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 If true, makes git convert `CRLF` at the end of lines in text files to
122 `LF` when reading from the filesystem, and convert in reverse when
123 writing to the filesystem. The variable can be set to
124 'input', in which case the conversion happens only while
125 reading from the filesystem but files are written out with
126 `LF` at the end of lines. Currently, which paths to consider
127 "text" (i.e. be subjected to the autocrlf mechanism) is
128 decided purely based on the contents.
131 If false, symbolic links are checked out as small plain files that
132 contain the link text. gitlink:git-update-index[1] and
133 gitlink:git-add[1] will not change the recorded type to regular
134 file. Useful on filesystems like FAT that do not support
135 symbolic links. True by default.
138 A "proxy command" to execute (as 'command host port') instead
139 of establishing direct connection to the remote server when
140 using the git protocol for fetching. If the variable value is
141 in the "COMMAND for DOMAIN" format, the command is applied only
142 on hostnames ending with the specified domain string. This variable
143 may be set multiple times and is matched in the given order;
144 the first match wins.
146 Can be overridden by the 'GIT_PROXY_COMMAND' environment variable
147 (which always applies universally, without the special "for"
151 The working copy files are assumed to stay unchanged until you
152 mark them otherwise manually - Git will not detect the file changes
153 by lstat() calls. This is useful on systems where those are very
154 slow, such as Microsoft Windows. See gitlink:git-update-index[1].
157 core.preferSymlinkRefs::
158 Instead of the default "symref" format for HEAD
159 and other symbolic reference files, use symbolic links.
160 This is sometimes needed to work with old scripts that
161 expect HEAD to be a symbolic link.
164 If true this repository is assumed to be 'bare' and has no
165 working directory associated with it. If this is the case a
166 number of commands that require a working directory will be
167 disabled, such as gitlink:git-add[1] or gitlink:git-merge[1].
169 This setting is automatically guessed by gitlink:git-clone[1] or
170 gitlink:git-init[1] when the repository was created. By default a
171 repository that ends in "/.git" is assumed to be not bare (bare =
172 false), while all other repositories are assumed to be bare (bare
175 core.logAllRefUpdates::
176 Updates to a ref <ref> is logged to the file
177 "$GIT_DIR/logs/<ref>", by appending the new and old
178 SHA1, the date/time and the reason of the update, but
179 only when the file exists. If this configuration
180 variable is set to true, missing "$GIT_DIR/logs/<ref>"
181 file is automatically created for branch heads.
183 This information can be used to determine what commit
184 was the tip of a branch "2 days ago".
186 This value is true by default in a repository that has
187 a working directory associated with it, and false by
188 default in a bare repository.
190 core.repositoryFormatVersion::
191 Internal variable identifying the repository format and layout
194 core.sharedRepository::
195 When 'group' (or 'true'), the repository is made shareable between
196 several users in a group (making sure all the files and objects are
197 group-writable). When 'all' (or 'world' or 'everybody'), the
198 repository will be readable by all users, additionally to being
199 group-shareable. When 'umask' (or 'false'), git will use permissions
200 reported by umask(2). See gitlink:git-init[1]. False by default.
202 core.warnAmbiguousRefs::
203 If true, git will warn you if the ref name you passed it is ambiguous
204 and might match multiple refs in the .git/refs/ tree. True by default.
207 An integer -1..9, indicating a default compression level.
208 -1 is the zlib default. 0 means no compression,
209 and 1..9 are various speed/size tradeoffs, 9 being slowest.
211 core.loosecompression::
212 An integer -1..9, indicating the compression level for objects that
213 are not in a pack file. -1 is the zlib default. 0 means no
214 compression, and 1..9 are various speed/size tradeoffs, 9 being
215 slowest. If not set, defaults to core.compression. If that is
216 not set, defaults to 0 (best speed).
218 core.packedGitWindowSize::
219 Number of bytes of a pack file to map into memory in a
220 single mapping operation. Larger window sizes may allow
221 your system to process a smaller number of large pack files
222 more quickly. Smaller window sizes will negatively affect
223 performance due to increased calls to the operating system's
224 memory manager, but may improve performance when accessing
225 a large number of large pack files.
