1 CONFIGURATION FILE
2 ------------------
4 The git configuration file contains a number of variables that affect
5 the git command's behavior. `.git/config` file for each repository
6 is used to store the information for that repository, and
7 `$HOME/.gitconfig` is used to store per user information to give
8 fallback values for `.git/config` file.
10 They can be used by both the git plumbing
11 and the porcelains. The variables are divided into sections, where
12 in the fully qualified variable name the variable itself is the last
13 dot-separated segment and the section name is everything before the last
14 dot. The variable names are case-insensitive and only alphanumeric
15 characters are allowed. Some variables may appear multiple times.
17 Syntax
18 ~~~~~~
20 The syntax is fairly flexible and permissive; whitespaces are mostly
21 ignored. The '#' and ';' characters begin comments to the end of line,
22 blank lines are ignored.
24 The file consists of sections and variables. A section begins with
25 the name of the section in square brackets and continues until the next
26 section begins. Section names are not case sensitive. Only alphanumeric
27 characters, '`-`' and '`.`' are allowed in section names. Each variable
28 must belong to some section, which means that there must be section
29 header before first setting of a variable.
31 Sections can be further divided into subsections. To begin a subsection
32 put its name in double quotes, separated by space from the section name,
33 in the section header, like in example below:
35 --------
36 [section "subsection"]
38 --------
40 Subsection names can contain any characters except newline (doublequote
41 '`"`' and backslash have to be escaped as '`\"`' and '`\\`',
42 respectively) and are case sensitive. Section header cannot span multiple
43 lines. Variables may belong directly to a section or to a given subsection.
44 You can have `[section]` if you have `[section "subsection"]`, but you
45 don't need to.
47 There is also (case insensitive) alternative `[section.subsection]` syntax.
48 In this syntax subsection names follow the same restrictions as for section
49 name.
51 All the other lines are recognized as setting variables, in the form
52 'name = value'. If there is no equal sign on the line, the entire line
53 is taken as 'name' and the variable is recognized as boolean "true".
54 The variable names are case-insensitive and only alphanumeric
55 characters and '`-`' are allowed. There can be more than one value
56 for a given variable; we say then that variable is multivalued.
58 Leading and trailing whitespace in a variable value is discarded.
59 Internal whitespace within a variable value is retained verbatim.
61 The values following the equals sign in variable assign are all either
62 a string, an integer, or a boolean. Boolean values may be given as yes/no,
63 0/1 or true/false. Case is not significant in boolean values, when
64 converting value to the canonical form using '--bool' type specifier;
65 `git-config` will ensure that the output is "true" or "false".
67 String values may be entirely or partially enclosed in double quotes.
68 You need to enclose variable value in double quotes if you want to
69 preserve leading or trailing whitespace, or if variable value contains
70 beginning of comment characters (if it contains '#' or ';').
71 Double quote '`"`' and backslash '`\`' characters in variable value must
72 be escaped: use '`\"`' for '`"`' and '`\\`' for '`\`'.
74 The following escape sequences (beside '`\"`' and '`\\`') are recognized:
75 '`\n`' for newline character (NL), '`\t`' for horizontal tabulation (HT, TAB)
76 and '`\b`' for backspace (BS). No other char escape sequence, nor octal
77 char sequences are valid.
79 Variable value ending in a '`\`' is continued on the next line in the
80 customary UNIX fashion.
82 Some variables may require special value format.
84 Example
85 ~~~~~~~
87 # Core variables
88 [core]
89 ; Don't trust file modes
90 filemode = false
92 # Our diff algorithm
93 [diff]
94 external = "/usr/local/bin/gnu-diff -u"
95 renames = true
97 [branch "devel"]
98 remote = origin
99 merge = refs/heads/devel
101 # Proxy settings
102 [core]
103 gitProxy="ssh" for "ssh://kernel.org/"
104 gitProxy=default-proxy ; for the rest
106 Variables
107 ~~~~~~~~~
109 Note that this list is non-comprehensive and not necessarily complete.
110 For command-specific variables, you will find a more detailed description
111 in the appropriate manual page. You will find a description of non-core
112 porcelain configuration variables in the respective porcelain documentation.
