Re: Using msysgit and Github and eshell/shell on Windows

[Dmitry Gutov]

Hi Bastian,

> Whenever I run any git command that requires authentication (push,
> pull, fetch basically), Emacs starts the git process, but it never
> finishes. If I use the same commands (with the same executables) in
> different shells such as CMD, powershell, the git shell or the msys
> shell, git prompts me for my username and password. If I run the same
> commands in Emacs on OSX, Emacs even prompts me for my possword in the
> minibuffer! On Windows however, Emacs does not prompt me for my
> username or password, but apparently still waits for it eternally and
> the command just never completes.

It's a known issue under MS Windows. See 7.2 here:

http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/Sub_002dprocesses.html#Sub_002dprocesses

> Any pointers on how to debug this would be greatly appreciated.

As far as I know, the generally accepted way is to set up Git to use
plink.exe instead of plain SSH. You'd need to launch pageant.exe before
using any Git functionality that requires authentication, but on the
upside, you'll only have to enter the password once per startup.

https://github.com/hbons/SparkleShare/wiki/Using-putty-pageant-as-ssh-agent
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2985074/how-do-i-set-git-to-use-plink-exe

-- Dmitry