git-clone: Unobvious error messages when update-server-info has not been run

Hi,

I was just trying to clone a repository using http but missed to run
git-update-server-info on the server side. git-clone aborted with the
following error messages:

  % git clone http://some/repo.git
  Initialized empty Git repository in /path/repo/.git/
  cat: /path/repo/.git/refs/remotes/origin/master: No such file or directory
  cd: 482: can't cd to /path/repo/.git/refs/remotes/origin
  fatal: : not a valid SHA1
  fatal: Not a valid object name HEAD

It's kind of hard to guess where the error comes from in this case (I blamed
Git at first). Is there some way to improve the error message in a case like
this?

TIA,
Sebastian

-- 
Sebastian "tokkee" Harl +++ GnuPG-ID: 0x8501C7FC +++ http://tokkee.org/

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary
Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.         -- Benjamin Franklin

On Mon, Dec 17, 2007 at 11:55:41AM +0100, Sebastian Harl wrote:

I was just trying to clone a repository using http but missed to run
git-update-server-info on the server side. git-clone aborted with the
following error messages:

  % git clone http://some/repo.git
  Initialized empty Git repository in /path/repo/.git/
  cat: /path/repo/.git/refs/remotes/origin/master: No such file or directory
  cd: 482: can't cd to /path/repo/.git/refs/remotes/origin
  fatal: : not a valid SHA1
  fatal: Not a valid object name HEAD

It's kind of hard to guess where the error comes from in this case (I blamed
Git at first). Is there some way to improve the error message in a case like
this?

git-clone is supposed to detect this condition, but there was a bug in
the error checking code. Can you confirm that this patch fixes it?

Gerrit, I think was caused by your f28dd477 (it is a funny shell
interaction that the non-followed case branch resets $?, but it behaves
the same with bash and dash).

-- >8 --
clone: correctly report http_fetch errors

The exit status from curl was accidentally lost by the
'case' statement. We need to explicitly save it so that $?
doesn't get overwritten.

This improves the error message when fetching from an http
repository which has never had update-server-info run.
Previously, it would fail to note the fetch error and
produce multiple errors about the lack of origin branches.
It now correctly suggests running git-update-server-info.

Signed-off-by: Jeff King <redacted>
---
 git-clone.sh |   11 ++++++-----
 1 files changed, 6 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/git-clone.sh b/git-clone.sh
index 68085a3..9a160ee 100755
--- a/git-clone.sh
+++ b/git-clone.sh

@@ -56,11 +56,12 @@ fi
 
 http_fetch () {
 	# $1 = Remote, $2 = Local
-	curl -nsfL $curl_extra_args "$1" >"$2" ||
-		case $? in
-		126|127) exit ;;
-		*)	 return $? ;;
-		esac
+	curl -nsfL $curl_extra_args "$1" >"$2"
+	curl_exit_status=$?
+	case $curl_exit_status in
+	126|127) exit ;;
+	*)	 return $curl_exit_status ;;
+	esac
 }
 
 clone_dumb_http () {

-- 
1.5.4.rc0.1145.gef733-dirty

Hi Jeff,

On Mon, Dec 17, 2007 at 07:43:59AM -0500, Jeff King wrote:

On Mon, Dec 17, 2007 at 11:55:41AM +0100, Sebastian Harl wrote:

quoted

I was just trying to clone a repository using http but missed to run
git-update-server-info on the server side. git-clone aborted with the
following error messages:

  % git clone http://some/repo.git
  Initialized empty Git repository in /path/repo/.git/
  cat: /path/repo/.git/refs/remotes/origin/master: No such file or directory
  cd: 482: can't cd to /path/repo/.git/refs/remotes/origin
  fatal: : not a valid SHA1
  fatal: Not a valid object name HEAD

It's kind of hard to guess where the error comes from in this case (I blamed
Git at first). Is there some way to improve the error message in a case like
this?

git-clone is supposed to detect this condition, but there was a bug in
the error checking code. Can you confirm that this patch fixes it?

Yes, this patch seems to fix it. Thanks.

Cheers,
Sebastian

-- 
Sebastian "tokkee" Harl +++ GnuPG-ID: 0x8501C7FC +++ http://tokkee.org/

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary
Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.         -- Benjamin Franklin

On Mon, Dec 17, 2007 at 07:43:59AM -0500, Jeff King wrote:

git-clone is supposed to detect this condition, but there was a bug in
the error checking code. Can you confirm that this patch fixes it?

Gerrit, I think was caused by your f28dd477 (it is a funny shell
interaction that the non-followed case branch resets $?, but it behaves
the same with bash and dash).

Yes, I didn't expect that, but can confirm the problem and the fix.

Thanks, Gerrit.