Correct Git clone syntax for SSH

Question

I'm trying to access a remote git repository using SSH but I'm getting a fatal error - is there a problem with my syntax?

I've created a git repo in the mysite folder on my server - so the repo is at /home/mysite/.git

git clone ssh://root@serverIP/mysite/.git
fatal: could not create work tree dir 'mysite'.: Permission denied

Can anyone see what is wrong with my syntax or is there another issue here?

Answer 1

Try to use full path for target directory. For exampple:

git clone ssh://root@serverIP/mysite/.git /home/user_name/mysite

Answer 2

You must give ssh the whole path to your repo and the.git part is unnecessary, git can figure that one out by itself:

git clone ssh://root@serverIP/home/mysite 

Edited: When using the URL type ssh:// syntax, the colon I used earlier is not valid. There is another syntax (ssh style), which needs it:

 git clone root@serverIP:/home/mysite 

I usually prefer the second form.

Answer 3

A valid ssh URL should look like ssh://{user}@host.xz/path/to/repo.git, so you should be ok (if (mysite/.git is a valid path).

The issue should be on the local side: do you have write access to your current directory?

---

Once you have write access, you still have two messages:

• stdin: is not a tty: that means something in your .bashrc or in the global .bashrc is waiting for an input: see ee for example:

There is a line (mesg y) inside the global bashrc file that will cause repeated messages when interacting with GIT (stdin: is not a tty)

That would not prevent a clone.

• warning: You appear to have cloned an empty repository: that warning is independent from the previous message, and should be accurate if the repo you are cloning is, indeed, an empty one.