gitbutlerapp/gitbutler · info

CliInstallCancelled

CliInstallCancelled

Error message

Administrator authorization was cancelled

What it means

When the elevated install AppleScript prints 'gitbutler-cli-install-cancelled' (user clicked Cancel on the macOS administrator-privilege prompt, AppleScript error -128 userCanceled), check_cli_install_output maps it to this error carrying ErrorContext code CliInstallCancelled. It deliberately distinguishes an intentional user cancellation from a genuine script failure so callers can treat it as a no-op rather than a bug.

Solutions

1. Nothing is broken — rerun the CLI install and click 'OK' after entering administrator credentials.
2. Avoid the admin prompt entirely by using the per-user install mode (CurrentUserOnly), which installs the symlink into a user-writable PATH directory.
3. If the code matches on this error, handle Code::CliInstallCancelled as an expected, user-initiated abort — do not surface it as a failure toast.

Example fix

// before
match result { Err(e) => show_error(e), ... }

// after
match result {
    Err(e) if e.error_code() == Code::CliInstallCancelled => info!("install cancelled by user"),
    Err(e) => show_error(e),
    Ok(()) => {}
}

fn is_cancelled(e: &but_error::Error) -> bool { e.get_code() == Code::CliInstallCancelled }

match install_cli_link_escalated(...) {
    Err(e) if e.get_code() == Code::CliInstallCancelled => {
        tracing::info!("user cancelled admin authorization; not an error");
    }
    Err(e) => report(e),
    Ok(()) => {}
}

When it happens

Trigger: install_cli_link_escalated triggers the 'GitButler needs administrator access...' password dialog and the user clicks Cancel / authenticates unsuccessfully by cancelling; the script returns 'gitbutler-cli-install-cancelled'.

Common situations: User changes their mind about entering an admin password during CLI setup; the prompt is dismissed with Escape; enterprise policy blocks the privilege escalation dialog.

Related errors

• CLI installation failed
• Refusing to replace ' ', which points to ' ' instead of
• Unexpected CLI installer response
• A 'but' binary already exists at
• Could not find application for

AI-assisted analysis of gitbutlerapp/gitbutler@58e5313667 (2026-09-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9b049e44a41c887c. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at crates/but-action/src/cli.rs:233

        return "gitbutler-cli-installed"
    on error messageText number errorNumber
        if errorNumber is -128 then return "gitbutler-cli-install-cancelled"
        error messageText number errorNumber
    end try
end run
"#;

#[cfg(any(target_os = "macos", all(test, unix)))]
fn check_cli_install_output(output: std::process::Output) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
    anyhow::ensure!(
        output.status.success(),
        "CLI installation failed ({}): {}",
        output.status,
        String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stderr).trim()
    );
    if output.stdout == b"gitbutler-cli-install-cancelled\n" {
        return Err(
            anyhow!("Administrator authorization was cancelled").context(ErrorContext::new_static(
                Code::CliInstallCancelled,
                "CLI install cancelled",
            )),
        );
    }
    anyhow::ensure!(
        output.stdout == b"gitbutler-cli-installed\n",
        "Unexpected CLI installer response"
    );
    Ok(())
}

#[cfg(target_os = "macos")]
pub fn auto_fix_broken_but_cli_symlink() {
    let Ok(absolute_link_destination) = std::fs::read_link(UNIX_LINK_PATH) else {
        return;
    };
    if absolute_link_destination.exists() {

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