Detect systems that have no user name set in GECOS, and also don't have user.name set in git config, and put in a workaround so that commits to the git-annex branch (and the assistant) will still succeed despite git not liking the system configuration.

Annex/Environment.hs

@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
-{- git-annex assistant environment
+{- git-annex environment
  -
  - Copyright 2012 Joey Hess <joey@kitenet.net>
  -
  - Licensed under the GNU GPL version 3 or higher.
  -}
 
-module Assistant.Environment where
+module Annex.Environment where
 
-import Assistant.Common
+import Common.Annex
 import Utility.UserInfo
 import qualified Git.Config
 
@@ -18,9 +18,14 @@ import System.Posix.Env
  - environment variables. -}
 checkEnvironment :: Annex ()
 checkEnvironment = do
-	username <- liftIO myUserName
-	gecos <- liftIO myUserGecos
 	gitusername <- fromRepo $ Git.Config.getMaybe "user.name"
-	when (null gecos && (gitusername == Nothing || gitusername == Just "")) $
+	when (gitusername == Nothing || gitusername == Just "") $
+		liftIO checkEnvironmentIO
+
+checkEnvironmentIO :: IO ()
+checkEnvironmentIO = do
+	whenM (null <$> myUserGecos) $ do
+		username <- myUserName
 		-- existing environment is not overwritten
-		liftIO $ setEnv "GIT_AUTHOR_NAME" username False
+		setEnv "GIT_AUTHOR_NAME" username False
+		setEnv "GIT_COMMITTER_NAME" username False

Assistant.hs

@@ -154,7 +154,6 @@ import Assistant.Threads.XMPPClient
 #warning Building without the webapp. You probably need to install Yesod..
 import Assistant.Types.UrlRenderer
 #endif
-import Assistant.Environment
 import qualified Utility.Daemon
 import Utility.LogFile
 import Utility.ThreadScheduler
@@ -198,8 +197,6 @@ startDaemon assistant foreground listenhost startbrowser = do
 		| otherwise = "watch"
 	start daemonize webappwaiter = withThreadState $ \st -> do
 		checkCanWatch
-		when assistant
-			checkEnvironment
 		dstatus <- startDaemonStatus
 		logfile <- fromRepo gitAnnexLogFile
 		liftIO $ debugM desc $ "logging to " ++ logfile

CmdLine.hs

@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import qualified Git
 import qualified Git.AutoCorrect
 import Annex.Content
 import Annex.Ssh
+import Annex.Environment
 import Command
 
 type Params = [String]
@@ -39,6 +40,7 @@ dispatch fuzzyok allargs allcmds commonoptions fields header getgitrepo = do
 		Right g -> do
 			state <- Annex.new g
 			(actions, state') <- Annex.run state $ do
+				checkEnvironment
 				checkfuzzy
 				forM_ fields $ uncurry Annex.setField
 				sequence_ flags

Command/WebApp.hs

@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import Assistant.NamedThread
 import Assistant.Threads.WebApp
 import Assistant.WebApp
 import Assistant.Install
+import Annex.Environment
 import Utility.WebApp
 import Utility.Daemon (checkDaemon)
 import Init
@@ -111,6 +112,7 @@ startNoRepo = do
  -}
 firstRun :: Maybe HostName -> IO ()
 firstRun listenhost = do
+	checkEnvironmentIO
 	{- Without a repository, we cannot have an Annex monad, so cannot
 	 - get a ThreadState. Using undefined is only safe because the
 	 - webapp checks its noAnnex field before accessing the

debian/changelog

@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ git-annex (4.20130418) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
   * sync, assistant: Sync with remotes that have annex-ignore set,
     so that git remotes on servers without git-annex installed can be used
     to keep clients' git repos in sync.
+  * Detect systems that have no user name set in GECOS, and also
+    don't have user.name set in git config, and put in a workaround
+    so that commits to the git-annex branch (and the assistant)
+    will still succeed despite git not liking the system configuration.
 
  -- Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>  Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:22:48 -0400
 

doc/bugs/Adding_second_remote_repository_over_ssh_fails.mdwn

@@ -35,3 +35,7 @@ remote repository always fails**
 > So, I'm going to repurpose this bug to track that problem. --[[Joey]]
 
 [[!meta title="assistant can fail to make git repository if remote server is lacking GECOS"]]
+
+>> [[done]]; git-annex always checks for missing gecos and enables
+>> a workaround. This does mean the server needs to be upgraded in order
+>> for the fix to work. --[[Joey]]