Gitblit: Bad Request when navigate to a second-level folder

Question

I am trying Gitblit, which seems quite a good web-UI for Git. The installation through the war file is pretty easy and works out-of-the-box. However, I am running into a strange issue.
I am sharing a Maven project which has a standard folder structure

project
   pom.xml
   src
   src/test-file.txt (I added this file to verify the issue)
   src/java
   src/java/main
   src/java/main/package
   src/java/main/package/File.java

As long as I try to navigate the first level (so, pom.xml and src) everything is fine, I can open and read the file correctly. However, when I try to open the folder java under src, the link is rendered as localhost:8080/gitblit/tree/project/commit-id/src%2Fjava and I am presented a white page. The request is not forwarded to the server (tomcat 7.0.32 if this can help) and firebug simply tells me Error 400: Bad Request.
That %2F looks weird, so I manually tried to fix the link in localhost:8080/gitblit/tree/project/commit-id/src/java, but then an internal server error is generated. Looking at the logs, I read

INFO  Found more URL path parts then expected, these will be ignored. Url: 'http://localhost:8080/gitblit/tree/project/commit-id/src/java', mountpath: 'blob', urlPath: 'project/commit-id/src/java', expected 3 parameters was 4

Then, I added that test-file.txt. If I navigate to src and try to open test-file.txt, firstly the link tries to open localhost:8080/gitblit/blob/project/commit-id/src%2Ftest-file.txt, presenting a html page stating that the file is not found. If I try the same trick as before (%2F to /), then I receive this Exception:

