Cloning Git Repo using TFS Personal Access Token

Question

I am trying to programmatically clone a git repository. My ASP.NET MVC application is creating and starting a process. The code to handle the processes works correctly however t

Answer 1

I was a bit confused after reading the article from MS. After trying out some ways, I was finally able to use my PAT against TFS and VSTS GIT Repos.

The only way I was able to get a clone of my GIT repo using a PAT was setting the http.extraheader in the GIT commandline.
The authorization tag must point to basic authentication, the protocol must be HTTPS, and the token must be BASE64 encoded, including a (fictional) user name.

Example:

git -c http.extraheader="AUTHORIZATION: Basic TXlHaXRTeW5jVXNlcjo2bHFqNXJkcHEzdXBxZWVmd2o3bDduZXN5NTR3d3gxNHFobDVlanl5NTVkb2g0M3d4YzRh" clone https://tfs.address/tfs/Collection/Project/_git/RepoName

Used basic token BASE64 encoded:

TXlHaXRTeW5jVXNlcjo2bHFqNXJkcHEzdXBxZWVmd2o3bDduZXN5NTR3d3gxNHFobDVlanl5NTVkb2g0M3d4YzRh

Basic Token BASE64 decoded:

MyGitSyncUser:6lqj5rdpq3upqeefwj7l7nesy54wwx14qhl5ejyy55doh43wxc4a

Token is constructed from :

In this example:

Fictional user name: MyGitSyncUser Used PAT: 6lqj5rdpq3upqeefwj7l7nesy54wwx14qhl5ejyy55doh43wxc4a

PAT scope: Code (Read)

The TFS/VSTS doesn't accept "AUTHORIZATION: Bearer" headers at the moment :(

Maybe this will help someone using the PATs in TFS/VSTS.

Note: HTTPS is needed for BASIC Authentication!