$ git clone https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-stable Cloning into 'linux-stable'... remote: Counting objects: 5932092, done. remote: Compressing objects: 100% (154131/154131), done. fatal: Unable to create temporary file '$HOME/Dev/linux-stable/.git/objects/pack/tmp_pack_XXXXXX': Permission denied fatal: index-pack failed Since no file/directory created by git I cant tell why git isn't able to create "$HOME/Dev/linux-stable/.git/objects/pack/tmp_pack_XXXXXX". If I try to create this file and directory I can create it: $ mkdir -p $HOME/Dev/linux-stable/.git/objects/pack $ touch $HOME/Dev/linux-stable/.git/objects/pack/tmp_pack_XXXXXX $ ll $HOME/Dev/linux-stable/.git/objects/pack/tmp_pack_XXXXXX -rw-rw-r-x+ 1 tps tps 0 May 15 00:18 /home/tps/Dev/linux-stable/.git/objects/pack/tmp_pack_XXXXXX $ $ git --version git version 2.11.0 -- Thomas