[BUG] npm install hangs for several minutes due to git ls-remote git:// url scheme

[xiata]

Current Behavior:

During install, the following command fails repeatedly on CentOS 8.2 boxes, but not macOS:

git ls-remote -h -t git://github.com/DABH/diagnostics.git

The git:// protocol handler should not be used with git commands, even if npm supports it. You're asking for trouble using protocol handlers that may be doing something special for the underlying operating system (e.g. vfs).

This was caught while watching npm -ddd install --only=prod --no-audit

I noticed this issue because on my macOS machine, npm install takes 32 seconds, while on my CentOS 8.2 box, it was taking 12 minutes.

Expected Behavior:

During install, the following command to be run instead:

git ls-remote -h -t git@github.com:DABH/diagnostics.git

Steps To Reproduce:

npm install winston@3.3.1

Note: I found that they fixed the dependency not to require git in 3.3.2, but that just masks the underlying bug in npm.

WORK AROUND:

If you have to keep using packages that may depend on a git url, add to ~/.gitconfig or /etc/gitconfig:

[url "git@github.com:"]
  insteadOf = git://github.com/

Environment:

OS: CentOS 8.2.2004
Node: 10.21.0
NPM: 6.14.4

[darcyclarke]

npm v6 is no longer in active development; We will continue to push security releases to v6 at our team's discretion as-per our Support Policy.

If your bug is preproducible on v7, please re-file this issue using our new issue template.

If your issue was a feature request, please consider opening a new RRFC or RFC. If your issue was a question or other idea that was not CLI-specific, consider opening a discussion on our feedback repo

Closing: This is an automated message.

[darcyclarke]

npm v6 is no longer in active development; We will continue to push security releases to v6 at our team's discretion as-per our Support Policy.

If your bug is preproducible on v7, please re-file this issue using our new issue template.

If your issue was a feature request, please consider opening a new RRFC or RFC. If your issue was a question or other idea that was not CLI-specific, consider opening a discussion on our feedback repo

Closing: This is an automated message.

[drone1]

Oh my god, thank you @xiata -- modifying my ~/.gitconfig fixed this annoying hanging issue for me! Thank you!

If you have a moment, can you explain what this actually does so that I can understand better?

[url "git@github.com:"]
  insteadOf = git://github.com/

Thank you again.

[lmmfranco]

@xiata Thank you so much for the workaround!

[theosp]

Solved the issue for me as well.

Thanks a lot!