1 CONFIGURATION FILE
2 ------------------
4 The git configuration file contains a number of variables that affect
5 the git command's behavior. They can be used by both the git plumbing
6 and the porcelains. The variables are divided into sections, where
7 in the fully qualified variable name the variable itself is the last
8 dot-separated segment and the section name is everything before the last
9 dot. The variable names are case-insensitive and only alphanumeric
10 characters are allowed. Some variables may appear multiple times.
12 The syntax is fairly flexible and permissive; whitespaces are mostly
13 ignored. The '#' and ';' characters begin comments to the end of line,
14 blank lines are ignored, lines containing strings enclosed in square
15 brackets start sections and all the other lines are recognized
16 as setting variables, in the form 'name = value'. If there is no equal
17 sign on the line, the entire line is taken as 'name' and the variable
18 is recognized as boolean "true". String values may be entirely or partially
19 enclosed in double quotes; some variables may require special value format.
21 Example
22 ~~~~~~~
24 # Core variables
25 [core]
26 ; Don't trust file modes
27 filemode = false
29 # Our diff algorithm
30 [diff]
31 external = "/usr/local/bin/gnu-diff -u"
32 renames = true
34 Variables
35 ~~~~~~~~~
37 Note that this list is non-comprehensive and not necessarily complete.
38 For command-specific variables, you will find a more detailed description
39 in the appropriate manual page. You will find a description of non-core
40 porcelain configuration variables in the respective porcelain documentation.
42 core.fileMode::
43 If false, the executable bit differences between the index and
44 the working copy are ignored; useful on broken filesystems like FAT.
45 See gitlink:git-update-index[1]. True by default.
47 core.gitProxy::
48 A "proxy command" to execute (as 'command host port') instead
49 of establishing direct connection to the remote server when
50 using the git protocol for fetching. If the variable value is
51 in the "COMMAND for DOMAIN" format, the command is applied only
52 on hostnames ending with the specified domain string. This variable
53 may be set multiple times and is matched in the given order;
54 the first match wins.
55 +
56 Can be overridden by the 'GIT_PROXY_COMMAND' environment variable
57 (which always applies universally, without the special "for"
58 handling).
60 core.ignoreStat::
61 The working copy files are assumed to stay unchanged until you
62 mark them otherwise manually - Git will not detect the file changes
63 by lstat() calls. This is useful on systems where those are very
64 slow, such as Microsoft Windows. See gitlink:git-update-index[1].
65 False by default.
67 core.preferSymlinkRefs::
68 Instead of the default "symref" format for HEAD
69 and other symbolic reference files, use symbolic links.
70 This is sometimes needed to work with old scripts that
71 expect HEAD to be a symbolic link.
73 core.logAllRefUpdates::
74 If true, `git-update-ref` will append a line to
75 "$GIT_DIR/logs/<ref>" listing the new SHA1 and the date/time
76 of the update. If the file does not exist it will be
77 created automatically. This information can be used to
78 determine what commit was the tip of a branch "2 days ago".
79 This value is false by default (no logging).
81 core.repositoryFormatVersion::
82 Internal variable identifying the repository format and layout
83 version.
85 core.sharedRepository::
86 If true, the repository is made shareable between several users
87 in a group (making sure all the files and objects are group-writable).
88 See gitlink:git-init-db[1]. False by default.
90 core.warnAmbiguousRefs::
91 If true, git will warn you if the ref name you passed it is ambiguous
92 and might match multiple refs in the .git/refs/ tree. True by default.
94 core.compression::
95 An integer -1..9, indicating the compression level for objects that
96 are not in a pack file. -1 is the zlib and git default. 0 means no
97 compression, and 1..9 are various speed/size tradeoffs, 9 being
98 slowest.
100 alias.*::
101 Command aliases for the gitlink:git[1] command wrapper - e.g.
102 after defining "alias.last = cat-file commit HEAD", the invocation
103 "git last" is equivalent to "git cat-file commit HEAD". To avoid
104 confusion and troubles with script usage, aliases that
105 hide existing git commands are ignored. Arguments are split by
106 spaces, the usual shell quoting and escaping is supported.
107 quote pair and a backslash can be used to quote them.
109 apply.whitespace::
110 Tells `git-apply` how to handle whitespaces, in the same way
111 as the '--whitespace' option. See gitlink:git-apply[1].
113 diff.renameLimit::
114 The number of files to consider when performing the copy/rename
115 detection; equivalent to the git diff option '-l'.
117 format.headers::
118 Additional email headers to include in a patch to be submitted
119 by mail. See gitlink:git-format-patch[1].
121 gitcvs.enabled::
122 Whether the cvs pserver interface is enabled for this repository.
123 See gitlink:git-cvsserver[1].
125 gitcvs.logfile::
126 Path to a log file where the cvs pserver interface well... logs
127 various stuff. See gitlink:git-cvsserver[1].
129 http.sslVerify::
130 Whether to verify the SSL certificate when fetching or pushing
131 over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY' environment
132 variable.
134 http.sslCert::
135 File containing the SSL certificate when fetching or pushing
136 over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_CERT' environment
137 variable.
139 http.sslKey::
140 File containing the SSL private key when fetching or pushing
141 over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_KEY' environment
142 variable.
144 http.sslCAInfo::
145 File containing the certificates to verify the peer with when
146 fetching or pushing over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the
147 'GIT_SSL_CAINFO' environment variable.
149 http.sslCAPath::
150 Path containing files with the CA certificates to verify the peer
151 with when fetching or pushing over HTTPS. Can be overridden
152 by the 'GIT_SSL_CAPATH' environment variable.
154 http.maxRequests::
155 How many HTTP requests to launch in parallel. Can be overridden
156 by the 'GIT_HTTP_MAX_REQUESTS' environment variable. Default is 5.
158 http.lowSpeedLimit, http.lowSpeedTime::
159 If the HTTP transfer speed is less than 'http.lowSpeedLimit'
160 for longer than 'http.lowSpeedTime' seconds, the transfer is aborted.
161 Can be overridden by the 'GIT_HTTP_LOW_SPEED_LIMIT' and
162 'GIT_HTTP_LOW_SPEED_TIME' environment variables.
164 i18n.commitEncoding::
165 Character encoding the commit messages are stored in; git itself
166 does not care per se, but this information is necessary e.g. when
167 importing commits from emails or in the gitk graphical history
168 browser (and possibly at other places in the future or in other
169 porcelains). See e.g. gitlink:git-mailinfo[1]. Defaults to 'utf-8'.
171 merge.summary::
172 Whether to include summaries of merged commits in newly created
173 merge commit messages. False by default.
175 pull.octopus::
176 The default merge strategy to use when pulling multiple branches
177 at once.
179 pull.twohead::
180 The default merge strategy to use when pulling a single branch.
182 show.difftree::
183 The default gitlink:git-diff-tree[1] arguments to be used
184 for gitlink:git-show[1].
186 showbranch.default::
187 The default set of branches for gitlink:git-show-branch[1].
188 See gitlink:git-show-branch[1].
190 user.email::
191 Your email address to be recorded in any newly created commits.
192 Can be overridden by the 'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL' and 'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL'
193 environment variables. See gitlink:git-commit-tree[1].
195 user.name::
196 Your full name to be recorded in any newly created commits.
197 Can be overridden by the 'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME' and 'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME'
198 environment variables. See gitlink:git-commit-tree[1].
200 whatchanged.difftree::
201 The default gitlink:git-diff-tree[1] arguments to be used
202 for gitlink:git-whatchanged[1].
204 imap::
205 The configuration variables in the 'imap' section are described
206 in gitlink:git-imap-send[1].