# Need help diagnosing the error I got from first install attempt
**URL:** https://discourse.flox.dev/t/need-help-diagnosing-the-error-i-got-from-first-install-attempt/703
**Category:** Help
**Tags:** closed
**Created:** [March 24, 2023, 7:52pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/need-help-diagnosing-the-error-i-got-from-first-install-attempt/703 "2023-03-24T19:52:22Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@qrKourier](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/qrKourier)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2023, 7:52pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/need-help-diagnosing-the-error-i-got-from-first-install-attempt/703/1 "2023-03-24T19:52:22Z")
The floxmeta private repo was created alright, though I wasn’t expecting flox to run the gh CLI on my behalf as a newcomer. I expect that’s covered in a user manual I haven’t read yet.
I think Git is trying to insist on signing something because of the global config.
```auto
❯ sudo apt install /tmp/flox.x86_64-linux.deb
# ...
❯ flox install cowsay
Updating git config "/home/kbingham/.config/flox/gitconfig"
> Do you consent to the collection of basic usage metrics? Yes
Thank you for helping to improve flox!
Did not find "/home/kbingham/.config/flox/floxUserMeta.json", continuing without user channels
Updating /home/kbingham/.config/flox/nix.conf
error: gpg failed to sign the data
fatal: failed to write commit object
++++ /nix/store/l5h79qqg73cgjvhkyp1g93r1kg2j10qa-flox-0.0.10-r205/libexec/flox/gh repo create --private https://github.com/qrkourier/floxmeta --template https://github.com/flox/floxmeta-template.git
error: pathspec 'floxmain' did not match any file(s) known to git
error: gpg failed to sign the data
fatal: failed to write commit object
fatal: invalid object name 'floxmain'.
error: pathspec 'floxmain' did not match any file(s) known to git
❯ flox install cowsay
ERROR: missing field `channels` at line 4 column 1
❯ which cowsay
cowsay not found
❯ git config --global commit.gpgSign
true
```
---
### Author:  [@qrKourier](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/qrKourier)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2023, 8:05pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/need-help-diagnosing-the-error-i-got-from-first-install-attempt/703/2 "2023-03-24T20:05:18Z")
This seems to confirm it was a global Git option.
```bash
❮ rm -rfv ~/.config/flox/
removed '/home/kbingham/.config/flox/floxUserMeta.json'
removed '/home/kbingham/.config/flox/nix.conf'
removed '/home/kbingham/.config/flox/gitconfig'
removed directory '/home/kbingham/.config/flox/'
❯ GIT_CONFIG_GLOBAL=/dev/null flox install cowsay
Updating git config "/home/kbingham/.config/flox/gitconfig"
Did not find "/home/kbingham/.config/flox/floxUserMeta.json", continuing without user channels
Updating /home/kbingham/.config/flox/nix.conf
error: pathspec 'floxmain' did not match any file(s) known to git
created generation 1
❯ flox activate
flox [default]
❯ cowsay more\ better
_____________
< more better >
-------------
\ ^__^
\ (oo)\ _______
(__)\ )\/\
||----w |
|| ||
flox [default]
```
---
### Author:  [@qrKourier](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/qrKourier)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2023, 8:14pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/need-help-diagnosing-the-error-i-got-from-first-install-attempt/703/3 "2023-03-24T20:14:17Z")
I wondered whether flox was failing because git couldn’t get a tty, so I tried it with the signing cred cached so it wouldn’t need to prompt for pinentry. If I can figure out where the git working copy is located I can set a local git config to not attempt signing. I’d like to avoid changing the global config.
