fatal: could not read Username for 'https://github.com': No such file or directory

I have the following problem when I try to pull code using git Bash on Windows:

fatal: could not read Username for 'https://github.com': No such file or directory

I already tried to implement the accepted solution provided here:

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20871549/error-when-push-commits-with-github-fatal-could-not-read-username

...but the problem persists. After adding/removing origin I still get the same error.

Follow the steps to setup SSH keys here: https://help.github.com/articles/generating-ssh-keys

OR

git remote add origin https://{username}:{password}@github.com/{username}/project.git

Update: If you get "fatal: remote origin already exists." then you have to use set-url:

git remote set-url origin https://{username}:{password}@github.com/{username}/project.git

I faced the exact same problem. This problem occurred when I cloned a repo using HTTPS URL and then tried to push the changes (using Shell on Linux/Mac or Git Bash on Windows):

git clone https://github.com/{username}/{repo}.git

However, when I used SSH URL to clone, this problem didn't occur:

git clone git@github.com:{username}/{repo}.git

---

In case you already cloned the repo using HTTPS and don't want to redo everything, you may use set-url to change the origin URL to SSH URL:

git remote set-url origin git@github.com:{username}/{repo}.git

> Note: I have SSH key added to my GitHub account. Without setting up SSH key, this method will not work either.

I found my answer here:

edit ~/.gitconfig and add the following:

[url "[email protected]:"]
 insteadOf = https://github.com/

Although it solves a different problem, the error code is the same...

For me nothing worked from suggested above, I use the git pull command from Jenkins Shell Script and apparently it takes wrong user name. I spent ages before I found a way to fix it without switching to SSH.

In your the user's folder create .gitconfig file (if you don't have it already) and put your credentials in following format: https://user:[email protected], more info. After your .gitconfig file link to those credentials, in my case it was:

[credential]
   helper = store --file /Users/admin/.git-credentials

Now git will always use those credentials no matter what. I hope it will help someone, like it helped me.

Note that if you are getting this error instead:

fatal: could not read Username for 'https://github.com': No error

Then you need to update your Git to version 2.16 or later.

If you want to continue use https instead ssh, and avoid type into your username and password for security reason.

You can also try Github OAuth token, then you can do git config remote.origin.url 'https://{token}@github.com/{username}/{project}.git' or git remote add origin 'https://{token}@github.com/{username}/{project}.git'

This works for me!

TL;DR: check if you can read/write to /dev/tty. If no and you have used su to open the shell, check if you have used it correctly.

I was facing the same problem but on Linux and I have found the issue. I don't have my credentials stored so I always input them on prompt:

Username for 'https://github.com': foo
Password for 'https://[email protected]': 

The way how git handles http(s) connections is using /usr/lib/git-core/git-remote-https you can see strace here:

stat("/usr/lib/git-core/git-remote-https", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=1366784, ...}) = 0
pipe([9, 10])                           = 0
rt_sigprocmask(SIG_SETMASK, ~[RTMIN RT_1], [], 8) = 0
clone(child_stack=NULL, flags=CLONE_CHILD_CLEARTID|CLONE_CHILD_SETTID|SIGCHLD, child_tidptr=0x7f65398bb350) = 18177
rt_sigprocmask(SIG_SETMASK, [], NULL, 8) = 0
close(10)                               = 0
read(9, "", 8)                          = 0
close(9)                                = 0
close(5)                                = 0
close(8)                                = 0
dup(7)                                  = 5
fcntl(5, F_GETFL)                       = 0 (flags O_RDONLY)
write(6, "capabilities\n", 13)          = 13
fstat(5, {st_mode=S_IFIFO|0600, st_size=0, ...}) = 0
read(5, "fetch\noption\npush\ncheck-connecti"..., 4096) = 38
write(6, "option progress true\n", 21)  = 21
read(5, "ok\n", 4096)                   = 3
write(6, "option verbosity 1\n", 19)    = 19
read(5, "ok\n", 4096)                   = 3
stat(".git/packed-refs", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0664, st_size=675, ...}) = 0
lstat(".git/objects/10/52401742a2e9a3e8bf068b115c3818180bf19e", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0444, st_size=179, ...}) = 0
lstat(".git/objects/4e/35fa16cf8f2676600f56e9ba78cf730adc706e", {st_mode=S_IFREG|0444, st_size=178, ...}) = 0
dup(7)                                  = 8
fcntl(8, F_GETFL)                       = 0 (flags O_RDONLY)
close(8)                                = 0
write(6, "list for-push\n", 14)         = 14
read(5, fatal: could not read Username for 'https://github.com': No such device or address
"", 4096)                       = 0
--- SIGCHLD {si_signo=SIGCHLD, si_code=CLD_EXITED, si_pid=18177, si_uid=1000, si_status=128, si_utime=6, si_stime=2} ---
exit_group(128)                         = ?
+++ exited with 128 +++

