SourceTree - Is Internet Explorer a mandatory requirement?

[BrunoSaraiva]

Community,

The actual issue is that I am unable to run SourceTree. Right after installation, when trying the option "Use an existing account", I run into this JavaScript load error. The machine runs Windows 7 64, with all current updates.

Although I could not find an specific topic on that, some generic ones suggest to update Internet Explorer.

This computer does NOT have Internet Explorer to be updated. And our company prefer that we do not install it. I've looked around to see if IE is a mandatory requirement for using SourceTree, but found no such statement...

Can someone please confirm, and while at it, suggest a solution if one exists?

We tried to fully disable the firewalls as a test, but that still wouldn't solve it.

Thanks!

Bruno

[Ana Retamal · Accepted solution]

Hi Bruno! Sourcetree for Windows relies on Internet Explorer for the authentication, so you'll need it so Sourcetree is able to register with your Atlassian account. 

Our developers are working on some solutions aimed at Enterprise environments, and that will probably include adding some alternative way of registering / authenticating. We'll share more updates when we have them!

Let us know if you have any other questions!

Best regards,

Ana

[BrunoSaraiva]

Hello Ana,

Thank you for the confirmation. Probably not the best development decision, but well, these things happen.

I guess I'll have to learn to use the command line interface for now. Certainly not a show stopper.

In the meantime, it might be useful to inform of such requirement on the Sourcetree download page, so that other users don't go through the same problem - which can easily consume a couple of hours...

Regards

Bruno

[Somepotato_NA]

Out of curiosity, what's stopping you from opening the default browser instead of relying on a browser which requires users reset the config of to.. sign in?

Why even require a browser instead of using an in-app authenticator?

[Ana Retamal]

Hi @Somepotato_NA, Atlassian account does not offer a  REST or OAuth service for registration at the moment, hence Sourcetree relies on running a controlled web session to allow user's to interact with Atlassian account and detect a successful login. The WPF WebViewer control is built upon IE and inherits its configuration, some of which we can override, some we can't.

There are alternatives to the IE WebViewer control, but it would mean to considerably increase the download size. Having said that, our developers are looking at all options.

Hope that explains!

Ana

[Somepotato_NA]

Wouldn't an alternative solution be to have the app use the default browser, and Sourcetree poll every so often to see if the log in succeeded and get the necessary tokens needed to run it? Otherwise, my version of IE doesn't work with the authenticator due to the ID service requiring the Origin header.