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. The file `/etc/gitconfig`
9 can be used to store system-wide defaults.
11 They can be used by both the git plumbing
12 and the porcelains. The variables are divided into sections, where
13 in the fully qualified variable name the variable itself is the last
14 dot-separated segment and the section name is everything before the last
15 dot. The variable names are case-insensitive and only alphanumeric
16 characters are allowed. Some variables may appear multiple times.
21 The syntax is fairly flexible and permissive; whitespaces are mostly
22 ignored. The '#' and ';' characters begin comments to the end of line,
23 blank lines are ignored.
25 The file consists of sections and variables. A section begins with
26 the name of the section in square brackets and continues until the next
27 section begins. Section names are not case sensitive. Only alphanumeric
28 characters, '`-`' and '`.`' are allowed in section names. Each variable
29 must belong to some section, which means that there must be section
30 header before first setting of a variable.
32 Sections can be further divided into subsections. To begin a subsection
33 put its name in double quotes, separated by space from the section name,
34 in the section header, like in example below:
37 [section "subsection"]
41 Subsection names can contain any characters except newline (doublequote
42 '`"`' and backslash have to be escaped as '`\"`' and '`\\`',
43 respectively) and are case sensitive. Section header cannot span multiple
44 lines. Variables may belong directly to a section or to a given subsection.
45 You can have `[section]` if you have `[section "subsection"]`, but you
48 There is also (case insensitive) alternative `[section.subsection]` syntax.
49 In this syntax subsection names follow the same restrictions as for section
52 All the other lines are recognized as setting variables, in the form
53 'name = value'. If there is no equal sign on the line, the entire line
54 is taken as 'name' and the variable is recognized as boolean "true".
55 The variable names are case-insensitive and only alphanumeric
56 characters and '`-`' are allowed. There can be more than one value
57 for a given variable; we say then that variable is multivalued.
59 Leading and trailing whitespace in a variable value is discarded.
60 Internal whitespace within a variable value is retained verbatim.
62 The values following the equals sign in variable assign are all either
63 a string, an integer, or a boolean. Boolean values may be given as yes/no,
64 0/1 or true/false. Case is not significant in boolean values, when
65 converting value to the canonical form using '--bool' type specifier;
66 `git-config` will ensure that the output is "true" or "false".
68 String values may be entirely or partially enclosed in double quotes.
69 You need to enclose variable value in double quotes if you want to
70 preserve leading or trailing whitespace, or if variable value contains
71 beginning of comment characters (if it contains '#' or ';').
72 Double quote '`"`' and backslash '`\`' characters in variable value must
73 be escaped: use '`\"`' for '`"`' and '`\\`' for '`\`'.
75 The following escape sequences (beside '`\"`' and '`\\`') are recognized:
76 '`\n`' for newline character (NL), '`\t`' for horizontal tabulation (HT, TAB)
77 and '`\b`' for backspace (BS). No other char escape sequence, nor octal
78 char sequences are valid.
80 Variable value ending in a '`\`' is continued on the next line in the
81 customary UNIX fashion.
83 Some variables may require special value format.
90 ; Don't trust file modes
95 external = "/usr/local/bin/gnu-diff -u"
100 merge = refs/heads/devel
104 gitProxy="ssh" for "ssh://kernel.org/"
105 gitProxy=default-proxy ; for the rest
110 Note that this list is non-comprehensive and not necessarily complete.
111 For command-specific variables, you will find a more detailed description
112 in the appropriate manual page. You will find a description of non-core
113 porcelain configuration variables in the respective porcelain documentation.
116 If false, the executable bit differences between the index and
117 the working copy are ignored; useful on broken filesystems like FAT.
118 See gitlink:git-update-index[1]. True by default.
121 A "proxy command" to execute (as 'command host port') instead
122 of establishing direct connection to the remote server when
123 using the git protocol for fetching. If the variable value is
124 in the "COMMAND for DOMAIN" format, the command is applied only
125 on hostnames ending with the specified domain string. This variable
126 may be set multiple times and is matched in the given order;
127 the first match wins.
