# Error when downloading package -- Failed to clone from gitlab.com

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/error-when-downloading-package-failed-to-clone-from-gitlab-com/130032>\
**Category:** New to Julia\
**Tags:** question, package\
**Created:** [June 19, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/error-when-downloading-package-failed-to-clone-from-gitlab-com/130032 "2025-06-19T16:20:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 11\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Snowy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/snowy/32/36765_2.png) [@Snowy](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Snowy)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/error-when-downloading-package-failed-to-clone-from-gitlab-com/130032/1 "2025-06-19T16:20:52Z")

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Hi all,  
I’m trying to install MLJ.jl and am running into an error when installing the package:

```julia
ERROR: failed to clone from https://gitlab.com/ExpandingMan/ShowCases.jl.git, error: GitError(Code:ERROR, Class:OS, failed to send request: The operation timed out
)

```

When searching I found this thread: [Strange Error at Installing Packages `git` failed to clone - #22 by jmcastro2109](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/strange-error-at-installing-packages-git-failed-to-clone/63578/22) that looked like a similar error.  
I tried the suggested solution of:

```julia
@eval Module() begin
    import NetworkOptions
    ENV["JULIA_NO_VERIFY_HOSTS"] = "**.gitlab.com"
end

```

(Note that when trying the solution, I had to create a \config\startup.jl folder & file in my .julia folder… The above code is all I have in startup.jl)  
But I still receive the same error.

I was wondering if someone could help me find a different solution? It seems like all other packages (hosted on github) will eventually download fine. Is there a way to install packages offline? Is there a way to use MLJ.jl without ShowCases.jl ? (it seems every other dependency downloaded / installed just fine)

Thanks for your help

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![eldee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5a626/32.png) [@eldee](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/eldee)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 8:10am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/error-when-downloading-package-failed-to-clone-from-gitlab-com/130032/2 "2025-07-11T08:10:22Z")

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Hi,

Does `git clone https://gitlab.com/ExpandingMan/ShowCases.jl.git` directly in the terminal work?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Snowy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/snowy/32/36765_2.png) [@Snowy](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Snowy)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 6:20pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/error-when-downloading-package-failed-to-clone-from-gitlab-com/130032/3 "2025-07-11T18:20:24Z")

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Sorry, I’m rather dense. How do I do this? Pasting this into the REPL doesn’t work:

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/8/1/817072fb15e65749abe6783239da96338957d1c2.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chemicalfiend](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/chemicalfiend/32/206875_2.png) [@chemicalfiend](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/chemicalfiend)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 6:37pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/error-when-downloading-package-failed-to-clone-from-gitlab-com/130032/4 "2025-07-11T18:37:32Z")

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Try this :

```julia
] add https://gitlab.com/ExpandingMan/ShowCases.jl.git

```

in the Julia REPL, it installs ShowCases.jl directly from gitlab.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![eldee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5a626/32.png) [@eldee](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/eldee)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2025, 6:50pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/error-when-downloading-package-failed-to-clone-from-gitlab-com/130032/5 "2025-07-11T18:50:51Z")

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Well, I wanted to check if it is a Julia issue or a git(lab) issue. So, assuming the `add` also fails, you can try the `git clone` inside of your OS’s terminal (e.g. cmd on Windows). Alternatively, from within Julia you could use

```julia
run(`git clone https://gitlab.com/ExpandingMan/ShowCases.jl.git`)

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Snowy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/snowy/32/36765_2.png) [@Snowy](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Snowy)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 10:11pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/error-when-downloading-package-failed-to-clone-from-gitlab-com/130032/6 "2025-08-12T22:11:55Z")

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Unfortunately this fails with the same error as when it meets this step installing the MLJ package.  
Error:

```julia-auto
ERROR: failed to clone from https://gitlab.com/ExpandingMan/ShowCases.jl.git, error: GitError(Code:ERROR, Class:OS, failed to send request: The operation timed out)

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Snowy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/snowy/32/36765_2.png) [@Snowy](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Snowy)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2025, 10:13pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/error-when-downloading-package-failed-to-clone-from-gitlab-com/130032/7 "2025-08-12T22:13:13Z")

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Couldn’t really figure out how to do it in cmd. Says git is not a supported command.

Trying within Julia got this error:

```julia-auto
ERROR: IOError: could not spawn `git clone https://gitlab.com/ExpandingMan/ShowCases.jl.git`: no such file or directory (ENOENT)

```

Ultimately I suspect there is something in my enterprise’s firewall preventing from grabbing packages from gitlab. Everything from github seems to work just fine.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![eldee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5a626/32.png) [@eldee](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/eldee)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 8:11am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/error-when-downloading-package-failed-to-clone-from-gitlab-com/130032/8 "2025-08-13T08:11:20Z")

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> [@Snowy](#):
>
> Says git is not a supported command.

This likely means that git is not on your path.

> [@Snowy](#):
>
> Ultimately I suspect there is something in my enterprise’s firewall preventing from grabbing packages from gitlab.

In that case, I guess your best option is to check with your sysadmin. Or maybe you can manually (from a browser) download code from gitlab?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dilumaluthge](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/dilumaluthge/32/29283_2.png) [@dilumaluthge](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/dilumaluthge)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 1:28pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/error-when-downloading-package-failed-to-clone-from-gitlab-com/130032/9 "2025-08-13T13:28:20Z")

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I’d recommend asking your company’s sysadmins if they can add the Julia Pkg servers to the firewall’s allowlist. If Julia/Pkg is able to reach the Pkg servers, then source code and artifacts will be downloaded from the Pkg servers, with no need to reach GitHub or GitLab.

The list of Julia Pkg server domains is listed here, in the section titled “Official Domains”:

> **[Install Julia](https://julialang.org/install/#official_domains)**
>
> The official website for the Julia Language. Julia is a language that is fast, dynamic, easy to use, and open source. Click here to learn more.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Snowy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/snowy/32/36765_2.png) [@Snowy](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Snowy)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 1:43pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/error-when-downloading-package-failed-to-clone-from-gitlab-com/130032/10 "2025-08-13T13:43:40Z")

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I can certainly download the source directly from gitlab, I wonder if there’s a way to tell Pkg to look at a folder for installation rather than cloning from gitlab?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![eldee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5a626/32.png) [@eldee](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/eldee)\
**Post date:** [August 13, 2025, 6:14pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/error-when-downloading-package-failed-to-clone-from-gitlab-com/130032/11 "2025-08-13T18:14:42Z")

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You can use `] dev <path_to_locally_downloaded_ShowCases>`, before using `] add MLJ`. If the local ShowCases.jl includes a `.git` folder, which is the case for e.g. `git clone`, but not if you download the code as a zip file, you can (and probably should) use `] add <path_to_local_ShowCases>` instead.

(I was originally worried that you might need to locally clone MLJ.jl and adjust its `Project.toml` (and/or `Manifest.toml`), but that does not appear to be necessary. In fact, `ShowCases` does not even appear in the `Project.toml`file! 🙂)