Debian, Git server, Nginx, Fcgiwrap, and git push can not create remote object directory

[David Mehler]

Hello,

I'm trying to set up a git server on Debian 12, served by Nginx via
https. I used this as a debian-specific starter though I have done
this in the past using a FreeBSD and Apache type setup:

https://esc.sh/blog/setting-up-a-git-http-server-with-nginx/

The client is a windows 10 client. All goes right until I try to push
changes to the server main branch and I get this:

git push origin main
Enumerating objects: 4, done.
Counting objects: 100% (4/4), done.
Writing objects: 100% (4/4), 276 bytes | 276.00 KiB/s, done.
Total 4 (delta 0), reused 4 (delta 0), pack-reused 0
error: remote unpack failed: unable to create temporary object directory
To https://git.domain.com/repo1.git
! [remote rejected] main -> main (unpacker error)
error: failed to push some refs to 'https://git.domain.com/repo1.git'

I've installed Nginx from the Nginx Debian repo so it's running as
user Nginx not as www-data, but permissions are set to allow user
nginx read/write to the /srv/git and subdirectories.

Googling shows issues where a incoming-xxx directory under objects
needs to be made as a sort-of-quarantine directory prior to commiting
the files, I don't see that area at all.

Specific commands used (server)
apt install git nginx fcgiwrap
mkdir -pv /srv/git
cd /srv/git
mkdir -pv repo1.git
cd repo1.git
git config --global init.defaultBranch "main"
git init . --bare --shared
git update-server-info
Enable git push so http commits to the repository can be performed.
Add the following entry to the /srv/git/repo1.git/config file
[http]
receivepack = true
git config --bool core.bare true
chown -R nginx:nginx /srv/git
chmod -R 775 /srv/git

nginx configuration file:

server {
listen 443 ssl http2;

server_name git.domain.com;

access_log /var/log/nginx/git.domain.access.log main;
error_log /var/log/nginx/git.domain.error error;

# TLS/SSL CONFIG
# RSA certificates (dual config)
ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/domain.com/domain.com.fullchain.crt;
ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/domain.com/domain.com.key;

# ECC/ECDSA certificates (dual config)
ssl_certificate /etc/ssl/domain.com/domain.com.fullchain.crt.ecc;
ssl_certificate_key /etc/ssl/domain.com/domain.com.key.ecc;
ssl_session_cache shared:domainSSL:50m;
ssl_dhparam /etc/ssl/domain.com/dhparams.pem;

# This is where the repositories live on the server
root /srv/git;

index index.php index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;

location / {
# First attempt to serve request as file, then
# as directory, then fall back to displaying a 404.
try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
}

location ~ (/.*) {
client_max_body_size 0;
auth_basic "Git Login";
auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/.gitpasswd;
fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/fcgiwrap.socket;
include fastcgi_params;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME /usr/lib/git-core/git-http-backend;
# export all repositories under GIT_PROJECT_ROOT
fastcgi_param GIT_HTTP_EXPORT_ALL "";
fastcgi_param GIT_PROJECT_ROOT /srv/git;
fastcgi_param REMOTE_USER $remote_user;
fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $1;
}

# Directives to send expires headers and turn off 404 error logging.
location ~* ^.+\.(css|js|ogg|ogv|svg|svgz|eot|otf|woff|mp4|ttf|rss|atom|jpg|jpeg|gif|png|ico|zip|tgz|gz|rar|bz2|doc|xls|exe|ppt|tar|mid|midi|wav|bmp|rtf)$
{
access_log off; log_not_found off; expires max;
}

# Pass PHP Scripts To FastCGI Server
location ~ \.php$ {
fastcgi_split_path_info ^(.+\.php)(/.+)$;
fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.2-fpm.sock; #depends on PHP versions
fastcgi_index index.php;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
include fastcgi_params;
}
}

Specific commands used (client)
mkdir my-project
cd my-project
git init
git remote add origin https://git.domain.com/repo1.git
mkdir dev
echo "This is a test file" > dev/file
git add .
git commit -a -m "Add files and directories"
git push origin main

If anyone has any suggestions I'd appreciate them.
Thanks.
Dave.

[Geert Stappers]

On Sat, Sep 09, 2023 at 04:31:38PM -0400, David Mehler wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I'm trying to set up a git server on Debian 12, served by Nginx via
> https. I used this as a debian-specific starter though I have done
> this in the past using a FreeBSD and Apache type setup:
>
> https://esc.sh/blog/setting-up-a-git-http-server-with-nginx/

Which has: Alright, that’s it. Leave a comment if it didn’t work.

> The client is a windows 10 client.
> All goes right until I try to push changes to the server main branch

The above URL has no "`git push` works" statement,
it stops after "I could do `git clone`".

> and I get this:
>
> git push origin main
> Enumerating objects: 4, done.
> Counting objects: 100% (4/4), done.
> Writing objects: 100% (4/4), 276 bytes | 276.00 KiB/s, done.
> Total 4 (delta 0), reused 4 (delta 0), pack-reused 0
> error: remote unpack failed: unable to create temporary object directory
> To https://git.domain.com/repo1.git
> ! [remote rejected] main -> main (unpacker error)
> error: failed to push some refs to 'https://git.domain.com/repo1.git'

No sign of an user name.
Not even a request for an user name.


Regards
Geert Stappers
--
Silence is hard to parse