So I tried to call it directly:

echo "list for-push" | strace /usr/lib/git-core/git-remote-https my

and the result:

poll([{fd=3, events=POLLIN|POLLPRI|POLLRDNORM|POLLRDBAND}], 1, 0) = 1 ([{fd=3, revents=POLLIN|POLLRDNORM}])
recvfrom(3, "\27\3\3\1\32", 5, 0, NULL, NULL) = 5
recvfrom(3, "\307|4Q\21\306\334\244o\237-\230\255\336\25\215D\257\227\274\r\330\314U\5\17\217T\274\262M\223"..., 282, 0, NULL, NULL) = 282
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/dev/tty", O_RDONLY)  = -1 ENXIO (No such device or address)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/locale.alias", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 4
fstat(4, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2995, ...}) = 0
read(4, "# Locale name alias data base.\n#"..., 4096) = 2995
read(4, "", 4096)                       = 0
close(4)                                = 0
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en_US/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_US/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/share/locale-langpack/en/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
write(2, "fatal: could not read Username f"..., 83fatal: could not read Username for 'https://github.com': No such device or address
) = 83
exit_group(128)                         = ?
+++ exited with 128 +++

And here it came to me:

openat(AT_FDCWD, "/dev/tty", O_RDONLY)  = -1 ENXIO (No such device or address)
...
write(2, "fatal: could not read Username f"..., 83fatal: could not read Username for 'https://github.com': No such device or address
) = 83

git-remote-https tries to read credentials via /dev/tty so I tested if it works:

$ echo ahoj > /dev/tty
bash: /dev/tty: No such device or address

But in another terminal:

# echo ahoj > /dev/tty
ahoj

I knew I switched to this user using su so I exited the shell to see how and found out I used command su danman - so I tested it again:

~# su danman -
bash: cannot set terminal process group (-1): Inappropriate ioctl for device
bash: no job control in this shell
/root$ echo ahoj > /dev/tty
bash: /dev/tty: No such device or address

I probably ignored the message and continued working but this was the reason. When I switched using the correct su - danman everything worked fine:

~# su - danman
danman@speedy:~$ echo ahoj > /dev/tty
ahoj

After this, git started working correctly

This error can also happen when trying to clone an invalid HTTP URL. For example, this is the error I got when trying to clone a GitHub URL that was a few characters off:

$ git clone -v http://github.com/username/repo-name.git
Cloning into 'repo-name'...
Username for 'https://github.com': 
Password for 'https://github.com': 
remote: Repository not found.
fatal: Authentication failed for 'https://github.com/username/repo-name.git/'

It actually happened inside Emacs, though, so the error in Emacs looked like this:

fatal: could not read Username for ’https://github.com’: No such device or address

So instead of a helpful error saying that there was no such repo at that URL, it gave me that, sending me on a wild goose chase until I finally realized that the URL was incorrect.

This is with git version 2.7.4.

I'm posting this here because it happened to me a month ago and again just now, sending me on the same wild goose chase again. >:(

Short Answer:

git init
git add README.md
git commit -m "first commit"


git remote add origin https://github.com/{USER_NAME}/{REPOSITORY_NAME}.git
git push --set-upstream origin master

Ignore first three lines if it's not a new repository.

Longer description:

Just had the same problem, as non of the above answers helped me, I have decided to post this solution that worked for me.

Few Notes:

• The SSH key was generated
• SSH key was added to github, still had this error.
• I've made a new repository on GitHub for this project and followed the steps described

As the command line tool I used GitShell (for Windows, I use Terminal.app on Mac).
GitShell is official GitHub tool, can be downloaded from https://windows.github.com/

Hope this helps to anyone who has the same problem.