114 core.fileMode::
115 If false, the executable bit differences between the index and
116 the working copy are ignored; useful on broken filesystems like FAT.
117 See gitlink:git-update-index[1]. True by default.
119 core.gitProxy::
120 A "proxy command" to execute (as 'command host port') instead
121 of establishing direct connection to the remote server when
122 using the git protocol for fetching. If the variable value is
123 in the "COMMAND for DOMAIN" format, the command is applied only
124 on hostnames ending with the specified domain string. This variable
125 may be set multiple times and is matched in the given order;
126 the first match wins.
127 +
128 Can be overridden by the 'GIT_PROXY_COMMAND' environment variable
129 (which always applies universally, without the special "for"
130 handling).
132 core.ignoreStat::
133 The working copy files are assumed to stay unchanged until you
134 mark them otherwise manually - Git will not detect the file changes
135 by lstat() calls. This is useful on systems where those are very
136 slow, such as Microsoft Windows. See gitlink:git-update-index[1].
137 False by default.
139 core.preferSymlinkRefs::
140 Instead of the default "symref" format for HEAD
141 and other symbolic reference files, use symbolic links.
142 This is sometimes needed to work with old scripts that
143 expect HEAD to be a symbolic link.
145 core.logAllRefUpdates::
146 Updates to a ref <ref> is logged to the file
147 "$GIT_DIR/logs/<ref>", by appending the new and old
148 SHA1, the date/time and the reason of the update, but
149 only when the file exists. If this configuration
150 variable is set to true, missing "$GIT_DIR/logs/<ref>"
151 file is automatically created for branch heads.
152 +
153 This information can be used to determine what commit
154 was the tip of a branch "2 days ago".
155 +
156 This value is true by default in a repository that has
157 a working directory associated with it, and false by
158 default in a bare repository.
160 core.repositoryFormatVersion::
161 Internal variable identifying the repository format and layout
162 version.
164 core.sharedRepository::
165 When 'group' (or 'true'), the repository is made shareable between
166 several users in a group (making sure all the files and objects are
167 group-writable). When 'all' (or 'world' or 'everybody'), the
168 repository will be readable by all users, additionally to being
169 group-shareable. When 'umask' (or 'false'), git will use permissions
170 reported by umask(2). See gitlink:git-init[1]. False by default.
172 core.warnAmbiguousRefs::
173 If true, git will warn you if the ref name you passed it is ambiguous
174 and might match multiple refs in the .git/refs/ tree. True by default.
176 core.compression::
177 An integer -1..9, indicating the compression level for objects that
178 are not in a pack file. -1 is the zlib and git default. 0 means no
179 compression, and 1..9 are various speed/size tradeoffs, 9 being
180 slowest.
182 core.legacyheaders::
183 A boolean which enables the legacy object header format in case
184 you want to interoperate with old clients accessing the object
185 database directly (where the "http://" and "rsync://" protocols
186 count as direct access).
188 core.packedGitWindowSize::
189 Number of bytes of a pack file to map into memory in a
190 single mapping operation. Larger window sizes may allow
191 your system to process a smaller number of large pack files
192 more quickly. Smaller window sizes will negatively affect
193 performance due to increased calls to the operating system's
194 memory manager, but may improve performance when accessing
195 a large number of large pack files.
196 +
197 Default is 1 MiB if NO_MMAP was set at compile time, otherwise 32
198 MiB on 32 bit platforms and 1 GiB on 64 bit platforms. This should
199 be reasonable for all users/operating systems. You probably do
200 not need to adjust this value.
201 +
202 Common unit suffixes of 'k', 'm', or 'g' are supported.
204 core.packedGitLimit::
205 Maximum number of bytes to map simultaneously into memory
206 from pack files. If Git needs to access more than this many
207 bytes at once to complete an operation it will unmap existing
208 regions to reclaim virtual address space within the process.
