Launching Binder from jupyterbook via gitlab repo causes error, URL not read correctly

[merrygin]

Describe the bug

context
I am trying to start binder from a jupyterbook, having provided the url in the config.yml, but binder doesn’t recognize the repo this way - it displays the colon (and only the colon) encoded so I suspect there might be some issue with that? Curiously, if I manually start a binder from repo directly via mybinder.org everything works just fine.

The repo url is: https://gitlab.gwdg.de/jmschmitz/abm-compendium-jupyterbook

Maybe the problem lies with the gitlab instance the repo is hosted on. When I pass a github repo in the config.yml, the binder integration also works fine. So only the gitlab url is read/passed on incorrectly.

See error log below.

expectation
Start binder from jupyterbook with url given in config.yml, binder reads the url exactly as given in config, finds repo, launches binder

bug
Start binder from jupyterbook with exact url given in config.yml, binder reads the url but with "%3A" instead of ":", fails to find repo, throws error

Error log from mybinder.org reads as follows:

Error resolving ref for git:https%3A//gitlab.gwdg.de/jmschmitz/abm-compendium-jupyterbook/main: Unable to run git ls-remote to get the resolved_ref: ssh: Could not resolve hostname https: Name or service not known fatal: Could not read from remote repository.

Please make sure you have the correct access rights
and the repository exists.

problem
This is a problem for people using gitlab (if that is the source of the problem) wanting to host built jupyterbooks on their website which users can directly interact with, without needing to download/build the book themselves.
This is how it looks like for the users of our website: https://modelsen.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/jupyterbooks/book/abmintro/

Reproduce the bug

1. Use this repo and build the jupyterbook
2. Go to chapter "Mesatutorial", subchapter "Introduction to mesa"
3. Click rocket symbol/"binder" to launch binder instance of the repo
4. See error

List your environment

OS: MacOS

Version(s): 11.6.1

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