For those getting this error in a Jenkins pipeline, it can be fixed by using an SSH Agent plugin. Then wrap your git commands in something like this:

sshagent(['my-ssh-key']) {
    git remote set-url origin git@github.com:username/reponame.git
    sh 'git push origin branch_name'
}

Replace your remote url like this:

git remote set-url origin https://<username>@github.com/<username>/<repo>.git

I fixed this by installing a newer version of Git. The version I installed is 2.10.2 from https://git-scm.com. See the last post here: https://www.bountysource.com/issues/31602800-git-fails-to-authenticate-access-to-private-repository-over-https

With newer Git Bash, the credential manager window pops up and you can enter your username and password, and it works!

In my case I had to setup personal access token under github:

1_ settings -> developer settings

2_ and enable SSO.

Maybe this can help someone stuck out there.

[SSH] executing...
fatal: could not read Username for 'https://github.com': No such device or address

[SSH] completed
[SSH] exit-status: 1

Build step 'Execute shell script on remote host using ssh' marked build as failure
Finished: FAILURE

Sol:- If the repository is private and also it belongs to another person or organisation and you are a contributor of that repository then you can run git commands from Jenkins job and it doesn't prompt you for the username and password.

https://username:token@github.com/accountname/reponame.git

This is an issue with your stored credentials in the system credential cache. You probably have the config variable 'credential.helper' set to either wincred or winstore and it is failing to clear it. If you start the Control Panel and launch the Credential Manager applet then look for items in the generic credentials section labelled "git:https://github.com";. If you delete these, then the will be recreated next time but the credential helper utility will ask you for your new credentials.

I am using GitHub actions where the jobs are configured to accomplish a task. This solution applies to all the CIs (Jenkins, Travis, Circle) where the git command execution environment changes.

job1: Checkout the repository using the github actions actions/checkout@v2 using the personal access token(PAT), The job completed successfully and repository is cloned.

job2: Fetch the tags using the command git fetch --tags. The job failed with the same error

fatal: could not read Username for 'https://github.com': No such file or directory

Reason of failure: When the job changed, the command running environment also changed, even though the repository exists but the github credentials needs to be provided to fetch the tags.

Solution: add this command before fetching the tags in the job2

git config remote.origin.url 'https://${{ your_personal_access_token }}@github.com/${{ github.repository }}'

Note: ${{ expression }} is the github actions yaml syntex to uncover the environment varibales/ to run expressions.

Tried everything here, didn't work.

However, when I tried to debug via git config --system --list, I got fatal: unable to read config file '/etc/gitconfig': No such file or directory.

So I did the following,

sudo ln -s $HOME/.gitconfig /etc/gitconfig

and voila, it works.

just check the below

Android Studio -> Preferences -> Version Control -> Git -> Use Credential Helper

Earlier when I wasn't granted permission to access the repo, I had also added the SSH pubkey to gitlab. At the point I could access the repo and run go mod vendor, the same problem as your happens. (maybe because of cache)

go mod vendor

go: errors parsing go.mod:
/Users/macos/Documents/sample/go.mod:22: git ls-remote -q https://git.aaa.team/core/some_repo.git in /Users/macos/go/pkg/mod/cache/vcs/a94d20a18fd56245f5d0f9f1601688930cad7046e55dd453b82e959b12d78369: exit status 128:
    fatal: could not read Username for 'https://git.aaa.team': terminal prompts disabled

After a while trying, I decide to remove the SSH key and terminal prompts filling in username and password. Everything is fine then!

Double check the repository URL, Github will prompt you to login if the repo doesn't exist.

I'm guessing this is probably to check if it's a private repo you have access to. Possibly to make it harder to enumerate private repos. But this is all conjecture. /shrug

I had this problem in a ssh jail (jailkit), where /dev/tty was not present. I added this device file with jk_cp and the error went away.

Step 1: from the android studio terminal execute git pull

example: test@test:~/StudioProjects/dummy-project-android$ git pull

Step 2: add the user name

example: test@test:~/StudioProjects/dummy-project-android$ "username"

Step 3: add the user password

Password for 'https://[email protected]':"password"

after that, we can perform the rest of the operation

trying the CreativeMagic solution, the credential problem is confirmed:

prompt>>>Username for 'https://github.com';

So, I changed my origin url with

git remote set-url --add origin http://github.com/user/repo

and

git push --set-upstream origin master

Try using a normal Windows shell such as CMD.

What worked for me is to change the access of the Git repository from private to public.