Do GitHub raw urls for private repositories expire? I'm referring to the link generated when you click the Raw button while viewing a file on github.com.
The link includes a token but there's no info about where that token comes from.
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user4722818
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No one has clearly mentioned this, but the github raw urls expire in 7 days.
You can use longer lasting personal access tokens generated here: https://github.com/settings/tokens but those can only be used via curl:
curl -H 'Authorization: token <personal_token>' <raw_url>
Note that the personal access tokens expire if unused for an entire year.
rouble
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2As of June 2021 this should be the accepted answer. Original question and accepted answer are 5 years old at this point and a lot has changed since. – Juan Jun 14 '21 at 15:04
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2This method should work for any request-based tool, not just cURL. Just add the header `Authorization: token
– StephenGodderidge Jun 14 '21 at 16:38 -
The link is broken for the source. I had the feeling that the links already expire after a few hours, but could be wrong. – User Rebo Oct 27 '22 at 12:08
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That token comes from using OAuth with Git
https://<oauth-secret>:x-oauth-basic@raw.githubusercontent.com/<me>/<repo>/master/<file>
The raw.githubusercontent.com/<me>/<repo>/master/<file> part does not expire.
But it is to type 'y' before clicking 'Raw' on the GitHub page, in order to get the SHA1 as part of the url: that way, you are sure to reference always the same file version.
https://<oauth-secret>:x-oauth-basic@raw.githubusercontent.com/<me>/<repo>/<sha1>/<file>
^ ^^^^
The token part does not "expire" (but it can be deleted or revoked)
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9It seems like the token at the end of the raw URL does expire. Is there a way to prevent this? – Adam Levitt Aug 18 '17 at 16:01
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Did this question evere been asked? Since github doesn support git archive, we have to do the trouble some way of doing oauth, because raw files expire. I want it easy – vonGohren Aug 09 '18 at 06:31
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@vonGohren I believe in https://stackoverflow.com/a/45931379/6309, but without a satisfactory answer. – VonC Aug 09 '18 at 06:33
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You get a new token whenever the file changes. So edits expire tokens. – Jean Jordaan Nov 27 '19 at 03:02
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Please look at this API document, https://developer.github.com/v3/repos/contents/.
The URL should be:
curl -H 'Accept: application/vnd.github.VERSION.raw' -k \
https://{{githubhost}}/api/v3/repos/{{org}}/{{repo}}/contents/{{path}}?access_token=xxxx
It worked for me:
- The access_token is personal access token.
- And the path canbe a file or dir.
VonC
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Charles Chen
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