209 +
210 Default is 256 MiB on 32 bit platforms and 8 GiB on 64 bit platforms.
211 This should be reasonable for all users/operating systems, except on
212 the largest projects. You probably do not need to adjust this value.
213 +
214 Common unit suffixes of 'k', 'm', or 'g' are supported.
216 alias.*::
217 Command aliases for the gitlink:git[1] command wrapper - e.g.
218 after defining "alias.last = cat-file commit HEAD", the invocation
219 "git last" is equivalent to "git cat-file commit HEAD". To avoid
220 confusion and troubles with script usage, aliases that
221 hide existing git commands are ignored. Arguments are split by
222 spaces, the usual shell quoting and escaping is supported.
223 quote pair and a backslash can be used to quote them.
225 If the alias expansion is prefixed with an exclamation point,
226 it will be treated as a shell command. For example, defining
227 "alias.new = !gitk --all --not ORIG_HEAD", the invocation
228 "git new" is equivalent to running the shell command
229 "gitk --all --not ORIG_HEAD".
231 apply.whitespace::
232 Tells `git-apply` how to handle whitespaces, in the same way
233 as the '--whitespace' option. See gitlink:git-apply[1].
235 branch.<name>.remote::
236 When in branch <name>, it tells `git fetch` which remote to fetch.
237 If this option is not given, `git fetch` defaults to remote "origin".
239 branch.<name>.merge::
240 When in branch <name>, it tells `git fetch` the default refspec to
241 be marked for merging in FETCH_HEAD. The value has exactly to match
242 a remote part of one of the refspecs which are fetched from the remote
243 given by "branch.<name>.remote".
244 The merge information is used by `git pull` (which at first calls
245 `git fetch`) to lookup the default branch for merging. Without
246 this option, `git pull` defaults to merge the first refspec fetched.
247 Specify multiple values to get an octopus merge.
249 color.branch::
250 A boolean to enable/disable color in the output of
251 gitlink:git-branch[1]. May be set to `true` (or `always`),
252 `false` (or `never`) or `auto`, in which case colors are used
253 only when the output is to a terminal. Defaults to false.
255 color.branch.<slot>::
256 Use customized color for branch coloration. `<slot>` is one of
257 `current` (the current branch), `local` (a local branch),
258 `remote` (a tracking branch in refs/remotes/), `plain` (other
259 refs).
260 +
261 The value for these configuration variables is a list of colors (at most
262 two) and attributes (at most one), separated by spaces. The colors
263 accepted are `normal`, `black`, `red`, `green`, `yellow`, `blue`,
264 `magenta`, `cyan` and `white`; the attributes are `bold`, `dim`, `ul`,
265 `blink` and `reverse`. The first color given is the foreground; the
266 second is the background. The position of the attribute, if any,
267 doesn't matter.
269 color.diff::
270 When true (or `always`), always use colors in patch.
271 When false (or `never`), never. When set to `auto`, use
272 colors only when the output is to the terminal.
274 color.diff.<slot>::
275 Use customized color for diff colorization. `<slot>` specifies
276 which part of the patch to use the specified color, and is one
277 of `plain` (context text), `meta` (metainformation), `frag`
278 (hunk header), `old` (removed lines), `new` (added lines),
279 `commit` (commit headers), or `whitespace` (highlighting dubious
280 whitespace). The values of these variables may be specified as
281 in color.branch.<slot>.
283 color.pager::
284 A boolean to enable/disable colored output when the pager is in
285 use (default is true).
287 color.status::
288 A boolean to enable/disable color in the output of
289 gitlink:git-status[1]. May be set to `true` (or `always`),
290 `false` (or `never`) or `auto`, in which case colors are used
291 only when the output is to a terminal. Defaults to false.
293 color.status.<slot>::
294 Use customized color for status colorization. `<slot>` is
295 one of `header` (the header text of the status message),
296 `added` or `updated` (files which are added but not committed),
297 `changed` (files which are changed but not added in the index),
298 or `untracked` (files which are not tracked by git). The values of
299 these variables may be specified as in color.branch.<slot>.
301 diff.renameLimit::
302 The number of files to consider when performing the copy/rename
303 detection; equivalent to the git diff option '-l'.
