Store and show reason why import failed.

app/models/project.rb

@@ -310,15 +310,17 @@ class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
   def add_import_job
     if forked?
-      unless RepositoryForkWorker.perform_async(id, forked_from_project.path_with_namespace, self.namespace.path)
-        import_fail
-      end
+      RepositoryForkWorker.perform_async(self.id, forked_from_project.path_with_namespace, self.namespace.path)
     else
-      RepositoryImportWorker.perform_async(id)
+      RepositoryImportWorker.perform_async(self.id)
     end
   end
   def clear_import_data
+    update(import_error: nil)
+
+    ProjectCacheWorker.perform_async(self.id)
+
     self.import_data.destroy if self.import_data
   end

app/views/projects/imports/new.html.haml

 - page_title "Import repository"
 %h3.page-title
-  - if @project.import_failed?
-    Import failed. Retry?
-  - else
-    Import repository
+  Import repository
 %hr
+- if @project.import_failed?
+  .alert.alert-danger
+    %p The repository could not be imported.
+    %pre.prepend-top-10
+      :preserve
+        #{@project.import_error.try(:strip)}
+
 = form_for @project, url: namespace_project_import_path(@project.namespace, @project), method: :post, html: { class: 'form-horizontal' } do |f|
   .form-group.import-url-data
     = f.label :import_url, class: 'control-label' do

app/workers/repository_fork_worker.rb

@@ -13,22 +13,20 @@ class RepositoryForkWorker
     end
     result = gitlab_shell.fork_repository(source_path, target_path)
-
     unless result
       logger.error("Unable to fork project #{project_id} for repository #{source_path} -> #{target_path}")
+      project.update(import_error: "The project could not be forked.")
       project.import_fail
-      project.save
       return
     end
-    if project.valid_repo?
-      ProjectCacheWorker.perform_async(project.id)
-      project.import_finish
-    else
-      project.import_fail
+    unless project.valid_repo?
       logger.error("Project #{id} had an invalid repository after fork")
+      project.update(import_error: "The forked repository is invalid.")
+      project.import_fail
+      return
     end
-    project.save
+    project.import_finish
   end
 end

app/workers/repository_import_worker.rb

@@ -7,37 +7,52 @@ class RepositoryImportWorker
   def perform(project_id)
     project = Project.find(project_id)
-    unless project.import_url == Project::UNKNOWN_IMPORT_URL
-      import_result = gitlab_shell.send(:import_repository,
-                               project.path_with_namespace,
-                               project.import_url)
-      return project.import_fail unless import_result
-    else
+    if project.import_url == Project::UNKNOWN_IMPORT_URL
+      # In this case, we only want to import issues, not a repository.
       unless project.create_repository
-        return project.import_fail
+        project.update(import_error: "The repository could not be created.")
+        project.import_fail
+        return
+      end
+    else
+      begin
+        import_result = gitlab_shell.import_repository(project.path_with_namespace, project.import_url)
+      rescue Gitlab::Shell::Error => e
+        project.update(import_error: e.message)
+        project.import_fail
+        return
       end
     end
-    data_import_result = case project.import_type
-                         when 'github'
-                           Gitlab::GithubImport::Importer.new(project).execute
-                         when 'gitlab'
-                           Gitlab::GitlabImport::Importer.new(project).execute
-                         when 'bitbucket'
-                           Gitlab::BitbucketImport::Importer.new(project).execute
-                         when 'google_code'
-                           Gitlab::GoogleCodeImport::Importer.new(project).execute
-                         when 'fogbugz'
-                           Gitlab::FogbugzImport::Importer.new(project).execute
-                         else
-                           true
-                         end
-    return project.import_fail unless data_import_result
-
-    Gitlab::BitbucketImport::KeyDeleter.new(project).execute if project.import_type == 'bitbucket'
+    data_import_result =
+      case project.import_type
+      when 'github'
+        Gitlab::GithubImport::Importer.new(project).execute
+      when 'gitlab'
+        Gitlab::GitlabImport::Importer.new(project).execute
+      when 'bitbucket'
+        Gitlab::BitbucketImport::Importer.new(project).execute
+      when 'google_code'
+        Gitlab::GoogleCodeImport::Importer.new(project).execute
+      when 'fogbugz'
+        Gitlab::FogbugzImport::Importer.new(project).execute
+      else
+        true
+      end
+
+    unless data_import_result
+      project.update(import_error: "The remote issue data could not be imported.")
+      project.import_fail
+      return
+    end
+
+    if project.import_type == 'bitbucket'
+      Gitlab::BitbucketImport::KeyDeleter.new(project).execute
+    end
     project.import_finish
-    project.save
-    ProjectCacheWorker.perform_async(project.id)
+
+    # Explicitly update mirror so that upstream remote is created and fetched
+    project.update_mirror
   end
 end

lib/gitlab/backend/shell.rb

 module Gitlab
   class Shell
-    class AccessDenied < StandardError; end
+    class Error < StandardError; end
     class KeyAdder < Struct.new(:io)
       def add_key(id, key)
@@ -36,8 +36,9 @@ module Gitlab
     #   import_repository("gitlab/gitlab-ci", "https://github.com/randx/six.git")
     #
     def import_repository(name, url)
-      Gitlab::Utils.system_silent([gitlab_shell_projects_path, 'import-project',
-                                   "#{name}.git", url, '240'])
+      output, status = Popen::popen([gitlab_shell_projects_path, 'import-project', "#{name}.git", url, '240'])
+      raise Error, output unless status.zero?
+      true
     end
     # Move repository