129 Can be overridden by the 'GIT_PROXY_COMMAND' environment variable
130 (which always applies universally, without the special "for"
134 The working copy files are assumed to stay unchanged until you
135 mark them otherwise manually - Git will not detect the file changes
136 by lstat() calls. This is useful on systems where those are very
137 slow, such as Microsoft Windows. See gitlink:git-update-index[1].
140 core.preferSymlinkRefs::
141 Instead of the default "symref" format for HEAD
142 and other symbolic reference files, use symbolic links.
143 This is sometimes needed to work with old scripts that
144 expect HEAD to be a symbolic link.
147 If true this repository is assumed to be 'bare' and has no
148 working directory associated with it. If this is the case a
149 number of commands that require a working directory will be
150 disabled, such as gitlink:git-add[1] or gitlink:git-merge[1].
152 This setting is automatically guessed by gitlink:git-clone[1] or
153 gitlink:git-init[1] when the repository was created. By default a
154 repository that ends in "/.git" is assumed to be not bare (bare =
155 false), while all other repositories are assumed to be bare (bare
158 core.logAllRefUpdates::
159 Updates to a ref <ref> is logged to the file
160 "$GIT_DIR/logs/<ref>", by appending the new and old
161 SHA1, the date/time and the reason of the update, but
162 only when the file exists. If this configuration
163 variable is set to true, missing "$GIT_DIR/logs/<ref>"
164 file is automatically created for branch heads.
166 This information can be used to determine what commit
167 was the tip of a branch "2 days ago".
169 This value is true by default in a repository that has
170 a working directory associated with it, and false by
171 default in a bare repository.
173 core.repositoryFormatVersion::
174 Internal variable identifying the repository format and layout
177 core.sharedRepository::
178 When 'group' (or 'true'), the repository is made shareable between
179 several users in a group (making sure all the files and objects are
180 group-writable). When 'all' (or 'world' or 'everybody'), the
181 repository will be readable by all users, additionally to being
182 group-shareable. When 'umask' (or 'false'), git will use permissions
183 reported by umask(2). See gitlink:git-init[1]. False by default.
185 core.warnAmbiguousRefs::
186 If true, git will warn you if the ref name you passed it is ambiguous
187 and might match multiple refs in the .git/refs/ tree. True by default.
190 An integer -1..9, indicating the compression level for objects that
191 are not in a pack file. -1 is the zlib and git default. 0 means no
192 compression, and 1..9 are various speed/size tradeoffs, 9 being
197 changes the format of loose objects so that they are more
198 efficient to pack and to send out of the repository over git
199 native protocol, since v1.4.2. However, loose objects
200 written in the new format cannot be read by git older than
201 that version; people fetching from your repository using
202 older versions of git over dumb transports (e.g. http)
203 will also be affected.
205 To let git use the new loose object format, you have to
206 set core.legacyheaders to false.
208 core.packedGitWindowSize::
209 Number of bytes of a pack file to map into memory in a
210 single mapping operation. Larger window sizes may allow
211 your system to process a smaller number of large pack files
212 more quickly. Smaller window sizes will negatively affect
213 performance due to increased calls to the operating system's
214 memory manager, but may improve performance when accessing
215 a large number of large pack files.
217 Default is 1 MiB if NO_MMAP was set at compile time, otherwise 32
218 MiB on 32 bit platforms and 1 GiB on 64 bit platforms. This should
219 be reasonable for all users/operating systems. You probably do
220 not need to adjust this value.
222 Common unit suffixes of 'k', 'm', or 'g' are supported.
224 core.packedGitLimit::
225 Maximum number of bytes to map simultaneously into memory
226 from pack files. If Git needs to access more than this many
227 bytes at once to complete an operation it will unmap existing
228 regions to reclaim virtual address space within the process.
230 Default is 256 MiB on 32 bit platforms and 8 GiB on 64 bit platforms.
231 This should be reasonable for all users/operating systems, except on
232 the largest projects. You probably do not need to adjust this value.