```bash
❯ flox destroy --environment qrkourier/default
flox [default]
❯ rm -rfv ~/.config/flox/
removed '/home/kbingham/.config/flox/floxUserMeta.json'
removed '/home/kbingham/.config/flox/nix.conf'
removed '/home/kbingham/.config/flox/gitconfig'
removed '/home/kbingham/.config/flox/floxFlakeRegistry.json'
removed directory '/home/kbingham/.config/flox/'
❯ gpg --clearsign
gpg: using "5489E13F810564DF47FB9841B69403FA957C5E46" as default secret key for signing
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
iQIzBAEBCgAdFiEEVInhP4EFZN9H+5hBtpQD+pV8XkYFAmQeA2QACgkQtpQD+pV8
XkbMahAAlfsldUvl7lMyfmmxNTy6AzVFX/D7ctjp31v3D64idY14AeUA3L32SzPg
hkEhMdukxAxG6NpT13Bk6ykGdzlFSNmwhvWyqv5lellPHt2eb8xdiasbJPqjiMld
FzsotdK3OW1IwlGmqKM/2fiNKm3/PUAC98IxETxopVaCqEr3kj/jzFS5swXNw7ZQ
akNyCAd7qRjDPyQJHIYKoLR36AvlKoxptc9sJgOBPAme74XT0650Wlcov6Rcm5f9
dezMXFdNuaVPFIrFxuIOOBiBhVPpLbiAQotOZJZuYSJ2sHid1CS6smip+N9kb/uf
S9q1MwkDTuYX84O35GV48V+Ci/BMvnK2PMebW2Wdj9WRATYDkR2ajFbVcZGwGC6a
UQ6kKyP3Dn5pVcahnyahcEScgA+euipmrFPxH4T1/ugetEowDH/QRHmHoIoCHP3h
U1/xR8D8Ezsx4s0RYDyekZROZ/YUFAzZlRW+PorptG3HaBm33friYMUWAbRoUQZE
zNK4wBukcdx9Km4QuRtXpmflh29T+nZGyYDw6c32yyhMvkRzv22B7KDi5vWrB9uh
lz8UgpVq55HfGVVsodNWD6pXVsDScgTl3O546Tw9QUwyocMd0lnMI5A9KPmwwu1+
yv2nkBI8M8dEo9ULYAoXbo3sQpzi1V0+Ux5nulHRb4sEYpLmmk8=
=Bbd3
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
❯ flox install cowsay
Updating git config "/home/kbingham/.config/flox/gitconfig"
Did not find "/home/kbingham/.config/flox/floxUserMeta.json", continuing without user channels
Updating /home/kbingham/.config/flox/nix.conf
error: gpg failed to sign the data
fatal: failed to write commit object
```
---
### Author:  [@aameen](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/aameen)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2023, 10:44pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/need-help-diagnosing-the-error-i-got-from-first-install-attempt/703/4 "2023-03-24T22:44:40Z")
Howdy, sorry to hear that you’re having install troubles. I’ll send this along to the engineers to get you some help.
We’ll do some debugging with you on Monday.
---
### Author:  [@anon59756714](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/anon59756714)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2023, 9:21am UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/need-help-diagnosing-the-error-i-got-from-first-install-attempt/703/5 "2023-03-25T09:21:59Z")
Hmm, I also use GPG signing and didn’t have problems with Flox. I use gpg for windows though that is used through WSL binding and win-gpg-agent. Maybe the gpg-agent is not saving data in this special case ? Have you tried pinnning gpg binary in .gitconfig to one you use outside flox ?
---
### Author:  [@qrKourier](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/qrKourier)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2023, 3:31pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/need-help-diagnosing-the-error-i-got-from-first-install-attempt/703/6 "2023-03-27T15:31:07Z")
Thanks!
I encountered the same error after pinning the `gpg` executable. Additionally, I tried installing a GTK pinentry program, restarted `gpg-agent`. I get the same result whether or not the default signing key is cached by a recent, prior signing action.
