Documentation/config.txt

   1 CONFIGURATION FILE
   2 ------------------
   3
   4 The Git configuration file contains a number of variables that affect
   5 the Git commands' behavior. The files `.git/config` and optionally
   6 `config.worktree` (see `extensions.worktreeConfig` below) in each
   7 repository are used to store the configuration for that repository, and
   8 `$HOME/.gitconfig` is used to store a per-user configuration as
   9 fallback values for the `.git/config` file. The file `/etc/gitconfig`
  10 can be used to store a system-wide default configuration.
  11
  12 The configuration variables are used by both the Git plumbing
  13 and the porcelains. The variables are divided into sections, wherein
  14 the fully qualified variable name of the variable itself is the last
  15 dot-separated segment and the section name is everything before the last
  16 dot. The variable names are case-insensitive, allow only alphanumeric
  17 characters and `-`, and must start with an alphabetic character.  Some
  18 variables may appear multiple times; we say then that the variable is
  19 multivalued.
  20
  21 Syntax
  22 ~~~~~~
  23
  24 The syntax is fairly flexible and permissive; whitespaces are mostly
  25 ignored.  The '#' and ';' characters begin comments to the end of line,
  26 blank lines are ignored.
  27
  28 The file consists of sections and variables.  A section begins with
  29 the name of the section in square brackets and continues until the next
  30 section begins.  Section names are case-insensitive.  Only alphanumeric
  31 characters, `-` and `.` are allowed in section names.  Each variable
  32 must belong to some section, which means that there must be a section
  33 header before the first setting of a variable.
  34
  35 Sections can be further divided into subsections.  To begin a subsection
  36 put its name in double quotes, separated by space from the section name,
  37 in the section header, like in the example below:
  38
  39 --------
  40         [section "subsection"]
  41
  42 --------
  43
  44 Subsection names are case sensitive and can contain any characters except
  45 newline and the null byte. Doublequote `"` and backslash can be included
  46 by escaping them as `\"` and `\\`, respectively. Backslashes preceding
  47 other characters are dropped when reading; for example, `\t` is read as
  48 `t` and `\0` is read as `0` Section headers cannot span multiple lines.
  49 Variables may belong directly to a section or to a given subsection. You
  50 can have `[section]` if you have `[section "subsection"]`, but you don't
  51 need to.
  52
  53 There is also a deprecated `[section.subsection]` syntax. With this
  54 syntax, the subsection name is converted to lower-case and is also
  55 compared case sensitively. These subsection names follow the same
  56 restrictions as section names.
  57
  58 All the other lines (and the remainder of the line after the section
  59 header) are recognized as setting variables, in the form
  60 'name = value' (or just 'name', which is a short-hand to say that
  61 the variable is the boolean "true").
  62 The variable names are case-insensitive, allow only alphanumeric characters
  63 and `-`, and must start with an alphabetic character.
  64
  65 A line that defines a value can be continued to the next line by
  66 ending it with a `\`; the backquote and the end-of-line are
  67 stripped.  Leading whitespaces after 'name =', the remainder of the
  68 line after the first comment character '#' or ';', and trailing
  69 whitespaces of the line are discarded unless they are enclosed in
  70 double quotes.  Internal whitespaces within the value are retained
  71 verbatim.
  72
  73 Inside double quotes, double quote `"` and backslash `\` characters
  74 must be escaped: use `\"` for `"` and `\\` for `\`.
  75
  76 The following escape sequences (beside `\"` and `\\`) are recognized:
  77 `\n` for newline character (NL), `\t` for horizontal tabulation (HT, TAB)
  78 and `\b` for backspace (BS).  Other char escape sequences (including octal
  79 escape sequences) are invalid.
  80
  81
  82 Includes
  83 ~~~~~~~~
  84
  85 The `include` and `includeIf` sections allow you to include config
  86 directives from another source. These sections behave identically to
  87 each other with the exception that `includeIf` sections may be ignored
  88 if their condition does not evaluate to true; see "Conditional includes"
  89 below.
  90
  91 You can include a config file from another by setting the special
  92 `include.path` (or `includeIf.*.path`) variable to the name of the file
  93 to be included. The variable takes a pathname as its value, and is
  94 subject to tilde expansion. These variables can be given multiple times.
