I am unable to perform a git clone using a Jenkins instance for which I have no root access. The symptom at this point is that the Git plugin is running the clone command with an empty or NULL 'git' exe.
Here's some more details. I started out by enabling the Git plugin on the assumption that it implemented the Git protocol internally. It does not, but instead calls the 'git' executable installed on the Jenkins box. Fair enough. I don't have root access to the box, so I cannot install git into /usr/bin and instead installed it into $HOME/local-git. I then updated the path of the git exe in the config interface to use /home/jenkins/local-git/bin/git. Since then, all builds fail at the 'clone stage' with this (truncated): ERROR: Error cloning remote repo 'origin' : Could not clone git://gitrepo/test-repohudson.plugins.git.GitException <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search?query=hudson.plugins.git.GitException>: Could not clone git://gitrepo/test-repo at hudson.plugins.git.GitAPI.clone(GitAPI.java:251) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=hudson.plugins.git.GitAPI.clone&entity=method> at hudson.plugins.git.GitSCM$2.invoke(GitSCM.java:1121) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=hudson.plugins.git.GitSCM$2.invoke&entity=method> at hudson.plugins.git.GitSCM$2.invoke(GitSCM.java:1063) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=hudson.plugins.git.GitSCM$2.invoke&entity=method> at hudson.FilePath$FileCallableWrapper.call(FilePath.java:2154) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=hudson.FilePath$FileCallableWrapper.call&entity=method> at hudson.remoting.UserRequest.perform(UserRequest.java:118) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=hudson.remoting.UserRequest.perform&entity=method> at hudson.remoting.UserRequest.perform(UserRequest.java:48) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=hudson.remoting.UserRequest.perform&entity=method> at hudson.remoting.Request$2.run(Request.java:287) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=hudson.remoting.Request$2.run&entity=method> at hudson.remoting.InterceptingExecutorService$1.call(InterceptingExecutorService.java:72) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=hudson.remoting.InterceptingExecutorService$1.call&entity=method> at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:303) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun&entity=method> at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:138) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run&entity=method> at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:886) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask&entity=method> at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:908) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run&entity=method> at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=java.lang.Thread.run&entity=method> Caused by: hudson.plugins.git.GitException <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search?query=hudson.plugins.git.GitException>: Error performing command: clone -o origin git://gitrepo/test-repo /home/jenkins/workspace/TEST - Git Repo at hudson.plugins.git.GitAPI.launchCommandIn(GitAPI.java:793) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=hudson.plugins.git.GitAPI.launchCommandIn&entity=method> at hudson.plugins.git.GitAPI.access$000(GitAPI.java:39) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=hudson.plugins.git.GitAPI.access$000&entity=method> at hudson.plugins.git.GitAPI$1.invoke(GitAPI.java:247) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=hudson.plugins.git.GitAPI$1.invoke&entity=method> at hudson.plugins.git.GitAPI$1.invoke(GitAPI.java:227) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=hudson.plugins.git.GitAPI$1.invoke&entity=method> at hudson.FilePath.act(FilePath.java:832) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=hudson.FilePath.act&entity=method> at hudson.FilePath.act(FilePath.java:814) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=hudson.FilePath.act&entity=method> at hudson.plugins.git.GitAPI.clone(GitAPI.java:227) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=hudson.plugins.git.GitAPI.clone&entity=method> ... 12 more Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search?query=java.lang.NullPointerException> at hudson.Launcher.printCommandLine(Launcher.java:592) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=hudson.Launcher.printCommandLine&entity=method> at hudson.Launcher.maskedPrintCommandLine(Launcher.java:614) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=hudson.Launcher.maskedPrintCommandLine&entity=method> at hudson.Launcher$LocalLauncher.launch(Launcher.java:700) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=hudson.Launcher$LocalLauncher.launch&entity=method> at hudson.Launcher$ProcStarter.start(Launcher.java:338) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=hudson.Launcher$ProcStarter.start&entity=method> at hudson.Launcher$ProcStarter.join(Launcher.java:345) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=hudson.Launcher$ProcStarter.join&entity=method> at hudson.plugins.git.GitAPI.launchCommandIn(GitAPI.java:774) <http://stacktrace.jenkins-ci.org/search/?query=hudson.plugins.git.GitAPI.launchCommandIn&entity=method> ... 18 more Note the clone line after 'Error performing command.' I would expect it to read '/home/jenkins/local-git/bin/git clone -o origin...' but instead, the git exe is missing! I suspected that this may be an issue with directly specifying the location, so I added $HOME/local-git/bin to the jenkin user's PATH and switched the config path back to just 'git'. That made no difference. I also verified that I can perform a 'git clone' on the command line as the Jenkins user. This feels like it should be blindingly obvious, but I'm stumped. What could be causing the Git plugin to use a NULL 'gitExe' during that call?
