threads / discuss / 56026

GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT environment variable isn't honored properly

Subject: GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT environment variable isn't honored properly

## tl;dr

3 messages between Jun 29, 2021 and Jun 29, 2021.

replies: 2people: 2as markdown or json

Ondrej Pohorelsky· Jun 29, 2021, 13:46 UTC · lore

Hi, we've run into an issue when running git as part of an automated system.

When you set the GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT environment variable as 0 you expect git to die instead of trying to issue a prompt on the terminal.

$ GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0 $ echo $GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT 0 $ git clone https://github.com/some/non-existent-repo Cloning into 'non-existent-repo'... Username for 'https://github.com':

You get expected behaviour only when you set the GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT variable just before you run git clone.

$ GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0 git clone https://github.com/some/non-existent-repo Cloning into 'non-existent-repo'... fatal: could not read Username for 'https://github.com': terminal prompts disabled

I've tested this issue on Fedora 34 with git-2.32.0 and Ubuntu 20.10 with git-2.27.0 and I successfully reproduced this bug. Sadly I didn't manage to figure out why this is happening, that's why I'm only filling a bug.

This variable was introduced in commit "e652c0eb5d772076f92245c7e076bf6aaf6af223" by Jeff King, that's why I'm adding him to CC.

Best regards, Ondřej Pohořelský

brian m. carlson· Jun 29, 2021, 13:52 UTC · re: Ondrej Pohorelsky · lore

Re: GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT environment variable isn't honored properly

On 2021-06-29 at 13:46:44, Ondrej Pohorelsky wrote:

Show 7 quoted lines

> Hi, we've run into an issue when running git as part of an automated system.
> 
> When you set the GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT environment variable as 0 you
> expect git to die instead of trying to issue a prompt on the terminal.
> 
> 
> $ GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0

When you write this in the shell, the shell doesn't by default export this variable to processes it invokes, like git. If you want to do that, you need to write:

$ export GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0

or

$ GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0 $ export GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT

Show 15 quoted lines

> $ echo $GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT
> 0
> $ git clone https://github.com/some/non-existent-repo
> Cloning into 'non-existent-repo'...
> Username for 'https://github.com':
> 
> 
> You get expected behaviour only when you set the GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT
> variable just before you run git clone.
> 
> 
> $ GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0 git clone https://github.com/some/non-existent-repo
> Cloning into 'non-existent-repo'...
> fatal: could not read Username for 'https://github.com': terminal
> prompts disabled

When you write this, the variable is always exported to the command, since it's not possible to use export here and otherwise this syntax wouldn't be very useful.

Hopefully this explains why you're seeing some different behavior between the two situations.

-- 
brian m. carlson (he/him or they/them)
Toronto, Ontario, CA

Ondrej Pohorelsky· Jun 29, 2021, 14:37 UTC · re: brian m. carlson · lore

Re: GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT environment variable isn't honored properly

Thank you very much for your explanation, this makes perfect sense now!

Best regards, Ondřej Pohořelský

On Tue, Jun 29, 2021 at 3:53 PM brian m. carlson <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net> wrote:

Show 46 quoted lines

>
> On 2021-06-29 at 13:46:44, Ondrej Pohorelsky wrote:
> > Hi, we've run into an issue when running git as part of an automated system.
> >
> > When you set the GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT environment variable as 0 you
> > expect git to die instead of trying to issue a prompt on the terminal.
> >
> >
> > $ GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0
>
> When you write this in the shell, the shell doesn't by default export
> this variable to processes it invokes, like git.  If you want to do
> that, you need to write:
>
> $ export GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0
>
> or
>
> $ GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0
> $ export GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT
>
> > $ echo $GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT
> > 0
> > $ git clone https://github.com/some/non-existent-repo
> > Cloning into 'non-existent-repo'...
> > Username for 'https://github.com':
> >
> >
> > You get expected behaviour only when you set the GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT
> > variable just before you run git clone.
> >
> >
> > $ GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=0 git clone https://github.com/some/non-existent-repo
> > Cloning into 'non-existent-repo'...
> > fatal: could not read Username for 'https://github.com': terminal
> > prompts disabled
>
> When you write this, the variable is always exported to the command, since
> it's not possible to use export here and otherwise this syntax wouldn't
> be very useful.
>
> Hopefully this explains why you're seeing some different behavior
> between the two situations.
> --
> brian m. carlson (he/him or they/them)
> Toronto, Ontario, CA