Cannot init new repository - ERROR - Connection closed by remote host. Is borg working on the server?

[chodaprog]

Description

I’m trying to init a new repo, but keep getting this error « ERROR : Connection closed by remote host ».
I checked your website : https://docs.borgbase.com/faq/#all-connections-to-a-borgbase-repo-fail-with-an-error-immediately

if I use ssh -v XXXXXX@XXXXXX.repo.borgbase.com, everything works like a charm, including passing the password prompt.

I’ve tried to regenerate many times the ssh key, or create new repos, without success.
My SSH pub key has been added to the « SSH keys » tab in borgbase, and full access permission granted to this very ssh key.

I’m using vorta v0.91, on a MacOS 13.6.1.

ERRORS

In Vorta

Steps to reproduce

1. Clear all SSH keys and existing repositories on borgbase.com
2. Generate new ssh key on my computer id_rsa_borg
3. Add new SSH key to borgbase.com/ssh and paste the content of id_rsa_borg.pub to the field
4. Create a new repo in borgbase.com
5. Grant full access to the newly added SSH keyto this repo
6. Copy the repo's address (format ssh://XXXXXX@XXXXXX.repo.borgbase.com/./repo)
7. In Vorta, click on the "+" to add a new repo, paste the repo's address
8. Paste a new password for the repo and stroke "Add"

Reproduction

• I tried to reproduce the issue.
• I was able to reproduce the issue.

OS

MacOS 13.6.1

Version of Vorta

0.91

What did you install Vorta with?

Distribution package

Version of Borg

1.2.7

Logs

2024-05-01 13:12:03,172 - vorta.keyring.abc - DEBUG - No module named 'secretstorage'
2024-05-01 13:12:03,172 - vorta.keyring.abc - DEBUG - Using VortaDarwinKeyring
2024-05-01 13:12:03,172 - vorta.borg.borg_job - DEBUG - Using VortaDarwinKeyring keyring to store passwords.
2024-05-01 13:12:03,174 - vorta.keyring.darwin - DEBUG - Retrieved password for repo ssh://XXXXXXXX@XXXXXXXX.repo.borgbase.com/./repo
2024-05-01 13:12:03,174 - vorta.borg.borg_job - DEBUG - Password not found in primary keyring. Falling back to VortaDBKeyring.
2024-05-01 13:12:03,175 - vorta.borg.jobs_manager - DEBUG - Add job for site default
2024-05-01 13:12:03,176 - vorta.borg.jobs_manager - DEBUG - Start job on site: default
2024-05-01 13:12:03,185 - vorta.borg.borg_job - INFO - Running command /Applications/Vorta.app/Contents/Resources/borg-dir/borg.exe init --info --log-json --encryption=repokey-blake2 ssh://XXXXXXXX@XXXXXXXX.repo.borgbase.com/./repo
2024-05-01 13:12:04,761 - vorta.borg.borg_job - WARNING - Remote: ssh_askpass: exec(/usr/X11R6/bin/ssh-askpass): No such file or directory
2024-05-01 13:12:04,764 - vorta.borg.borg_job - ERROR - Connection closed by remote host. Is borg working on the server?
2024-05-01 13:12:04,920 - vorta.borg.jobs_manager - DEBUG - Finish job for site: default
2024-05-01 13:12:04,923 - vorta.borg.jobs_manager - DEBUG - No more jobs for site: default

[spiccinini]

I am having the same issue but with flatpak in linux.
From the logs:

2024-05-20 21:20:40,480 - vorta.borg.borg_job - WARNING - Remote: ssh_askpass: exec(/usr/libexec/ssh-askpass): No such file or directory
2024-05-20 21:20:40,486 - vorta.borg.borg_job - ERROR - Connection closed by remote host. Is borg working on the server?

Versions:

flatpak list
Name                               Application ID                                 Version           Branch               Installation
Vorta                              com.borgbase.Vorta                             v0.9.1            stable               user
Mesa                               org.freedesktop.Platform.GL.default            24.0.6            23.08                user
Mesa (Extra)                       org.freedesktop.Platform.GL.default            24.0.6            23.08-extra          user
Intel                              org.freedesktop.Platform.VAAPI.Intel                             23.08                user
Breeze GTK theme                   org.gtk.Gtk3theme.Breeze                       6.0.4             3.22                 user
KDE Application Platform           org.kde.Platform                                                 6.6                  user

The vorta installed from the archlinux packages (0.9.1-4) is working without errors with the same profile/server so it is an issue from the flatpack version in my case.

[reinoldus]

I had the same issue on ubuntu 20.04, booting the flatpak-app from the CMD gave me this:

2024-07-07 12:14:26,337 - vorta.borg.borg_job - INFO - Running command /app/bin/borg info --info --json --log-json ssh://xxxxxxxxxxxx/./x/xx
2024-07-07 12:14:26,574 - vorta.borg.borg_job - WARNING - Remote: Bad owner or permissions on /xxx/.ssh/config
2024-07-07 12:14:26,576 - vorta.borg.borg_job - ERROR - Connection closed by remote host. Is borg working on the server?

After changing the permissions on my .ssh/config to 600 it worked. It's a bit weird because the config is not really a sensitive file.

command to start Vorta via CMD:

flatpak run com.borgbase.Vorta

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[chodaprog]

@reinoldus thank you for your answer. Although, it had no effect on my side.

I went further and addressed two issues mentionned in the debug log :

• First, I installed the missing keyring library : pip install secretstorage (my vorta was installed via pip, but same occured for dmg binary).

• Then, I addressed the ssh-askpass mentionned. Scrolling through internet, I saw someone mentionning there were issues with MacOS updates about ssh-askpass. So, I decided to install it and bind it.

1. sudo port install ssh-askpass
2. which ssh-askpass gave me the location of the freshly installed exec :

/opt/local/bin/ssh-askpass

3. Some investigation showed me that /usr/X11 was a symlink

/usr/X11R6 -> ../private/var/select/X11

So I went further and discovered that /private/var/select/ was empty. To bypass this execute sudo mkdir -p /private/var/select/X11/bin to create the missing directory
4. Then, create the symlink sudo ln -s /opt/local/bin/ssh-askpass /usr/X11R6/bin/ssh-askpass

This enables the SSH key password modal to prompt after adding the repository.

Now everything seems in order !

[Dapuva76]

I'm having the same issue - is chodaprog's post above mine the recommended fix?