fatal: not a git repository when using checkout@v2

[DannyFriedmanQC]

I am trying to run git commands in an action using checkout@v2 but I am getting the error

fatal: not a git repository

My yaml looks like the following

name: name
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs: 
  some_job:
    name: some_name
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
      - name: some_name
         run: |
           git status

[GMNGeoffrey]

I'm experiencing something similar with my action that tries to git pull --ff-only origin master from within a submodule. I get an intermittent error

https://github.com/GMNGeoffrey/llvm-bazel/runs/1201180187
https://github.com/GMNGeoffrey/llvm-bazel/runs/1201199207
https://github.com/google/llvm-bazel/runs/1180737413
https://github.com/google/llvm-bazel/runs/1130264635
https://github.com/google/llvm-bazel/runs/1114116468

[chenrui333]

@DannyFriedmanQC can you attach your reference run (if possible)?

I have seen such errors before, I think it is more like github action performance issue.

[HebaruSan]

Seeing the same. No .git directory is created. Checked with a ls -la in the workflow to see what is there.

https://github.com/HebaruSan/NetKAN/runs/1534015545?check_suite_focus=true

total 168
drwxr-xr-x 5 1001  116   4096 Dec 10 23:14 .
drwxr-xr-x 6 root root   4096 Dec 10 23:14 ..
drwxrwxr-x 3 root root   4096 Dec 10 23:05 .github
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root     50 Dec 10 23:05 .gitignore
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root    210 Dec 10 23:05 .travis.yml
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root   6502 Dec 10 23:05 LICENSE.md
drwxrwxr-x 3 root root 135168 Dec 10 23:05 NetKAN
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root   1241 Dec 10 23:05 README.md
drwxrwxr-x 2 root root   4096 Dec 10 23:05 bin

[dopey]

Just wanted to add my voice and say that I'm seeing the same thing.

[HebaruSan]

After reading #335, removing this fixed it for me:

       container:
           image: ubuntu:latest

Somehow this was causing the wrong version of git to run. I don't pretend to understand why.

[rudolfbyker]

I'm also seeing this when using self-hosted runners on Windows Server. No .git directory is created. This causes all sorts of issues.

---

Edit:

Ah, I see there is a subtle warning message:

The repository will be downloaded using the GitHub REST API
To create a local Git repository instead, add Git 2.18 or higher to the PATH

🤔

---

Edit:

See #325

[DaniBencz]

After reading #335, removing this fixed it for me:

       container:
           image: ubuntu:latest

Somehow this was causing the wrong version of git to run. I don't pretend to understand why.

I don't understand it either, but removing my custom container from the job helped in my case, thanks!

[morlowska]

Removing

       container:
           image: …

isn’t solution here. If you remove this code, workflow will be run on your self-hosted machine itself, not in the container. It seems to work because on your machine you must have newer version of Git.

Ah, I see there is a subtle warning message:

The repository will be downloaded using the GitHub REST API
To create a local Git repository instead, add Git 2.18 or higher to the PATH

🤔

Edit:

See #325

according to this warning Git version should be higher than 2.18. So the real solution is to upgrade Git inside of your container’s image or, if version is already equal or higher than 2.18, add it to the PATH. Also there is another dirty workaround - after actions/checkout@v2 step run git init:

name: name
on: [push, pull_request]
jobs: 
  some_job:
    name: some_name
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
      - run: git init
      - name: some_name
         run: |
           git status 

but this initialize empty repository - git commands will work, but there will be no information about remote repository.