Cloning Submodule Fails from Mirror
Platform Notice: Data Center Only - This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Data Center platform.
Note that this KB was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center KBs for non-Data-Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.
*Except Fisheye and Crucible
Problem
Cloning a repository from a mirror that contains submodules results in one of the following errors:
Command: git clone --recurse-submodules <Mirror URL>/git/Repository.git
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fatal: clone of '<Upstream URL for Submodule>' into submodule path '<.../Repository/submodule>' failed
Failed to clone '<submodule name>'. Retry scheduled
Cloning into '<LocalPath.../Repository/submodule>'...
fatal: unable to access '<Upstream URL>': Could not resolve host: <HOST-NAME>
fatal: clone of '<Upstream URL for Submodule>' into submodule path '<.../Repository/submodule>' failed
Failed to clone '<submoodule name>' a second time, abortingOR
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Submodule '<submodule name>' (<Upstream URL for Submodule>) registered for path '<submodule name>'
Cloning into ''<LocalPath.../Repository/submodule>'...
fatal: early EOF
fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly
fatal: index-pack failed
error: RPC failed; curl 18 transfer closed with outstanding read data remaining
fatal: clone of '<Upstream URL for Submodule>' into submodule path '<LocalPath.../Repository/submodule>' failed
Failed to clone '<submodule name>'. Retry scheduled
...Cause
This can happen when users who clone from the mirror don't have access to the upstream primary server.
When creating a Submodule, Git creates a .gitmodules file. By default, the configuration uses the upstream/primary server URL.
Example of default .gitmodulesfile with fully qualified URL:
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user@host:~/bitDC-Repos/superproject$ cat .gitmodules
[submodule "mod1"]
path = mod1
url = https://user@bitbucket-dc/scm/git/mod1.git
[submodule "mod2"]
path = mod2
url = https://user@bitbucket-dc/scm/git/mod2.gitIf the user cloning from the mirror has no access to the upstream primary server, the above URLs can not be used.
Resolution
Change Submodule URL from fully qualified URL/absolute to a relative path.
In order for this to work correctly for both HTTPS and SSH you need to meet the following criteria :
All Repositories involved (SuperProject/Parent Repo and Submodule Repos) need to be on the server you are cloning from. This is true whether it is from a mirror or the upstream primary server.
If cloning via SSH, you need to add SSH keys to all repositories involved.
You don't need to clone the submodules locally as separate repositories.
Once all the repositories are on the server (Upstream and Mirror) and the correct access has been provided, you can
Change URLs to Relative Paths
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[submodule "mod1"]
path = mod1
url = ../mod1.git
[submodule "mod2"]
path = mod2
url = ../mod2.git The following command:git clone --recurse-submodules <Mirror URL>/git/Repository.git will now work.
For more information in regards to Git Submodules please refer to:
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