  95
  96 The contents of the included file are inserted immediately, as if they
  97 had been found at the location of the include directive. If the value of the
  98 variable is a relative path, the path is considered to
  99 be relative to the configuration file in which the include directive
 100 was found.  See below for examples.
 101
 102 Conditional includes
 103 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 104
 105 You can include a config file from another conditionally by setting a
 106 `includeIf.<condition>.path` variable to the name of the file to be
 107 included.
 108
 109 The condition starts with a keyword followed by a colon and some data
 110 whose format and meaning depends on the keyword. Supported keywords
 111 are:
 112
 113 `gitdir`::
 114
 115         The data that follows the keyword `gitdir:` is used as a glob
 116         pattern. If the location of the .git directory matches the
 117         pattern, the include condition is met.
 118 +
 119 The .git location may be auto-discovered, or come from `$GIT_DIR`
 120 environment variable. If the repository is auto discovered via a .git
 121 file (e.g. from submodules, or a linked worktree), the .git location
 122 would be the final location where the .git directory is, not where the
 123 .git file is.
 124 +
 125 The pattern can contain standard globbing wildcards and two additional
 126 ones, `**/` and `/**`, that can match multiple path components. Please
 127 refer to linkgit:gitignore[5] for details. For convenience:
 128
 129  * If the pattern starts with `~/`, `~` will be substituted with the
 130    content of the environment variable `HOME`.
 131
 132  * If the pattern starts with `./`, it is replaced with the directory
 133    containing the current config file.
 134
 135  * If the pattern does not start with either `~/`, `./` or `/`, `**/`
 136    will be automatically prepended. For example, the pattern `foo/bar`
 137    becomes `**/foo/bar` and would match `/any/path/to/foo/bar`.
 138
 139  * If the pattern ends with `/`, `**` will be automatically added. For
 140    example, the pattern `foo/` becomes `foo/**`. In other words, it
 141    matches "foo" and everything inside, recursively.
 142
 143 `gitdir/i`::
 144         This is the same as `gitdir` except that matching is done
 145         case-insensitively (e.g. on case-insensitive file sytems)
 146
 147 `onbranch`::
 148         The data that follows the keyword `onbranch:` is taken to be a
 149         pattern with standard globbing wildcards and two additional
 150         ones, `**/` and `/**`, that can match multiple path components.
 151         If we are in a worktree where the name of the branch that is
 152         currently checked out matches the pattern, the include condition
 153         is met.
 154 +
 155 If the pattern ends with `/`, `**` will be automatically added. For
 156 example, the pattern `foo/` becomes `foo/**`. In other words, it matches
 157 all branches that begin with `foo/`. This is useful if your branches are
 158 organized hierarchically and you would like to apply a configuration to
 159 all the branches in that hierarchy.
 160
 161 A few more notes on matching via `gitdir` and `gitdir/i`:
 162
 163  * Symlinks in `$GIT_DIR` are not resolved before matching.
 164
 165  * Both the symlink & realpath versions of paths will be matched
 166    outside of `$GIT_DIR`. E.g. if ~/git is a symlink to
 167    /mnt/storage/git, both `gitdir:~/git` and `gitdir:/mnt/storage/git`
 168    will match.
 169 +
 170 This was not the case in the initial release of this feature in
 171 v2.13.0, which only matched the realpath version. Configuration that
 172 wants to be compatible with the initial release of this feature needs
 173 to either specify only the realpath version, or both versions.
 174
 175  * Note that "../" is not special and will match literally, which is
 176    unlikely what you want.