234 Common unit suffixes of 'k', 'm', or 'g' are supported.
237 Command aliases for the gitlink:git[1] command wrapper - e.g.
238 after defining "alias.last = cat-file commit HEAD", the invocation
239 "git last" is equivalent to "git cat-file commit HEAD". To avoid
240 confusion and troubles with script usage, aliases that
241 hide existing git commands are ignored. Arguments are split by
242 spaces, the usual shell quoting and escaping is supported.
243 quote pair and a backslash can be used to quote them.
245 If the alias expansion is prefixed with an exclamation point,
246 it will be treated as a shell command. For example, defining
247 "alias.new = !gitk --all --not ORIG_HEAD", the invocation
248 "git new" is equivalent to running the shell command
249 "gitk --all --not ORIG_HEAD".
252 Tells `git-apply` how to handle whitespaces, in the same way
253 as the '--whitespace' option. See gitlink:git-apply[1].
255 branch.<name>.remote::
256 When in branch <name>, it tells `git fetch` which remote to fetch.
257 If this option is not given, `git fetch` defaults to remote "origin".
259 branch.<name>.merge::
260 When in branch <name>, it tells `git fetch` the default refspec to
261 be marked for merging in FETCH_HEAD. The value has exactly to match
262 a remote part of one of the refspecs which are fetched from the remote
263 given by "branch.<name>.remote".
264 The merge information is used by `git pull` (which at first calls
265 `git fetch`) to lookup the default branch for merging. Without
266 this option, `git pull` defaults to merge the first refspec fetched.
267 Specify multiple values to get an octopus merge.
270 A boolean to enable/disable color in the output of
271 gitlink:git-branch[1]. May be set to `true` (or `always`),
272 `false` (or `never`) or `auto`, in which case colors are used
273 only when the output is to a terminal. Defaults to false.
275 color.branch.<slot>::
276 Use customized color for branch coloration. `<slot>` is one of
277 `current` (the current branch), `local` (a local branch),
278 `remote` (a tracking branch in refs/remotes/), `plain` (other
281 The value for these configuration variables is a list of colors (at most
282 two) and attributes (at most one), separated by spaces. The colors
283 accepted are `normal`, `black`, `red`, `green`, `yellow`, `blue`,
284 `magenta`, `cyan` and `white`; the attributes are `bold`, `dim`, `ul`,
285 `blink` and `reverse`. The first color given is the foreground; the
286 second is the background. The position of the attribute, if any,
290 When true (or `always`), always use colors in patch.
291 When false (or `never`), never. When set to `auto`, use
292 colors only when the output is to the terminal.
295 Use customized color for diff colorization. `<slot>` specifies
296 which part of the patch to use the specified color, and is one
297 of `plain` (context text), `meta` (metainformation), `frag`
298 (hunk header), `old` (removed lines), `new` (added lines),
299 `commit` (commit headers), or `whitespace` (highlighting dubious
300 whitespace). The values of these variables may be specified as
301 in color.branch.<slot>.
304 A boolean to enable/disable colored output when the pager is in
305 use (default is true).
308 A boolean to enable/disable color in the output of
309 gitlink:git-status[1]. May be set to `true` (or `always`),
310 `false` (or `never`) or `auto`, in which case colors are used
311 only when the output is to a terminal. Defaults to false.
313 color.status.<slot>::
314 Use customized color for status colorization. `<slot>` is
315 one of `header` (the header text of the status message),
316 `added` or `updated` (files which are added but not committed),
317 `changed` (files which are changed but not added in the index),
318 or `untracked` (files which are not tracked by git). The values of
319 these variables may be specified as in color.branch.<slot>.
322 The number of files to consider when performing the copy/rename
323 detection; equivalent to the git diff option '-l'.
326 Tells git to detect renames. If set to any boolean value, it
327 will enable basic rename detection. If set to "copies" or
328 "copy", it will detect copies, as well.
