[Openembedded-architecture] Interactive password prompts and the git fetcher

[Paul Eggleton]

Hi folks,

In the layer index / RRS code I have found that if it tries to use bitbake's 
git fetcher to access a git repository on github that has been renamed or gone 
private via http/https, I get prompted for a password interactively, 
presumably on the assumption that maybe if I authenticate I might be able to 
see the repo. Here's an example git command that will trigger it (trimmed from 
the actual command issued by the fetcher):

  git ls-remote http://github.com/symless/synergy.git

This can be disabled by setting the environment variables GIT_ASKPASS to an 
empty string and GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT to 0, which allows the fetch command to 
fail immediately. I could conceivably do this in the layer index / RRS 
scripts, but it occurred to me that perhaps this should be disabled in 
bitbake's git fetcher itself. We need to decide whether or not interactive 
password prompts should be allowed during a fetch operation (I'm guessing not, 
although I have a feeling this might be a "spacebar heating" situation for 
some).

Thoughts? In particular, does anyone object to disabling such interactive 
prompts during fetching?

Cheers,
Paul

-- 
Paul Eggleton
Intel Open Source Technology Centre