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ssh-agent broken in 2.51.0 for users with space in username #5893
Description
Existing issues matching what you're seeing
- I was not able to find an open or closed issue matching what I'm seeing
Git for Windows version
2.51.0Windows version
Windows 11
Windows CPU architecture
x86_64 (64-bit)
Additional Windows version information
Options set during installation
Installed through wingetOther interesting things
No response
Terminal/shell
bash
Commands that trigger the issue
eval `ssh-agent -s`
ssh-addExpected behaviour
You should be able to provide credentials
Actual behaviour
Error message claiming the socket cannot be accessed
Repository
No response
Activity
dscho commentedon Oct 20, 2025
Please refrain from such vague reports. If there is an error message, you need to paste it (if there is anything sensitive, you need to redact it of course). Handwaving bug reports are frustrating and therefore counterproductive.
jeffmaury commentedon Oct 20, 2025
Output of eval
ssh-agent -sis:where my home folder is C:\Users\Jeff Maury
Then running
ssh-add:Could not open a connection to your authentication agent.dscho commentedon Oct 20, 2025
Okay, let's pinpoint this further: Does the same happen with a regular MSYS2 (after installing
sshwithpacman -Sy opensshand specifically overriding the home directory by prefixing thedb_homeline in/etc/nsswitch.confwithenvso that it looks like the one of Git Bash's)?dscho commentedon Oct 20, 2025
Also, how certain are you that you quoted
ssh-agent -sineval "$(ssh-agent -s)"?jeffmaury commentedon Oct 20, 2025
I used back quote in the .bashrc script and not double quotes. It worked and started to break with 2.51.0. Noticed the agent socket was on /tmp before and is now under $HOME with 2.51.0
jeffmaury commentedon Oct 20, 2025
Yes same erros happen
dscho commentedon Oct 20, 2025
That is indeed new, it is a change introduced in OpenSSH. It is discussed (among other places) here.
So you have two options: either use the
-aoption ofssh-agent(opening yourself up to what's commonly known as "relative path attacks"), or surround your back-tickedssh-agentinvocation with double quotes (as is actually recommended in a lot of places on the internet).dscho commentedon Oct 20, 2025
And if you were following the guidance provided at https://gitforwindows.org/auto-launching-ssh-agent-when-git-starts.html#manually, it would be a really nice thing if you could open a PR to fix that.
jeffmaury commentedon Oct 20, 2025
Double quotes do not resolve the issue:I tried eval "$(ssh-agent -s)" but got the same error beccause it seems eval cannot process:
SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/c/Users/Jeff Maury/.ssh/agent/s.acw9j72LaJ.agent.zwtScelcZJ; export SSH_AUTH_SOCK;
which is the first line generated by ssh-agent -s
jeffmaury commentedon Oct 20, 2025
Seems changing from ssh-agent -s to ssh-agent -T does the trick, let me know if you want me to provide a PR for the documentaiton
dscho commentedon Oct 20, 2025
Yes, please!
dscho commentedon Oct 21, 2025
Thank you for git-for-windows/git-for-windows.github.io#80! Is there anything else you would need here? Otherwise I think we can close this, as it is really an OpenSSH bug that it does not quote the path in the
eval'able output ofssh-agent.jeffmaury commentedon Oct 22, 2025
Yes I think we can