331 If the number of objects fetched over the git native
332 transfer is below this
333 limit, then the objects will be unpacked into loose object
334 files. However if the number of received objects equals or
335 exceeds this limit then the received pack will be stored as
336 a pack, after adding any missing delta bases. Storing the
337 pack from a push can make the push operation complete faster,
338 especially on slow filesystems.
341 Additional email headers to include in a patch to be submitted
342 by mail. See gitlink:git-format-patch[1].
345 The default for format-patch is to output files with the suffix
346 `.patch`. Use this variable to change that suffix (make sure to
347 include the dot if you want it).
350 `git gc` does not run `git pack-refs` in a bare repository by
351 default so that older dumb-transport clients can still fetch
352 from the repository. Setting this to `true` lets `git
353 gc` to run `git pack-refs`. Setting this to `false` tells
354 `git gc` never to run `git pack-refs`. The default setting is
355 `notbare`. Enable it only when you know you do not have to
356 support such clients. The default setting will change to `true`
357 at some stage, and setting this to `false` will continue to
358 prevent `git pack-refs` from being run from `git gc`.
361 `git reflog expire` removes reflog entries older than
362 this time; defaults to 90 days.
364 gc.reflogexpireunreachable::
365 `git reflog expire` removes reflog entries older than
366 this time and are not reachable from the current tip;
370 Records of conflicted merge you resolved earlier are
371 kept for this many days when `git rerere gc` is run.
372 The default is 60 days. See gitlink:git-rerere[1].
374 gc.rerereunresolved::
375 Records of conflicted merge you have not resolved are
376 kept for this many days when `git rerere gc` is run.
377 The default is 15 days. See gitlink:git-rerere[1].
380 Whether the cvs pserver interface is enabled for this repository.
381 See gitlink:git-cvsserver[1].
384 Path to a log file where the cvs pserver interface well... logs
385 various stuff. See gitlink:git-cvsserver[1].
388 Whether to verify the SSL certificate when fetching or pushing
389 over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY' environment
393 File containing the SSL certificate when fetching or pushing
394 over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_CERT' environment
398 File containing the SSL private key when fetching or pushing
399 over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_KEY' environment
403 File containing the certificates to verify the peer with when
404 fetching or pushing over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the
405 'GIT_SSL_CAINFO' environment variable.
408 Path containing files with the CA certificates to verify the peer
409 with when fetching or pushing over HTTPS. Can be overridden
410 by the 'GIT_SSL_CAPATH' environment variable.
413 How many HTTP requests to launch in parallel. Can be overridden
414 by the 'GIT_HTTP_MAX_REQUESTS' environment variable. Default is 5.
416 http.lowSpeedLimit, http.lowSpeedTime::
417 If the HTTP transfer speed is less than 'http.lowSpeedLimit'
418 for longer than 'http.lowSpeedTime' seconds, the transfer is aborted.
419 Can be overridden by the 'GIT_HTTP_LOW_SPEED_LIMIT' and
420 'GIT_HTTP_LOW_SPEED_TIME' environment variables.
423 A boolean which disables using of EPSV ftp command by curl.
424 This can helpful with some "poor" ftp servers which doesn't
425 support EPSV mode. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_CURL_FTP_NO_EPSV'
426 environment variable. Default is false (curl will use EPSV).
428 i18n.commitEncoding::
429 Character encoding the commit messages are stored in; git itself
430 does not care per se, but this information is necessary e.g. when
431 importing commits from emails or in the gitk graphical history
432 browser (and possibly at other places in the future or in other
433 porcelains). See e.g. gitlink:git-mailinfo[1]. Defaults to 'utf-8'.
435 i18n.logOutputEncoding::
436 Character encoding the commit messages are converted to when
437 running `git-log` and friends.
440 If true, the initial commit will be shown as a big creation event.
441 This is equivalent to a diff against an empty tree.
442 Tools like gitlink:git-log[1] or gitlink:git-whatchanged[1], which
443 normally hide the root commit will now show it. True by default.