```bash
❯ git config --global gpg.program $(which gpg)
❯ git config --global gpg.program
/usr/bin/gpg
❯ flox install cowsay
Updating git config "/home/kbingham/.config/flox/gitconfig"
Did not find "/home/kbingham/.config/flox/floxUserMeta.json", continuing without user channels
Updating /home/kbingham/.config/flox/nix.conf
error: gpg failed to sign the data
fatal: failed to write commit object
❯ git config --global --list
init.defaultbranch=main
init.templatedir=~/.git_template
push.default=current
color.ui=auto
alias.aa=add --all
alias.ap=add --patch
alias.branches=for-each-ref --sort=-committerdate --format="%(color:blue)%(authordate:relative) %(color:red)%(authorname) %(color:white)%(color:bold)%(refname:short)" refs/remotes
alias.ci=commit -v
alias.co=checkout
alias.pf=push --force-with-lease
alias.st=status
alias.br=branch
core.excludesfile=~/.gitignore
core.autocrlf=input
merge.ff=only
commit.template=~/.gitmessage
commit.gpgsign=true
fetch.prune=true
rebase.autosquash=true
rebase.instructionformat=(%an <%ae>) %s
include.path=~/.gitconfig.local
diff.colormoved=zebra
filter.lfs.clean=git-lfs clean -- %f
filter.lfs.smudge=git-lfs smudge -- %f
filter.lfs.process=git-lfs filter-process
filter.lfs.required=true
pager.log=less --quit-if-one-screen --no-init
gpg.program=/usr/bin/gpg
```
---
### Author:  [@aameen](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/aameen)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2023, 6:36pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/need-help-diagnosing-the-error-i-got-from-first-install-attempt/703/7 "2023-03-27T18:36:17Z")
I was able to reproduce your issue by running:
```auto
git config commit.gpgsign true;
flox create -e foo;
```
For the time being you could do something like:
```auto
GIT_CONFIG_TMP="$( mktemp; )";
cp "${GIT_CONFIG_SYSTEM:-/etc/gitconfig}" "$GIT_CONFIG_TMP";
git config -f "$GIT_CONFIG_TMP" commit.gpgsign false;
GIT_CONFIG_SYSTEM="$GIT_CONFIG_TMP" flox ;
```
Having said that, this is obnoxious and I’ll be chasing down a real solution.
I’ll pass this off to the engineering team to investigate; hopefully we can get a quick fix.
---
### Author:  [@anon59756714](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/anon59756714)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2023, 8:40am UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/need-help-diagnosing-the-error-i-got-from-first-install-attempt/703/8 "2023-03-28T08:40:46Z")
I just tested out my local cached repo and it is signed
λ C:\Users\dgoslawski\scoop\apps\gpg\current\bin\gpg.exe --version
gpg (GnuPG) 2.4.0
libgcrypt 1.10.1
with win-gpg-agent from scoop also
---
### Author:  [@qrKourier](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/qrKourier)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2023, 12:31pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/need-help-diagnosing-the-error-i-got-from-first-install-attempt/703/9 "2023-03-28T12:31:39Z")
Thank you! I’m unblocked with this workaround. It was the global config causing my issue so I adapted your script to use a temporary modification of that file.
```bash
❯ which flox_install
flox_install () {
[[$# -eq 1]] || {
echo "ERROR: usage: flox_install PACKAGE" >&2
return 1
}
(
set -euo pipefail
GIT_CONFIG_TMP="$( mktemp )"
cp "${GIT_CONFIG_GLOBAL:-${HOME}/.gitconfig}" "$GIT_CONFIG_TMP"
GIT_CONFIG_GLOBAL="$GIT_CONFIG_TMP" git config --global commit.gpgsign false
GIT_CONFIG_GLOBAL="$GIT_CONFIG_TMP" flox install $1
)
}
❯ git config --global commit.gpgSign
true
❯ flox_install cowsay
Did not find 'channels' in "/home/kbingham/.config/flox/floxUserMeta.json", consider running 'flox subscribe'
Installed 'cowsay' package(s) into 'default' environment.
❯ git config --global commit.gpgSign
true
❯ flox activate
Did not find 'channels' in "/home/kbingham/.config/flox/floxUserMeta.json", consider running 'flox subscribe'
flox [default]
❯ cowsay more\ better
_____________
< more better >
-------------
\ ^__^
\ (oo)\ _______
(__)\ )\/\
||----w |
|| ||
```
---
### Author:  [@robinbrantley](https://discourse.flox.dev/u/robinbrantley)
#### Post date: [March 30, 2023, 9:04pm UTC](https://discourse.flox.dev/t/need-help-diagnosing-the-error-i-got-from-first-install-attempt/703/10 "2023-03-30T21:04:46Z")
Hi @qrKourier - so glad to hear you are unblocked!
We have logged the bug to sort a proper fix and look forward to rolling it out in a future release.