Unhappy git in a jailshell?

Unhappy git in a jailshell?

[Alex MDC]

Hello,

I'm trying to use git on a linux server, but unfortunately I've only
been granted jailshelled access. Most of git works, but some commands
just fail to run, e.g.
git repack
git rebase
git index-pack

All these commands fail with the error "git: git-xxx is not a
git-command. See git --help". However most other every-day commands
work just fine (add, status, commit...)

I've been in contact with the server admins and they kindly upgraded
git to the latest 1.6.5.2 release but that didn't help. I enquired
about the contents of `git --exec-path` (as I don't have access from
the jailshell) and they said that all the "missing" commands are
present in that directory.

I also tried "git --help -all" but that doesn't show any commands in
the output! In a way I'm wondering how it is working at all...

So I guess my question is, why are some commands working but not
others? If all commands are treated uniformly by using the command
binary from the libexec dir it would seem as though all commands
should work or all should be "missing".

Also, are they any ideas on how to get the missing commands to work?

Thanks for your help,
Alex MDC

Re: Unhappy git in a jailshell?

[Dmitry Potapov]

On Mon, Nov 02, 2009 at 11:16:43PM +1100, Alex MDC wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I'm trying to use git on a linux server, but unfortunately I've only
> been granted jailshelled access. Most of git works, but some commands
> just fail to run, e.g.
> git repack
> git rebase
> git index-pack

Most Git commands are builtin, so they are executed by git.exe directly,
but some commands are implemented as separate binaries or shell files.
These commands require `git --exec-path` in PATH to run. Normally, git
adds `git --exec-path` in its environment before running them.

Apparently, jailshelled access prevents that somehow. So, I suggest you
contact your system administrator and tell him that you need to be able
to run files from `git --exec-path` to being able to use git, as git
needs them internally for normal work.


Dmitry

Re: Unhappy git in a jailshell?

[Michael J Gruber]

Dmitry Potapov venit, vidit, dixit 02.11.2009 13:47:
> On Mon, Nov 02, 2009 at 11:16:43PM +1100, Alex MDC wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I'm trying to use git on a linux server, but unfortunately I've only
>> been granted jailshelled access. Most of git works, but some commands
>> just fail to run, e.g.
>> git repack
>> git rebase
>> git index-pack
> 
> Most Git commands are builtin, so they are executed by git.exe directly,
> but some commands are implemented as separate binaries or shell files.
> These commands require `git --exec-path` in PATH to run. Normally, git
> adds `git --exec-path` in its environment before running them.
> 
> Apparently, jailshelled access prevents that somehow. So, I suggest you
> contact your system administrator and tell him that you need to be able
> to run files from `git --exec-path` to being able to use git, as git
> needs them internally for normal work.
> 

Can you (Alex) find out whether you are allowed to run those binaries
from that path directly? In that case we could rethink our strategy and
adjust for the case where we can't set the environment.

Michael

Re: Unhappy git in a jailshell?

[Alex MDC]

Hi guys,

I requested the admins allow access to the `git --exec-path` directory
from the jailshell and incredibly, they granted it! Now everything is
working and "git --help --all" lists all the commands as expected, so
that was indeed the problem.

It was just a bit deceiving at first that some git commands were
working but others weren't, but Dmitry explained that one.

Thanks for your help,
Alex