting to connect to Tor, which I do have set up but not running.

Alex Brinister

Snark1994 · 10-26-2012, 02:47 AM

Aha! Tor is, in fact, a proxy server that runs on your local machine. So yes, there's your problem. Root isn't configured to use tor, but you are. So either you'll have to start tor, or change the config so curl doesn't use tor, or do something clever so that it only connects to tor if tor is running...