Cannot Clone Private Repos with Github Desktop #77767

ForkedInTime · 2023-12-03T11:59:12Z

ForkedInTime
Dec 3, 2023

I am using Github Desktop for the first time to clone a private repository that I forked from a bootcamp. I am able to clone the repository ok via CLI using 'gh clone thisrepository' bit, but I want to use Github Desktop. I am not able to clone the private repository as a window always pops with "Authentication Failed/Username/password required."

At the bottom of this pop up window it states: "Depending on your repository's hosting service, you might need to use a Personal Access Token (PAT) as your password. Learn more ... "

I created a basic PAT in Github but I do not think it is necessary because the repository is IN github. In any event, I tried different combinations to clone this private repository:

Username/pass to login to Github.com = ForkedInTime/pass
Username + PAT = ForkedInTime/Token
Username email + PAT = myprimaryemail/Token
Regenerated a new SSH key just in case and added it to the agent.

I am using Ubuntu 22.04. In summary, I cannot seem to clone these private repos that are FORKED on my github account but I can clone them ok via CLI. Please advise.

steveward · 2023-12-04T16:33:56Z

steveward
Dec 4, 2023

@ForkedInTime thanks for the question. Have you tried logging in directly in GitHub Desktop from the preferences menu? Control+, should bring you to that menu, and you can then authenticate via the Accounts tab.

If you continue to have issues I would recommend taking a look at the issue tracker for the Linux fork of GitHub Desktop:

https://github.com/shiftkey/desktop/issues

We don't provide official support for the Linux support, but you can view the existing issues there or open a new one if you continue to have problems.

1 reply

ForkedInTime Dec 5, 2023
Author

@steveward Thank you for the reply. I am authenticated at all times when performing any github operations on my repository. To solve this issue I had to duplicate it with a different name. Downside: I will never be able to update the forked repo because it's not synced to the real organization private repo. Three things happened:

The private repo name changed
The private repository is only mine and not a fork of the organization who created it (I no longer see a little lock up top when you hover your mouse over the original repo).
I can clone this private duplicate repo ok with Github desktop & CLI

Looking at the logs it tells me that this private repo does not exist (it does). This is the cause but there is not enough verbosity to determine why Github desktop states that the repo does not exist.

stderr:
Cloning into '/home/yetipaw/Documents/GitHub/forkedprivaterepo'...
remote: Repository not found.
fatal: repository 'https://github.com/ForkedInTime/forkedprivaterepo.git/' not found

I opened a tracker for this.

ForkedInTime · 2023-12-05T04:08:56Z

ForkedInTime Dec 5, 2023
Author

@dakshitha Thank you for your reply. Cloning this forked private repo via CLI works fine so authentication is probably not the issue. I can git pull, commit, etc using CLI ok. But cloning with Github Desktop is a different story. I believe it is an API problem per the Github Desktop logs:

2023-12-05T03:22:42.415Z - info: [ui] [AppStore] loading 2 repositories from store 2023-12-05T03:22:42.421Z - info: [ui] [AppStore] found account: ForkedInTime (Who dunnit) 2023-12-05T03:22:42.468Z - info: [ui] [BranchPruner] Last prune took place 9 hours ago - skipping 2023-12-05T03:22:42.689Z - info: [ui] launching: 3.3.5-linux2 (Linux 6.5.6-76060506-generic) 2023-12-05T03:22:42.699Z - info: [ui] execPath: '/usr/lib/github-desktop/github-desktop' 2023-12-05T03:22:42.808Z - info: [ui] Subscribed 'ForkedInTime' to Alive channel 2023-12-05T03:23:10.583Z - warn: [ui] deserialize: invalid JSON found at 'https://api.github.com/repos/ForkedInTime/parpoto' - status: 500, length: '0' id: 'C89C:68A2:EDEADB:1EBEC75:656E9790' SyntaxError: Unexpected end of JSON input 2023-12-05T03:23:11.211Z - error: [ui] Failed to look up repository clone info for 'https://github.com/ForkedInTime/parpoto.git' Error: API error https://api.github.com/repos/ForkedInTime/parpoto: (500) at un (/home/yetipaw/webpack:/app/src/lib/http.ts:175:13) at Qn.fetchRepositoryCloneInfo (/home/yetipaw/webpack:/app/src/lib/api.ts:984:11) at Object.clone [as onSubmit] (/home/yetipaw/webpack:/app/src/ui/clone-repository/clone-repository.tsx:727:11) 2023-12-05T03:23:11.212Z - info: [ui] [AppStore.getAccountForRemoteURL] account found for remote: https://github.com/ForkedInTime/parpoto.git - ForkedInTime (has token) 2023-12-05T03:23:11.643Z - error: [ui] git -c credential.helper= -c init.defaultBranch=main clone --recursive --progress -- https://github.com/ForkedInTime/parpoto.git /home/yetipaw/Documents/GitHub/parpoto` exited with an unexpected code: 128.
stderr:
Cloning into '/home/yetipaw/Documents/GitHub/parpoto'...
remote: Repository not found.
fatal: repository 'https://github.com/ForkedInTime/parpoto.git/' not found

