[Legacy GOPATH mode] How to `go get` private repos using SSH key auth instead of password auth.

gistfile1.md

WARNING: This gist was created in 2013 and targets the legacy GOPATH mode. If you're reading this in 2021 or later, you're likely better served by reading https://tip.golang.org/cmd/go/#hdr-Configuration_for_downloading_non_public_code and https://golang.org/ref/mod#private-modules.

$ ssh -A vm
$ git config --global url."git@github.com:".insteadOf "https://github.com/"
$ cat ~/.gitconfig
[url "git@github.com:"]
	insteadOf = https://github.com/
$ go get github.com/private/repo && echo Success!
Success!

Sources:

• https://docs.github.com/en/developers/overview/using-ssh-agent-forwarding
• https://golang.org/doc/faq#git_https
• https://git-scm.com/docs/git-config#Documentation/git-config.txt-urlltbasegtinsteadOf

This will cause problems with go get -u github.com/private/repo later on though

@mkrull, you are right. That's a change introduced with Go 1.4 (which is after I came up with this solution).

@anphung, an alternative workaround would be to use go get -u -f github.com/private/repo:

The -f flag, valid only when -u is set, forces get -u not to verify that each package has been checked out from the source control repository implied by its import path. This can be useful if the source is a local fork of the original.

I wrote a script called gogetprivate, which first tries go get, and then falls back to git clone. My version on works with bitbucket right now (since that's where my private repos are) but I imagine it could be made to work with github as well.

https://github.com/drichardson/gogetprivate

An alternative to using git@github.com is to generate a personal access token on your GitHub account, grant it repo access, and then use the following instead:

git config --global url."https://${GITHUB_TOKEN}:x-oauth-basic@github.com/".insteadOf "https://github.com/"

That should still work with go get -u, and also works with Docker builds (my particular use case, and how I came across your gist).

Thanks @bobziuchkovski that seems like a good alternative 👍

This doesn't currently work on go 1.5.1. none of the config --global options work.

Worked just fine for me on go 1.7. Thank you @bobziuchkovski!

Credentials may be stored in the ~/.git-credentials file.

git config --global credential.helper store
echo "https://${GITHUB_TOKEN}:x-oauth-basic@github.com" >> ~/.git-credentials

git:// protocol is less secure

git config --global url."https://github.com".insteadOf git://github.com

I got a Raspberry Pi that I wanted to go get some private repos with; after trying a few different solutions it was the one suggested by @bobziuchkovski that did the trick -- thank you! (FWIW, using Git 2.11 and Golang 1.7.5 linux/arm)

Thanks @bobziuchkovski , Your solution helped !

Thanks too @bobziuchkovski

I think @AlexanderPavlenko's solution is much better. Thanks!

Added to https://gist.github.com/rubencaro/5ce32fb30bbfa70e7db6be14cf42a35c

@AlexanderPavlenko

git:// protocol is less secure

Sorry, what? Where did you read that?

@AndrewSav From Pro Git:

[The Git protocol] listens on a dedicated port (9418) that provides a service similar to the SSH protocol, but with absolutely no authentication.
[...]
The downside of the Git protocol is the lack of authentication. It’s generally undesirable for the Git protocol to be the only access to your project. Generally, you’ll pair it with SSH or HTTPS access for the few developers who have push (write) access and have everyone else use git:// for read-only access.

This is why git+ssh:// and git+https:// exist.

More on this issue is here on SO - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32232655/go-get-results-in-terminal-prompts-disabled-error-for-github-private-repo.

I want to use only the ssh protocol
The server supports only ssh and http protocols, not git protocols

#git ls-remote ssh://git@git.a.com/INA_financial/common_libs.git

2ca7f8d2d53331655bb18cd91906772cb5c4dcc0        HEAD
2ca7f8d2d53331655bb18cd91906772cb5c4dcc0        refs/heads/master
436b69c6abbc6f923232877616dfb7d46eb9d22b        refs/tags/v0.1.0
bc8a543429123241493923ea9ee0214d7294c362        refs/tags/v0.1.0^{}
f1b5d04d313e9e8336a135a1e13cde3b2a5d26ec        refs/tags/v0.2.0
22b4290b0c924378a38ce04bc2b7cad21ba297c3        refs/tags/v0.2.0^{}

---

cat ~/.gitconfig

[user]
        email = jack@a.com
[url "ssh://git@git.a.com:"]
        insteadOf = https://git.a.com

