How to set up an Android source repo while hosting the git trees as private repositories on github?

Question

Hello there,

I am trying to set up a private repository of Android source code while hosting the git trees on github as private repos.

I have no problem changing the manifest.xml file to point to public git trees hosted on github in the same way that CynagonMod does, but when trying to point to private repos I get the following error when trying "repo sync":

Initializing project username/android_external_webkit ...

fatal: The remote end hung up unexpectedly

error: Cannot fetch username/android_external_webkit

Where username/android_external_webkit is of course a private github repo of the same name.

I understand the error occurs since I did not specify my user name and credentials to github, but I fail to see how to do it in the manifest.xml with repo.

Any ideas?

Thanks! Gilad

Answer 1

Well, feeling silly to answer my own question but I found out the answer so maybe I will save a few minutes to the next person that runs into it.

The answer is very simply: in the manifest.xml file, create a remote tag with the fetch specifying ssh as the transport and "git" as the username. Here is an example:

<remote name="private_stuff" fetch="ssh://[email protected]/" />

Now use "private_stuff" as the remote field of the git trees you want to pull. For example:

<project path="xyz" name="username/xyz" remote="private_tuff" />

And init and sync the repo as usual.