Github repository not cloning using gh cli

[DevashishPrasad]

I want to clone my public repository from Github to my local system using gh official cli.

I copied the following command from the repo (green code button) button and also followed the official documentation -

sudo gh repo clone <username>/<repo-name>

But the repository does not clone, but instead, the command returns the following output on the terminal.

Welcome to GitHub CLI!

To authenticate, please run `gh auth login`.

I also executed gh auth login and logged in. But still, the command returns the same output.

I can clone the same repository using following command

git clone "url"

I am using Ubuntu 18.04. How can I clone the repository using gh.

[mislav]

Hi, you should not use sudo before any gh command. Just do this:

gh repo clone <username>/<repo-name>

As far as I am aware, none of our official documentation ever says to use sudo.

Explanation: sudo executes the command as the root user. Depending on your system, it's not guaranteed that the root user is authenticated with gh even if your regular user is authenticated. None of the gh commands should ever be run with sudo, so please take caution not to prepend sudo before commands except for those where it's absolutely necessary.

[DevashishPrasad]

Thank you for the response @mislav

I ran the command without sudo but now I get following error -

fatal: could not create work tree dir 'my-repo-name': Permission denied
exit status 128

EDIT : Reply from @cristiand391 solved the issue.

[mislav]

Thanks for getting back to us. It seems that gh is now working, but that you have permission error writing new files/directories in the current location where are.

I'm sorry, but I can't teach you how to use your computer. The first thing you should try is to cd into a directory where you have write access, for example cd $HOME. Best of luck!

[cristiand391]

Are you using the snap package? See #3300

[DevashishPrasad]

@cristiand391 Thank you!! Yes, I had installed it using snap. I uninstalled the snap version and installed gh using official documentation and now it works!!

[mislav]

Ah, yikes! Thanks for catching that @cristiand391, and sorry @DevashishPrasad for my incorrect assumption.

Nobody should be installing gh as a snap, or as any containerized package for that matter #3698 (reply in thread)