Unable to Git-push master to Github - 'origin' does not appear to be a git repository / permission denied

Question

This question is related to my problem in understanding rebase, branch and merge, and to the problem

How can you commit to your github account as you have a teamMate in your remote list?

I found out that other people have had the same problem. The problem seems to be related to /etc/xinet.d/.

Problem: unable to push my local branch to my master branch at Github

I run

git push origin master

I get

fatal: 'origin' does not appear to be a git repository
fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly

The error message suggests me that the branch 'origin' is not in my local git repository. This way, Git stops connecting to Github.

This is strange, since I have not removed the branch 'origin'.

My git tree is

  dev
* master
  ticgit
  remotes/Math/Math
  remotes/Math/master
  remotes/origin/master
  remotes/Masi/master

How can you push your local branch to Github, while you have a teamMate's branch in your local Git?

VonC's answer solves the main problem. I put a passphares to my ssh keys.

I run

$git push github master

I get

Permission denied (publickey).
fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly

It seems that I need to give the passphrase for Git somehow.

How can you make Github ask for your passphrase rather than relying on the ssh key?

Just updated my answer. Ssh parameters are not all. user.name and github.user are important too — VonC
Updated my answer again, with some more ssh configuration checks — VonC
"Permission denied (publickey)." actually means that you tried to login using your publickey, and permission was denied, rather than not being allowed access to your publickey. — Xiong Chiamiov
My problem was a different ssh key from a different system. I uploaded the other key and all was fine. I found it out with the ssh -v [email protected] trick. — nalply

VonC VonC · Accepted Answer · 2009-05-28T18:27:27

What does

$ git config --get-regexp '^(remote|branch)\.'

returns (executed within your git repository) ?

Origin is just a default naming convention for referring to a remote Git repository.

If it does not refer to GitHub (but rather a path to your teammate repository, path which may no longer be valid or available), just add another origin, like in this Bloggitation entry

$ git remote add origin2 [email protected]:myLogin/myProject.git
$ git push origin2 master

(I would actually use the name 'github' rather than 'origin' or 'origin2')

Permission denied (publickey).
fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly

Check if your gitHub identity is correctly declared in your local Git repository, as mentioned in the GitHub Help guide. (both user.name and github.name -- and github.token)

Then, stonean blog suggests (as does Marcio Garcia):

$ cd ~/.ssh
$ ssh-add id_rsa

Aral Balkan adds: create a config file

The solution was to create a config file under ~/.ssh/ as outlined at the bottom of the OS X section of this page.

Here's the file I added, as per the instructions on the page, and my pushes started working again:

Host github.com
User git
Port 22
Hostname github.com
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa
TCPKeepAlive yes
IdentitiesOnly yes

You can also post the result of

ssh -v [email protected]

to have more information as to why GitHub ssh connection rejects you.

Check also you did enter correctly your public key (it needs to end with '==').
Do not paste your private key, but your public one. A public key would look something like:

ssh-rsa AAAAB3<big string here>== [email protected]

(Note: did you use a passphrase for your ssh keys ? It would be easier without a passphrase)

Check also the url used when pushing ([email protected]/..., not git://github.com/...)

Check that you do have a SSH Agent to use and cache your key.

Try this:

 $ ssh -i path/to/public/key [email protected]

If that works, then it means your key is not being sent to GitHub by your ssh client.

Unable to Git-push master to Github - 'origin' does not appear to be a git repository / permission denied

9 Answers