File '_netrc' / '.netrc' is not accepted by Git

Question

I have set the %HOME% environment variable on my Windows installation.

In that folder I have put a file called _netrc. Inside that file I have:

machine code.google.com login <logon> password <censored>

But both, MSYS and Tortoise keep asking for a password.

I am using Windows 7, MSYSGit and TortoiseGit. Why does this not work?

I have found an article on Stack Overflow that said it must be named _netrc and not .netrc, but none of them work.

Idyllic

I have set the %HOME% already some time ago. So, yes there where multiple restarts. And yes, cmd echoes what is expected: h5.abload.de/img/echoy8j5.png – Idyllic

h4.abload.de/img/yesiamsure8pe1.png Yes, I am sure – Idyllic

Okay, I found the mistake. I had [email protected] in the url. That blocked git from using my .netrc. Thanks eckes. – Idyllic

I've had the same issue, but with Cygwin git this solution did not work, FYI – Elinoreeliot

You question answered my question... from it I knew that I should name the file only _netrc. Git Bash picked it right away! Thanks. – Aubigny

Answer 1

Assuming you did everything that was described in this answer and you set the right location for your %HOME% environment variable (confirm this with an echo %HOME% and check that in that location there's a _netrc file), there must something be wrong in the usage of your repository.

The URL to clone a Google Code repository is https://user.googlecode.com/svn/trunk (see this Google link for that).

So, you have to do a

git svn clone https://user.googlecode.com/svn/trunk

in order to import your Google repository.

Zavala

Answer 2

I've been bashing my brains against this one too and I have a solution different from those posted.

Ensure that your _netrc file is Ascii encoded. If using ECHO redirecting to a file on standard out, Windows uses the UCS-2 LE BOM file format. Some other apps might also have a different default from Ascii.

So, if creating this file via script, use Set-Content -Encoding Ascii rather than a STOUT redirect. If creating this file via notepad++ or vim, ensure the encoding is set to ASCII.

Isodimorphism

this one saved me my work, I had a script to generate _netrc content, and works fine on a machine, then when tried on a different machine, nothing works, I did everything. until I found your comment, and then finally all hope restored. BTW it wasnt that clear how to use the command to be honest. – Soteriology

that's a very important clue, thank you. I had the files at the right location and with the right content but it didn't work. Switching to ASCII made it work. – Clichy