(The error was parsed as 8: The repository does not seem to exist anymore. You may not have access, or it may have been deleted or renamed.)
2023-12-05T03:23:28.493Z - info: [ui] storing generic credentials for 'github.com' and 'ForkedInTime'
2023-12-05T03:23:28.523Z - info: [ui] [AppStore.getAccountForRemoteURL] account found for remote: https://github.com/ForkedInTime/parpoto.git - ForkedInTime (has token)
2023-12-05T03:23:28.919Z - error: [ui] git -c credential.helper= -c init.defaultBranch=main clone --recursive --progress -- https://github.com/ForkedInTime/parpoto.git /home/yetipaw/Documents/GitHub/parpoto exited with an unexpected code: 128.
stderr:
Cloning into '/home/yetipaw/Documents/GitHub/parpoto'...
remote: Repository not found.
fatal: repository 'https://github.com/ForkedInTime/parpoto.git/' not found

(The error was parsed as 8: The repository does not seem to exist anymore. You may not have access, or it may have been deleted or renamed.)
2023-12-05T03:23:43.058Z - info: [ui] storing generic credentials for 'github.com' and 'hugeyeti@protonmail.com'
2023-12-05T03:23:43.083Z - info: [ui] [AppStore.getAccountForRemoteURL] account found for remote: https://github.com/ForkedInTime/parpoto.git - ForkedInTime (has token)
2023-12-05T03:23:43.513Z - error: [ui] git -c credential.helper= -c init.defaultBranch=main clone --recursive --progress -- https://github.com/ForkedInTime/parpoto.git /home/yetipaw/Documents/GitHub/parpoto exited with an unexpected code: 128.
stderr:
Cloning into '/home/yetipaw/Documents/GitHub/parpoto'...
remote: Repository not found.
fatal: repository 'https://github.com/ForkedInTime/parpoto.git/' not found

(The error was parsed as 8: The repository does not seem to exist anymore. You may not have access, or it may have been deleted or renamed.)
2023-12-05T03:23:50.595Z - info: [ui] [BranchPruner] Last prune took place 9 hours ago - skipping
2023-12-05T03:23:53.035Z - info: [ui] [RepositoryIndicatorUpdater]: Refreshing sidebar indicators for 1 repositories took 0.3s of which 0.0s paused, total 0.3s
2023-12-05T03:56:47.774Z - info: [ui] [RepositoryIndicatorUpdater]: Refreshing sidebar indicators for 1 repositories took 0.7s of which 0.0s paused, total 0.7s
2023-12-05T03:57:04.651Z - warn: [ui] deserialize: invalid JSON found at 'https://api.github.com/repos/ForkedInTime/parpoto' - status: 500, length: '0' id: '8372:6A67:E889EC:1E1C086:656E9F7F'
SyntaxError: Unexpected end of JSON input
at ln (/home/yetipaw/webpack:/app/src/lib/http.ts:65:33)
at un (/home/yetipaw/webpack:/app/src/lib/http.ts:173:24)
at Qn.fetchRepositoryCloneInfo (/home/yetipaw/webpack:/app/src/lib/api.ts:984:24)
at Object.clone [as onSubmit] (/home/yetip
`
Not sure about this so I created an issue for it. And yes.. the private forked repo exists. :-)

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Cannot Clone Private Repos with Github Desktop #77767

ForkedInTime Dec 3, 2023

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