 177
 178 Example
 179 ~~~~~~~
 180
 181 ----
 182 # Core variables
 183 [core]
 184         ; Don't trust file modes
 185         filemode = false
 186
 187 # Our diff algorithm
 188 [diff]
 189         external = /usr/local/bin/diff-wrapper
 190         renames = true
 191
 192 [branch "devel"]
 193         remote = origin
 194         merge = refs/heads/devel
 195
 196 # Proxy settings
 197 [core]
 198         gitProxy="ssh" for "kernel.org"
 199         gitProxy=default-proxy ; for the rest
 200
 201 [include]
 202         path = /path/to/foo.inc ; include by absolute path
 203         path = foo.inc ; find "foo.inc" relative to the current file
 204         path = ~/foo.inc ; find "foo.inc" in your `$HOME` directory
 205
 206 ; include if $GIT_DIR is /path/to/foo/.git
 207 [includeIf "gitdir:/path/to/foo/.git"]
 208         path = /path/to/foo.inc
 209
 210 ; include for all repositories inside /path/to/group
 211 [includeIf "gitdir:/path/to/group/"]
 212         path = /path/to/foo.inc
 213
 214 ; include for all repositories inside $HOME/to/group
 215 [includeIf "gitdir:~/to/group/"]
 216         path = /path/to/foo.inc
 217
 218 ; relative paths are always relative to the including
 219 ; file (if the condition is true); their location is not
 220 ; affected by the condition
 221 [includeIf "gitdir:/path/to/group/"]
 222         path = foo.inc
 223 ----
 224
 225         ; include only if we are in a worktree where foo-branch is
 226         ; currently checked out
 227         [includeIf "onbranch:foo-branch"]
 228                 path = foo.inc
 229
 230 Values
 231 ~~~~~~
 232
 233 Values of many variables are treated as a simple string, but there
 234 are variables that take values of specific types and there are rules
 235 as to how to spell them.
 236
 237 boolean::
 238
 239        When a variable is said to take a boolean value, many
 240        synonyms are accepted for 'true' and 'false'; these are all
 241        case-insensitive.
 242
 243         true;; Boolean true literals are `yes`, `on`, `true`,
 244                 and `1`.  Also, a variable defined without `= <value>`
 245                 is taken as true.
 246
 247         false;; Boolean false literals are `no`, `off`, `false`,
 248                 `0` and the empty string.
 249 +
 250 When converting a value to its canonical form using the `--type=bool` type
 251 specifier, 'git config' will ensure that the output is "true" or
 252 "false" (spelled in lowercase).
 253
 254 integer::
 255        The value for many variables that specify various sizes can
 256        be suffixed with `k`, `M`,... to mean "scale the number by
 257        1024", "by 1024x1024", etc.
 258
 259 color::
 260        The value for a variable that takes a color is a list of
 261        colors (at most two, one for foreground and one for background)
 262        and attributes (as many as you want), separated by spaces.
 263 +
 264 The basic colors accepted are `normal`, `black`, `red`, `green`, `yellow`,
 265 `blue`, `magenta`, `cyan` and `white`.  The first color given is the
 266 foreground; the second is the background.
 267 +
 268 Colors may also be given as numbers between 0 and 255; these use ANSI
 269 256-color mode (but note that not all terminals may support this).  If
 270 your terminal supports it, you may also specify 24-bit RGB values as
 271 hex, like `#ff0ab3`.
 272 +
 273 The accepted attributes are `bold`, `dim`, `ul`, `blink`, `reverse`,
 274 `italic`, and `strike` (for crossed-out or "strikethrough" letters).
 275 The position of any attributes with respect to the colors
 276 (before, after, or in between), doesn't matter. Specific attributes may
 277 be turned off by prefixing them with `no` or `no-` (e.g., `noreverse`,
 278 `no-ul`, etc).
 279 +
 280 An empty color string produces no color effect at all. This can be used
 281 to avoid coloring specific elements without disabling color entirely.
 282 +
 283 For git's pre-defined color slots, the attributes are meant to be reset
 284 at the beginning of each item in the colored output. So setting
 285 `color.decorate.branch` to `black` will paint that branch name in a
 286 plain `black`, even if the previous thing on the same output line (e.g.
 287 opening parenthesis before the list of branch names in `log --decorate`
 288 output) is set to be painted with `bold` or some other attribute.
 289 However, custom log formats may do more complicated and layered
 290 coloring, and the negated forms may be useful there.
 291
 292 pathname::
 293         A variable that takes a pathname value can be given a
 294         string that begins with "`~/`" or "`~user/`", and the usual
 295         tilde expansion happens to such a string: `~/`
 296         is expanded to the value of `$HOME`, and `~user/` to the
 297         specified user's home directory.