305 diff.renames::
306 Tells git to detect renames. If set to any boolean value, it
307 will enable basic rename detection. If set to "copies" or
308 "copy", it will detect copies, as well.
310 fetch.unpackLimit::
311 If the number of objects fetched over the git native
312 transfer is below this
313 limit, then the objects will be unpacked into loose object
314 files. However if the number of received objects equals or
315 exceeds this limit then the received pack will be stored as
316 a pack, after adding any missing delta bases. Storing the
317 pack from a push can make the push operation complete faster,
318 especially on slow filesystems.
320 format.headers::
321 Additional email headers to include in a patch to be submitted
322 by mail. See gitlink:git-format-patch[1].
324 gc.reflogexpire::
325 `git reflog expire` removes reflog entries older than
326 this time; defaults to 90 days.
328 gc.reflogexpireunreachable::
329 `git reflog expire` removes reflog entries older than
330 this time and are not reachable from the current tip;
331 defaults to 30 days.
333 gc.rerereresolved::
334 Records of conflicted merge you resolved earlier are
335 kept for this many days when `git rerere gc` is run.
336 The default is 60 days. See gitlink:git-rerere[1].
338 gc.rerereunresolved::
339 Records of conflicted merge you have not resolved are
340 kept for this many days when `git rerere gc` is run.
341 The default is 15 days. See gitlink:git-rerere[1].
343 gitcvs.enabled::
344 Whether the cvs pserver interface is enabled for this repository.
345 See gitlink:git-cvsserver[1].
347 gitcvs.logfile::
348 Path to a log file where the cvs pserver interface well... logs
349 various stuff. See gitlink:git-cvsserver[1].
351 http.sslVerify::
352 Whether to verify the SSL certificate when fetching or pushing
353 over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY' environment
354 variable.
356 http.sslCert::
357 File containing the SSL certificate when fetching or pushing
358 over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_CERT' environment
359 variable.
361 http.sslKey::
362 File containing the SSL private key when fetching or pushing
363 over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_KEY' environment
364 variable.
366 http.sslCAInfo::
367 File containing the certificates to verify the peer with when
368 fetching or pushing over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the
369 'GIT_SSL_CAINFO' environment variable.
371 http.sslCAPath::
372 Path containing files with the CA certificates to verify the peer
373 with when fetching or pushing over HTTPS. Can be overridden
374 by the 'GIT_SSL_CAPATH' environment variable.
376 http.maxRequests::
377 How many HTTP requests to launch in parallel. Can be overridden
378 by the 'GIT_HTTP_MAX_REQUESTS' environment variable. Default is 5.
380 http.lowSpeedLimit, http.lowSpeedTime::
381 If the HTTP transfer speed is less than 'http.lowSpeedLimit'
382 for longer than 'http.lowSpeedTime' seconds, the transfer is aborted.
383 Can be overridden by the 'GIT_HTTP_LOW_SPEED_LIMIT' and
384 'GIT_HTTP_LOW_SPEED_TIME' environment variables.
386 http.noEPSV::
387 A boolean which disables using of EPSV ftp command by curl.
388 This can helpful with some "poor" ftp servers which doesn't
389 support EPSV mode. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_CURL_FTP_NO_EPSV'
390 environment variable. Default is false (curl will use EPSV).
392 i18n.commitEncoding::
393 Character encoding the commit messages are stored in; git itself
394 does not care per se, but this information is necessary e.g. when
395 importing commits from emails or in the gitk graphical history
396 browser (and possibly at other places in the future or in other
397 porcelains). See e.g. gitlink:git-mailinfo[1]. Defaults to 'utf-8'.
399 i18n.logOutputEncoding::
400 Character encoding the commit messages are converted to when
401 running `git-log` and friends.
403 log.showroot::
404 If true, the initial commit will be shown as a big creation event.
405 This is equivalent to a diff against an empty tree.
406 Tools like gitlink:git-log[1] or gitlink:git-whatchanged[1], which
407 normally hide the root commit will now show it. True by default.