#env GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT=1 go get -v git.a.com/INA_financial/common_libs.git

verifying git.a.com/INA_financial/common_libs.git@v0.2.0: git.a.com/INA_financial/common_libs.git@v0.2.0: reading https://sum.golang.org/lookup/git.a.com/!i!n!a_financial/common_libs.git@v0.2.0: 410 Gone

=========================================================================================

cat ~/.gitconfig

[user]
        email = jack@a.com
[url "ssh://git@git.a.com:"]
        insteadOf = http://git.a.com   //change from https to http

#go get -v -insecure git.a.com/INA_financial/common_libs.git

# cd .; git ls-remote git://git.a.com/INA_financial/common_libs
fatal: unable to connect to git.a.com:
git.a.com[0: 54.255.254.175]: errno=Connection refused

get "git.a.com/INA_financial": found meta tag get.metaImport{Prefix:"git.a.com/INA_financial", VCS:"git", RepoRoot:"http://git.a.com/INA_financial.git"} at //git.a.com/INA_financial?go-get=1
# cd .; git ls-remote https://git.a.com/INA_financial/common_libs
fatal: unable to access 'https://git.a.com/INA_financial/common_libs/': Failed to connect to git.a.com port 443: Connection refused
get "git.a.com": found meta tag get.metaImport{Prefix:"git.a.com", VCS:"git", RepoRoot:"http://git.a.com.git"} at //git.a.com/?go-get=1
go get git.a.com/INA_financial/common_libs.git: git ls-remote -q http://git.a.com/INA_financial.git in /Users/jack/go/pkg/mod/cache/vcs/8dbf799342ee3e0c5c7ad8a0b4d6b190efeb7355c25556ab50721c2f4014c1e2: exit status 128:
        GitLab: The project you were looking for could not be found.
        fatal: Could not read from remote repository.
        
        Please make sure you have the correct access rights
        and the repository exists.

I have the same issue as @hookover

The @bobziuchkovski's comment wasn't help me.

But i'm tried to execute next commands:

git config --global url."https://<username>:<access_token>@private-git.com/".insteadOf "https://private-git.com/"

go get private-git.com/owner/repo

As a note to everybody here. When adding the overwrite to .gitconfig like so:

[url "ssh://git@example.com/"]
	insteadOf = "https://example.com/"

you will also need your env var:

export GOPRIVATE="example.com"

This should actually be part of the official docs.

hrm, what about sub-projects on gitlab?

$ go get gitlab.com/SomeOrg/sub-project/project
# cd .; git clone -- https://gitlab.com/SomeOrg/sub-project.git /home/bhundven/go/src/gitlab.com/SomeOrg/sub-project
Cloning into '/home/bhundven/go/src/gitlab.com/SomeOrg/sub-project'...
Warning: Permanently added 'gitlab.com,172.65.251.78' (ECDSA) to the list of known hosts.
remote: 
remote: ========================================================================
remote: 
remote: The project you were looking for could not be found.
remote: 
remote: ========================================================================
remote: 
fatal: Could not read from remote repository.

Please make sure you have the correct access rights
and the repository exists.
package gitlab.com/SomeOrg/sub-project/project: exit status 128

Tried:

[url "git@gitlab.com:SomeOrg"]
        insteadOf = https://gitlab.com/SomeOrg

Maybe not an issue for here, but for here: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-foss/-/issues/30785

For those who will meet with the same problem: git config --global url."git@github.com:".insteadOf "https://github.com/" works but the local version (git config --local url."git@github.com:".insteadOf "https://github.com/") - doesn't. Likely a git bug.

@XVilka Did you try add local config to $GOPATH/src/github.com/private/repo (by cd into it first)? In fact the local config of that repo is loaded, instead of the repo that you are working on now.

This is a very old gist and may not be applicable by now. I added a warning to the top:

WARNING: This gist was created in 2013 and targets the legacy GOPATH mode. If you're reading this in 2021 or later, you're likely better served by reading https://tip.golang.org/cmd/go/#hdr-Configuration_for_downloading_non_public_code and https://golang.org/ref/mod#private-modules.

For those who will meet with the same problem: git config --global url."git@github.com:".insteadOf "https://github.com/" works but the local version (git config --local url."git@github.com:".insteadOf "https://github.com/") - doesn't. Likely a git bug.

I encountered the same issue, even if I tried to setup environment variable GIT_CONFIG to point to my local git config file, it is ignored... Do you have a solution that avoids using global ~/.gitconfig file now?