446 Whether to include summaries of merged commits in newly created
447 merge commit messages. False by default.
450 Controls the amount of output shown by the recursive merge
451 strategy. Level 0 outputs nothing except a final error
452 message if conflicts were detected. Level 1 outputs only
453 conflicts, 2 outputs conflicts and file changes. Level 5 and
454 above outputs debugging information. The default is level 2.
457 The size of the window used by gitlink:git-pack-objects[1] when no
458 window size is given on the command line. Defaults to 10.
461 The default merge strategy to use when pulling multiple branches
465 The default merge strategy to use when pulling a single branch.
468 The URL of a remote repository. See gitlink:git-fetch[1] or
471 remote.<name>.fetch::
472 The default set of "refspec" for gitlink:git-fetch[1]. See
473 gitlink:git-fetch[1].
476 The default set of "refspec" for gitlink:git-push[1]. See
479 remote.<name>.skipDefaultUpdate::
480 If true, this remote will be skipped by default when updating
481 using the remote subcommand of gitlink:git-remote[1].
483 remote.<name>.receivepack::
484 The default program to execute on the remote side when pushing. See
485 option \--exec of gitlink:git-push[1].
487 remote.<name>.uploadpack::
488 The default program to execute on the remote side when fetching. See
489 option \--exec of gitlink:git-fetch-pack[1].
491 remote.<name>.tagopt::
492 Setting this value to --no-tags disables automatic tag following when fetching
496 The list of remotes which are fetched by "git remote update
497 <group>". See gitlink:git-remote[1].
499 repack.usedeltabaseoffset::
500 Allow gitlink:git-repack[1] to create packs that uses
501 delta-base offset. Defaults to false.
504 The default gitlink:git-diff-tree[1] arguments to be used
505 for gitlink:git-show[1].
508 The default set of branches for gitlink:git-show-branch[1].
509 See gitlink:git-show-branch[1].
512 By default, gitlink:git-tar-tree[1] sets file and directories modes
513 to 0666 or 0777. While this is both useful and acceptable for projects
514 such as the Linux Kernel, it might be excessive for other projects.
515 With this variable, it becomes possible to tell
516 gitlink:git-tar-tree[1] to apply a specific umask to the modes above.
517 The special value "user" indicates that the user's current umask will
518 be used. This should be enough for most projects, as it will lead to
519 the same permissions as gitlink:git-checkout[1] would use. The default
520 value remains 0, which means world read-write.
523 Your email address to be recorded in any newly created commits.
524 Can be overridden by the 'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL' and 'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL'
525 environment variables. See gitlink:git-commit-tree[1].
528 Your full name to be recorded in any newly created commits.
529 Can be overridden by the 'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME' and 'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME'
530 environment variables. See gitlink:git-commit-tree[1].
533 If gitlink:git-tag[1] is not selecting the key you want it to
534 automatically when creating a signed tag, you can override the
535 default selection with this variable. This option is passed
536 unchanged to gpg's --local-user parameter, so you may specify a key
537 using any method that gpg supports.
539 whatchanged.difftree::
540 The default gitlink:git-diff-tree[1] arguments to be used
541 for gitlink:git-whatchanged[1].
544 The configuration variables in the 'imap' section are described
545 in gitlink:git-imap-send[1].
547 receive.unpackLimit::
548 If the number of objects received in a push is below this
549 limit then the objects will be unpacked into loose object
550 files. However if the number of received objects equals or
551 exceeds this limit then the received pack will be stored as
552 a pack, after adding any missing delta bases. Storing the
553 pack from a push can make the push operation complete faster,
554 especially on slow filesystems.
556 receive.denyNonFastForwards::
557 If set to true, git-receive-pack will deny a ref update which is
558 not a fast forward. Use this to prevent such an update via a push,
559 even if that push is forced. This configuration variable is
560 set when initializing a shared repository.
562 transfer.unpackLimit::
563 When `fetch.unpackLimit` or `receive.unpackLimit` are
564 not set, the value of this variable is used instead.