svnX and svn+ssh:// at sourceforge

[bjskelly]

Hi,

Our project at sourceforge.net has been converted over to their new system, Allura.  I'm having trouble checking code in and out with svnX.  I'm using:

svnX V1.3.3

svn   V1.6.18

Mac OS X 10.7.4

Using command line svn, I'm able to check out and commit code.  It apparently doesn't cache my password, as I get asked for it each time.  Here is the command line they gave us:

svn checkout --username=xxxxxxxx svn+ssh://xxxx...@svn.code.sf.net/p/yyyyyy/code-0/trunk yyyyyy-code-0

Using svnX I get error messages such as:

svn error

svn: To better debug SSH connection problems, remove the -q option from 'ssh' in the [tunnels] section of your Subversion configuration file.

svn: Network connection closed unexpectedly

The -q options wasn't set in my [tunnels] section so I tried setting it and unsetting it.  I also tried all the suggestions on this page http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5090439/working-in-svnx-with-svnssh, to no avail.

Does anyone have any suggestions which might make this work?

Thanks,

Bruce 

[chris]

Hello Bruce,

On Aug 17, 12:22 am, bjskelly <bruce.ske...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Using command line svn, I'm able to check out and commit code.  It
> apparently doesn't cache my password, as I get asked for it each time.
>  Here is the command line they gave us:
> svn checkout --username=xxxxxxxx

> svn+ssh://xxxxx...@svn.code.sf.net/p/yyyyyy/code-0/trunk yyyyyy-code-0

Assuming that you actually also used a `--password=…` option it’s
quite possible that it’s not subversion asking for your password but
the SSH session.
This can be very confusing especially if your login username/password
is the same as your subversion username/password.

> Using svnX I get error messages such as:
> svn error
> svn: To better debug SSH connection problems, remove the -q option from
> 'ssh' in the [tunnels] section of your Subversion configuration file.
> svn: Network connection closed unexpectedly

SvnX does not support interactive password requests (it passes the `--
non-interactive` option to svn).
This can cause Subversion to generate somewhat unexpected/unhelpful
error messages.

> Does anyone have any suggestions which might make this work?

Have you tried setting up an SSH key?
See <http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/sourceforge/wiki/SSH%20keys>

Have you tried using SSHKeychain?
See <sshkeychain.sourceforge.net>

Also you may want to read this <http://code.google.com/p/svnx/issues/
detail?id=96>
and also <http://code.google.com/p/svnx/issues/detail?id=146> if you
see ‘cannot set LC_CTYPE’ like errors.

I hope this helps.

Chris

[bjskelly]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the reply.  I was not using -password option when I was successful in the command line SVN update to the repository.  The password I'm giving it is the userid/password I normally use for source forge.  I don't think that this is an SSH key as at the time I succeeded, I had generated no passwords using ssh-keygen.

It was my understanding, that using ssh-agent and ssh-add was for the us of ssh private/public id files created by ssh-keygen.  Since I was successful on the command line with out using ssh-keygen, then I don't think that this applies.

Having said that, I'll now go off and read the references you pointed out to  me.

Thanks,

Bruce

P.S.  Allura is the new interface for SourceForge.net, and I guess we are part of the beta.  I guess eventually all projects will be converted over to Allura.  The don't want us to use https because it has been causing corruption in the repositories.  Plain svn: works for checkouts, but you then can't commit the code.  

[chris]

Bruce,

On Aug 21, 11:08 pm, bjskelly <bruce.ske...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks for the reply.  I was not using -password option when I was
> successful in the command line SVN update to the repository.  The password
> I'm giving it is the userid/password I normally use for source forge.  I
> don't think that this is an SSH key as at the time I succeeded, I had
> generated no passwords using ssh-keygen.

But if you use the svn `--password=…` option then it is unlikely that
svn will ask for your password.
Thus, if you are then asked for a password it is most likely that SSH
is asking for it.
SSH "is a program for logging into a remote machine" - which requires
a user-name & password for the remote machine.
You are getting confused between passwords & SSH keys.

> It was my understanding, that using ssh-agent and ssh-add was for the us of
> ssh private/public id files created by ssh-keygen.  Since I was successful
> on the command line with out using ssh-keygen, then I don't think that this
> applies.

SSH keys obviate the need for password (prompts).
I know you are not using an SSH key at the moment.
You need to use one if you want to use svnX.
SvnX may run many Subversion commands on many working copies &
repositories.
It would not be good if it kept prompting users for passwords.

> P.S.  Allura is the new interface for SourceForge.net, and I guess we are
> part of the beta.  I guess eventually all projects will be converted over
> to Allura.  The don't want us to use https because it has been causing
> corruption in the repositories.  Plain svn: works for checkouts, but you
> then can't commit the code.

My understanding is that the problem with HTTPS is an Allura problem
that they intend to fix.
I’m not sure where they are up to in this process or if they have
already fixed it.
[The information appears difficult to find - which is slightly
ironic.]

Chris

[bjskelly]

Chris,

Thanks for the help.  I've got it working.  You were right, in that all I really needed to do was to setup the ssh private and public keys.

I don't think I would have gotten that done if you hadn't given me the pointer to the article on SourceForge.

Also, I ended up just using ssh-agent and ssh-add because I couldn't get SSHKeychain to work.  I'll just add the necessary commands to my .profile.  I noticed that SSHKeychain appears to be issuing the command ssh-agent -c, while my default shell is ksh. 

Thanks,

[Bruce Skelly]

Chris,

One more note.  

When I went to a second machine to set it up, it failed again.  The first time you connect to a repository using svn+ssh://, you should probably do it from the command line so that you can accept the fingerprint of the remote machine.  Since I didn't do that on the second machine, it wouldn't work.  Trying to trouble shoot what was going wrong, I issued the svn command from the command line and accepted the remote machine into my known hosts.  

Every thing then worked.

Bruce

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