Re: [PATCH v2] remove the impression of unexpectedness when access is denied

From: Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>
Date: May 4, 2013, 03:10 UTC
Message-ID: <20130504031001.GA3734@elie.Belkin>
In-Reply-To: <20120619182449.GA99957@book.hvoigt.net>

Hi,

Heiko Voigt wrote:

Show 15 quoted lines

> --- a/connect.c
> +++ b/connect.c
> @@ -49,6 +49,16 @@ static void add_extra_have(struct extra_have_objects *extra, unsigned char *sha1
>  	extra->nr++;
>  }
>  
> +static void die_initial_contact(int got_at_least_one_head)
> +{
> +	if (got_at_least_one_head)
> +		die("The remote end hung up upon initial contact");
> +	else
> +		die("Could not read from remote repository.\n\n"
> +		    "Please make sure you have the correct access rights\n"
> +		    "and the repository exists.");
> +}

[...]

I ran into this message for the first time today.

 $ git fetch --all
 Fetching origin
 remote: Counting objects: 368, done.
[...]
 Fetching gitk
 fatal: Could not read from remote repository.

 Please make sure you have the correct access rights
 and the repository exists.
 error: Could not fetch gitk
 Fetching debian
 Fetching pape
[...]

The "gitk" remote refers to git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/gitk/gitk. Using ls-remote to contact it produces the same result. The message is correct: the repository does not exist.

Impressions:

 * Looking at "Could not read", it is not clear what could not read
   and why.  GIT_TRACE_PACKET tells me the interaction was

	me> git-upload-pack /pub/scm/gitk/gitk\0host=git.kernel.org\0
	them> (hangup)

   Would it make sense for the server to send an "ERR" packet to give
   a more helpful diagnosis?

 * The spacing and capitalization is odd and makes it not flow well
   with the rest of the output.  I suspect it would be easier to read
   with the error separated from hints:

	Fetching gitk
	fatal: the remote server sent an empty response
	hint: does the repository exist?
	hint: do you have the correct access rights?
	error: Could not fetch gitk
	Fetching debian

   If a server is misconfigured and just decides to send an empty
   response for no good reason, the output would still be true.

 * The error message is the same whether the server returned no
   response or an incomplete pkt-line.  Maybe in the latter case it
   should print the "hung up unexpectedly" thing.

Thoughts?

Jonathan