gitbutlerapp/gitbutler · error

Could not list repository-local Git environment variables

Error message

Could not list repository-local Git environment variables: {}

What it means

git_command prepares a git subprocess isolated from environment variables that alter repository resolution by first running `git rev-parse --local-env-vars` to enumerate them. If that git invocation fails, the function bails with git's trimmed stderr in the message.

Solutions

1. Ensure git is installed and `git rev-parse --local-env-vars` works in your shell
2. Fix PATH so the same git the user expects is found by the process
3. Check GIT_EXEC_PATH and any git wrappers/aliases that could break non-interactive execution
4. Verify the workdir passed to git_command exists and is accessible

Example fix

// before
// git missing from PATH in CI image
let cmd = git_command(&workdir)?;
// after
// ensure git exists first
assert!(Command::new("git").arg("--version").output().is_ok(), "git must be on PATH");
let cmd = git_command(&workdir)?;

if Command::new("git").arg("--version").output().is_err() {
    anyhow::bail!("git not found on PATH");
}

match git_command(&workdir) {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("Could not list repository-local Git environment variables") => {
        eprintln!("ensure git is installed and on PATH: {e}");
    }
    other => other?,
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling git_command(workdir) (used by create_bundle and selected_local_config) when `git rev-parse --local-env-vars` exits non-zero — usually because the git executable is missing/broken or the environment is unusable.

Common situations: git not installed or not on PATH for the dump process, a broken git wrapper in PATH, restricted environments (containers/CI) stripping PATH, or an incompatible git version.

Understand the failure class

Background: "git command failed": what it means when a tool shells out to git and git exits non-zero — this error's family across 21 libraries.

Related errors

• Could not find ' '. Please make sure it is in your `PATH`…
• Could not create repository bundle
• Could not read repository-local Git configuration
• Failed to sign SSH
• not a git repository

AI-assisted analysis of gitbutlerapp/gitbutler@58e5313667 (2026-09-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/751b723c4c52fa62. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at crates/but-debug/src/command/dump/repo_installer.rs:276

}

fn is_storage_path_key(key: &[u8]) -> bool {
    [
        b"gitbutler.storagepath".as_slice(),
        b"gitbutler.nightly.storagepath".as_slice(),
        b"gitbutler.dev.storagepath".as_slice(),
    ]
    .iter()
    .any(|candidate| key.eq_ignore_ascii_case(candidate))
}

fn git_command(workdir: &Path) -> Result<Command> {
    let output = Command::new("git")
        .args(["rev-parse", "--local-env-vars"])
        .output()
        .context("Could not list repository-local Git environment variables")?;
    if !output.status.success() {
        bail!(
            "Could not list repository-local Git environment variables: {}",
            String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stderr).trim()
        );
    }

    let mut command = Command::new("git");
    for name in output.stdout.split(|byte| *byte == b'\n') {
        if !name.is_empty() {
            command.env_remove(
                std::str::from_utf8(name).context("Git environment variable name is not UTF-8")?,
            );
        }
    }
    command.arg("-C").arg(workdir);
    Ok(command)
}

fn ref_manifests(repo: &gix::Repository) -> Result<(Vec<u8>, Vec<u8>)> {

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