 298
 299
 300 Variables
 301 ~~~~~~~~~
 302
 303 Note that this list is non-comprehensive and not necessarily complete.
 304 For command-specific variables, you will find a more detailed description
 305 in the appropriate manual page.
 306
 307 Other git-related tools may and do use their own variables.  When
 308 inventing new variables for use in your own tool, make sure their
 309 names do not conflict with those that are used by Git itself and
 310 other popular tools, and describe them in your documentation.
 311
 312 include::config/advice.txt[]
 313
 314 include::config/core.txt[]
 315
 316 include::config/add.txt[]
 317
 318 include::config/alias.txt[]
 319
 320 include::config/am.txt[]
 321
 322 include::config/apply.txt[]
 323
 324 include::config/blame.txt[]
 325
 326 include::config/branch.txt[]
 327
 328 include::config/browser.txt[]
 329
 330 include::config/checkout.txt[]
 331
 332 include::config/clean.txt[]
 333
 334 include::config/color.txt[]
 335
 336 include::config/column.txt[]
 337
 338 include::config/commit.txt[]
 339
 340 include::config/credential.txt[]
 341
 342 include::config/completion.txt[]
 343
 344 include::config/diff.txt[]
 345
 346 include::config/difftool.txt[]
 347
 348 include::config/fastimport.txt[]
 349
 350 include::config/feature.txt[]
 351
 352 include::config/fetch.txt[]
 353
 354 include::config/format.txt[]
 355
 356 include::config/filter.txt[]
 357
 358 include::config/fsck.txt[]
 359
 360 include::config/gc.txt[]
 361
 362 include::config/gitcvs.txt[]
 363
 364 include::config/gitweb.txt[]
 365
 366 include::config/grep.txt[]
 367
 368 include::config/gpg.txt[]
 369
 370 include::config/gui.txt[]
 371
 372 include::config/guitool.txt[]
 373
 374 include::config/help.txt[]
 375
 376 include::config/http.txt[]
 377
 378 include::config/i18n.txt[]
 379
 380 include::config/imap.txt[]
 381
 382 include::config/index.txt[]
 383
 384 include::config/init.txt[]
 385
 386 include::config/instaweb.txt[]
 387
 388 include::config/interactive.txt[]
 389
 390 include::config/log.txt[]
 391
 392 include::config/mailinfo.txt[]
 393
 394 include::config/mailmap.txt[]
 395
 396 include::config/man.txt[]
 397
 398 include::config/merge.txt[]
 399
 400 include::config/mergetool.txt[]
 401
 402 include::config/notes.txt[]
 403
 404 include::config/pack.txt[]
 405
 406 include::config/pager.txt[]
 407
 408 include::config/pretty.txt[]
 409
 410 include::config/protocol.txt[]
 411
 412 include::config/pull.txt[]
 413
 414 include::config/push.txt[]
 415
 416 include::config/rebase.txt[]
 417
 418 include::config/receive.txt[]
 419
 420 include::config/remote.txt[]
 421
 422 include::config/remotes.txt[]
 423
 424 include::config/repack.txt[]
 425
 426 include::config/rerere.txt[]
 427
 428 include::config/reset.txt[]
 429
 430 include::config/sendemail.txt[]
 431
 432 include::config/sequencer.txt[]
 433
 434 include::config/showbranch.txt[]
 435
 436 include::config/splitindex.txt[]
 437
 438 include::config/ssh.txt[]
 439
 440 include::config/status.txt[]
 441
 442 include::config/stash.txt[]
 443
 444 include::config/submodule.txt[]
 445
 446 include::config/tag.txt[]
 447
 448 include::config/trace2.txt[]
 449
 450 include::config/transfer.txt[]
 451
 452 include::config/uploadarchive.txt[]
 453
 454 include::config/uploadpack.txt[]
 455
 456 include::config/url.txt[]
 457
 458 include::config/user.txt[]
 459
 460 include::config/versionsort.txt[]
 461
 462 include::config/web.txt[]
 463
 464 include::config/worktree.txt[]