409 merge.summary::
410 Whether to include summaries of merged commits in newly created
411 merge commit messages. False by default.
413 merge.verbosity::
414 Controls the amount of output shown by the recursive merge
415 strategy. Level 0 outputs nothing except a final error
416 message if conflicts were detected. Level 1 outputs only
417 conflicts, 2 outputs conflicts and file changes. Level 5 and
418 above outputs debugging information. The default is level 2.
420 pack.window::
421 The size of the window used by gitlink:git-pack-objects[1] when no
422 window size is given on the command line. Defaults to 10.
424 pull.octopus::
425 The default merge strategy to use when pulling multiple branches
426 at once.
428 pull.twohead::
429 The default merge strategy to use when pulling a single branch.
431 remote.<name>.url::
432 The URL of a remote repository. See gitlink:git-fetch[1] or
433 gitlink:git-push[1].
435 remote.<name>.fetch::
436 The default set of "refspec" for gitlink:git-fetch[1]. See
437 gitlink:git-fetch[1].
439 remote.<name>.push::
440 The default set of "refspec" for gitlink:git-push[1]. See
441 gitlink:git-push[1].
443 remote.<name>.receivepack::
444 The default program to execute on the remote side when pushing. See
445 option \--exec of gitlink:git-push[1].
447 remote.<name>.uploadpack::
448 The default program to execute on the remote side when fetching. See
449 option \--exec of gitlink:git-fetch-pack[1].
451 repack.usedeltabaseoffset::
452 Allow gitlink:git-repack[1] to create packs that uses
453 delta-base offset. Defaults to false.
455 show.difftree::
456 The default gitlink:git-diff-tree[1] arguments to be used
457 for gitlink:git-show[1].
459 showbranch.default::
460 The default set of branches for gitlink:git-show-branch[1].
461 See gitlink:git-show-branch[1].
463 tar.umask::
464 By default, gitlink:git-tar-tree[1] sets file and directories modes
465 to 0666 or 0777. While this is both useful and acceptable for projects
466 such as the Linux Kernel, it might be excessive for other projects.
467 With this variable, it becomes possible to tell
468 gitlink:git-tar-tree[1] to apply a specific umask to the modes above.
469 The special value "user" indicates that the user's current umask will
470 be used. This should be enough for most projects, as it will lead to
471 the same permissions as gitlink:git-checkout[1] would use. The default
472 value remains 0, which means world read-write.
474 user.email::
475 Your email address to be recorded in any newly created commits.
476 Can be overridden by the 'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL' and 'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL'
477 environment variables. See gitlink:git-commit-tree[1].
479 user.name::
480 Your full name to be recorded in any newly created commits.
481 Can be overridden by the 'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME' and 'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME'
482 environment variables. See gitlink:git-commit-tree[1].
484 user.signingkey::
485 If gitlink:git-tag[1] is not selecting the key you want it to
486 automatically when creating a signed tag, you can override the
487 default selection with this variable. This option is passed
488 unchanged to gpg's --local-user parameter, so you may specify a key
489 using any method that gpg supports.
491 whatchanged.difftree::
492 The default gitlink:git-diff-tree[1] arguments to be used
493 for gitlink:git-whatchanged[1].
495 imap::
496 The configuration variables in the 'imap' section are described
497 in gitlink:git-imap-send[1].
499 receive.unpackLimit::
500 If the number of objects received in a push is below this
501 limit then the objects will be unpacked into loose object
502 files. However if the number of received objects equals or
503 exceeds this limit then the received pack will be stored as
504 a pack, after adding any missing delta bases. Storing the
505 pack from a push can make the push operation complete faster,
506 especially on slow filesystems.
508 receive.denyNonFastForwards::
509 If set to true, git-receive-pack will deny a ref update which is
510 not a fast forward. Use this to prevent such an update via a push,
511 even if that push is forced. This configuration variable is
512 set when initializing a shared repository.
514 transfer.unpackLimit::
515 When `fetch.unpackLimit` or `receive.unpackLimit` are
516 not set, the value of this variable is used instead.