INFO  Found more URL path parts then expected, these will be ignored. Url: 'http://localhost:8080/gitblit/blob/project/commit-id/src/test-file.txt', mountpath: 'blob', urlPath: 'project/commit-id/src/test-file.txt', expected 3 parameters was 4
ERROR /path/to/project/.git cant find {1} in tree {2}
org.eclipse.jgit.errors.IncorrectObjectTypeException: Object commit-id is not a blob.
    at org.eclipse.jgit.storage.file.WindowCursor.open(WindowCursor.java:130)
    at org.eclipse.jgit.lib.ObjectDatabase.open(ObjectDatabase.java:176)
    at org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Repository.open(Repository.java:278)
    at com.gitblit.utils.JGitUtils.getByteContent(JGitUtils.java:563)
    at com.gitblit.utils.JGitUtils.getStringContent(JGitUtils.java:596)
    at com.gitblit.wicket.pages.BlobPage.<init>(BlobPage.java:133)
    at sun.reflect.GeneratedConstructorAccessor22.newInstance(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:27)
    at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:513)
    at org.apache.wicket.session.DefaultPageFactory.createPage(DefaultPageFactory.java:188)
    at org.apache.wicket.session.DefaultPageFactory.newPage(DefaultPageFactory.java:89)
    at org.apache.wicket.request.target.component.BookmarkablePageRequestTarget.newPage(BookmarkablePageRequestTarget.java:305)
    at org.apache.wicket.request.target.component.BookmarkablePageRequestTarget.getPage(BookmarkablePageRequestTarget.java:320)
    at org.apache.wicket.request.target.component.BookmarkablePageRequestTarget.processEvents(BookmarkablePageRequestTarget.java:234)
    at org.apache.wicket.request.AbstractRequestCycleProcessor.processEvents(AbstractRequestCycleProcessor.java:92)
    at org.apache.wicket.RequestCycle.processEventsAndRespond(RequestCycle.java:1279)
    at org.apache.wicket.RequestCycle.step(RequestCycle.java:1358)
    at org.apache.wicket.RequestCycle.steps(RequestCycle.java:1465)
    at org.apache.wicket.RequestCycle.request(RequestCycle.java:545)
    at org.apache.wicket.protocol.http.WicketFilter.doGet(WicketFilter.java:486)
    at org.apache.wicket.protocol.http.WicketFilter.doFilter(WicketFilter.java:319)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:243)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:210)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:222)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:123)
    at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:472)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:171)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:99)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve.invoke(AccessLogValve.java:936)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:118)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:407)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.AbstractHttp11Processor.process(AbstractHttp11Processor.java:1004)
    at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$AbstractConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:589)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(JIoEndpoint.java:310)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:895)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:918)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)
ERROR Can't instantiate page using constructor public com.gitblit.wicket.pages.BlobPage(org.apache.wicket.PageParameters) and argument r = "project" h = "commit-id" f = "src"
org.apache.wicket.WicketRuntimeException: Can't instantiate page using constructor public com.gitblit.wicket.pages.BlobPage(org.apache.wicket.PageParameters) and argument r = "project" h = "commit-id" f = "src"
    at org.apache.wicket.session.DefaultPageFactory.createPage(DefaultPageFactory.java:212)
    at org.apache.wicket.session.DefaultPageFactory.newPage(DefaultPageFactory.java:89)
    at org.apache.wicket.request.target.component.BookmarkablePageRequestTarget.newPage(BookmarkablePageRequestTarget.java:305)
    at org.apache.wicket.request.target.component.BookmarkablePageRequestTarget.getPage(BookmarkablePageRequestTarget.java:320)
    at org.apache.wicket.request.target.component.BookmarkablePageRequestTarget.processEvents(BookmarkablePageRequestTarget.java:234)
    at org.apache.wicket.request.AbstractRequestCycleProcessor.processEvents(AbstractRequestCycleProcessor.java:92)
    at org.apache.wicket.RequestCycle.processEventsAndRespond(RequestCycle.java:1279)
    at org.apache.wicket.RequestCycle.step(RequestCycle.java:1358)
    at org.apache.wicket.RequestCycle.steps(RequestCycle.java:1465)
    at org.apache.wicket.RequestCycle.request(RequestCycle.java:545)
    at org.apache.wicket.protocol.http.WicketFilter.doGet(WicketFilter.java:486)
    at org.apache.wicket.protocol.http.WicketFilter.doFilter(WicketFilter.java:319)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:243)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:210)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:222)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:123)
    at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:472)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:171)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:99)
    at org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve.invoke(AccessLogValve.java:936)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:118)
    at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:407)
    at org.apache.coyote.http11.AbstractHttp11Processor.process(AbstractHttp11Processor.java:1004)
    at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$AbstractConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:589)
    at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(JIoEndpoint.java:310)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:895)
    at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:918)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)
Caused by: java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
    at sun.reflect.GeneratedConstructorAccessor22.newInstance(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:27)
    at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:513)
    at org.apache.wicket.session.DefaultPageFactory.createPage(DefaultPageFactory.java:188)
    ... 27 more
Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
    at com.gitblit.wicket.pages.BlobPage.generateSourceView(BlobPage.java:142)
    at com.gitblit.wicket.pages.BlobPage.<init>(BlobPage.java:134)
    ... 31 more

I basically did not configure gitblit itself (no changes to gitblit.properties), so my problem could reside in a missed-configuration, but I could figure out where. Any hint?

Answer 1

no changes to gitblit.properties

This sentence was the one causing the trouble. And the solution was really well documented on Gitblit.com FAQ.

Running Gitblit on Tomcat
Tomcat takes the extra precaution of disallowing embedded slashes by default. This breaks Gitblit urls. You have a few options on how to handle this scenario:
1. Tweak Tomcat Add -Dorg.apache.tomcat.util.buf.UDecoder.ALLOW_ENCODED_SLASH=true to CATALINA_OPTS or to your JVM launch parameters
2. Modify gitblit.properties using one of:
- web.mountParameters = false and use non-pretty, parameterized urls
- web.forwardSlashCharacter = ! which tells Gitblit to use ! instead of /

I used web.forwardSlashCharacter = !, reload gitblit webapp from the manager, and now everything works fine. My fault I did not carefully read the FAQs until James Morger suggested me the lecture.

Answer 2

Easy way to fix this stupid problem is to disable Mount URL in /var/lib/tomcat7/gitblit.properties:

Follow this easy steps:

1. nano /var/lib/tomcat7/webapps/gitblit/WEB-INF/data/gitblit.properties
2. find web.mountParameters = true and change to false
3. restart tomcat /etc/init.d/tomcat7 restart
4. that's all !

Cya!