ssh_askpass: exec(None): No such file or directory

[Jure Sah]

After upgrading to Ubuntu 14.04, I can no longer fetch remote repositories over ssh, where a password is required.

I get the error:
ssh_askpass: exec(None): No such file or directory

The ssh-askpass package appears to be installed.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[LexLythius (lexlythius)]

Hint & workaround: starting git-cola from the console does not trigger this bug, since passwords are asked through the console.

[LexLythius (lexlythius)]

Another workaround: setting the SSH_ASKPASS environment variable in $HOME/.bashrc

    export SSH_ASKPASS=$(which ssh-askpass)

which of course requires ssh-askpass to have been installed.

This works for git-cola 2.0.5 source code, but not with trusty-distribute git-cola 1.9.3.

[Jure Sah (dustwolfy)]

Another workaround: Use public key ("passwordless") authentication on the SSH connection and thus avoid having to enter a password.