Git clone "fatal: I don't handle protocol 'ssh'"

Question

I've created a repository in my local machine and asked a colleague to clone it, but it's saying it can't handle the SSH protocol. In my computer the repository is at /devel/scripts.git, and there's an user called devel with access to that folder. Another guy could clone it normally, using git clone ssh://[email protected]/devel/scripts.git.

We are all using Ubuntu, me and the problematic machine are at 12.04 (I could push from another folder using the same URL as remote) and the other guy is using 13.04.

Finally, the machine that got the issue can access that user via SSH normally.

"Normally" -- what authentication is used -- password, key, or what? — Mark Leighton Fisher
– Mark Leighton Fisher, Commented Mar 21, 2014 at 21:33
I am getting same error as "fatal: I don't handle protocol 'ssh'" during command "git pull origin master". Any idea anyone??? — Vijay Rana
– Vijay Rana, Commented Jun 14, 2018 at 5:42

Simon A. Eugster · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-20 05:40:45Z

66

Look at the url in .git/config, in my case there were control characters in the protocol portion. These were not made visible when git generated its error message.

When copy/pasting the error message to another place, the control characters might show up:

edited Apr 20, 2017 at 5:40

Simon A. Eugster

4,2944 gold badges38 silver badges33 bronze badges

answered Aug 1, 2014 at 15:25

wytten

3,0381 gold badge25 silver badges39 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

spoorcc Over a year ago

Based of this idea I retyped the entire git clone command manually instead of copy-pasting it, probably removing some control characters

Enoon Over a year ago

It's usually enough to simply cancel and retype the "clone ssh" part (as the control character is usually before ssh)

digitil · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-30 18:00:32Z

18

I faced the same issue on Windows in Cygwin and was able to get around the error by changing the protocol to 'git+ssh'.

git clone git+ssh://[email protected]/devel/scripts.git

answered Jan 30, 2015 at 18:00

digitil

9195 silver badges11 bronze badges

Comments

Aditya Batheja · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-01 20:57:57Z

5

A way around this is explicitly mentioning the address by using quotes. Instead of using: git clone ssh://[email protected]/devel/scripts.git

Try: git clone 'ssh://[email protected]/devel/scripts.git'

answered Oct 1, 2018 at 20:57

Aditya Batheja

511 silver badge1 bronze badge

Comments

Rijo · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-07 12:13:26Z

-1

I had similar issue when trying from windows Git GUI. I executed the command via Git Bash and it worked for me without this error.

answered Dec 7, 2017 at 12:13

Rijo

2,7381 gold badge24 silver badges30 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Git clone "fatal: I don't handle protocol 'ssh'"

4 Answers 4

2 Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

4 Answers 4

2 Comments

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related