227 Default is 1 MiB if NO_MMAP was set at compile time, otherwise 32
228 MiB on 32 bit platforms and 1 GiB on 64 bit platforms. This should
229 be reasonable for all users/operating systems. You probably do
230 not need to adjust this value.
232 Common unit suffixes of 'k', 'm', or 'g' are supported.
234 core.packedGitLimit::
235 Maximum number of bytes to map simultaneously into memory
236 from pack files. If Git needs to access more than this many
237 bytes at once to complete an operation it will unmap existing
238 regions to reclaim virtual address space within the process.
240 Default is 256 MiB on 32 bit platforms and 8 GiB on 64 bit platforms.
241 This should be reasonable for all users/operating systems, except on
242 the largest projects. You probably do not need to adjust this value.
244 Common unit suffixes of 'k', 'm', or 'g' are supported.
246 core.deltaBaseCacheLimit::
247 Maximum number of bytes to reserve for caching base objects
248 that multiple deltafied objects reference. By storing the
249 entire decompressed base objects in a cache Git is able
250 to avoid unpacking and decompressing frequently used base
251 objects multiple times.
253 Default is 16 MiB on all platforms. This should be reasonable
254 for all users/operating systems, except on the largest projects.
255 You probably do not need to adjust this value.
257 Common unit suffixes of 'k', 'm', or 'g' are supported.
260 In addition to '.gitignore' (per-directory) and
261 '.git/info/exclude', git looks into this file for patterns
262 of files which are not meant to be tracked.
265 Command aliases for the gitlink:git[1] command wrapper - e.g.
266 after defining "alias.last = cat-file commit HEAD", the invocation
267 "git last" is equivalent to "git cat-file commit HEAD". To avoid
268 confusion and troubles with script usage, aliases that
269 hide existing git commands are ignored. Arguments are split by
270 spaces, the usual shell quoting and escaping is supported.
271 quote pair and a backslash can be used to quote them.
273 If the alias expansion is prefixed with an exclamation point,
274 it will be treated as a shell command. For example, defining
275 "alias.new = !gitk --all --not ORIG_HEAD", the invocation
276 "git new" is equivalent to running the shell command
277 "gitk --all --not ORIG_HEAD".
280 Tells `git-apply` how to handle whitespaces, in the same way
281 as the '--whitespace' option. See gitlink:git-apply[1].
283 branch.<name>.remote::
284 When in branch <name>, it tells `git fetch` which remote to fetch.
285 If this option is not given, `git fetch` defaults to remote "origin".
287 branch.<name>.merge::
288 When in branch <name>, it tells `git fetch` the default refspec to
289 be marked for merging in FETCH_HEAD. The value has exactly to match
290 a remote part of one of the refspecs which are fetched from the remote
291 given by "branch.<name>.remote".
292 The merge information is used by `git pull` (which at first calls
293 `git fetch`) to lookup the default branch for merging. Without
294 this option, `git pull` defaults to merge the first refspec fetched.
295 Specify multiple values to get an octopus merge.
296 If you wish to setup `git pull` so that it merges into <name> from
297 another branch in the local repository, you can point
298 branch.<name>.merge to the desired branch, and use the special setting
299 `.` (a period) for branch.<name>.remote.
302 A boolean to make git-clean do nothing unless given -f or -n. Defaults
306 A boolean to enable/disable color in the output of
307 gitlink:git-branch[1]. May be set to `true` (or `always`),
308 `false` (or `never`) or `auto`, in which case colors are used
309 only when the output is to a terminal. Defaults to false.
311 color.branch.<slot>::
312 Use customized color for branch coloration. `<slot>` is one of
313 `current` (the current branch), `local` (a local branch),
314 `remote` (a tracking branch in refs/remotes/), `plain` (other
317 The value for these configuration variables is a list of colors (at most
318 two) and attributes (at most one), separated by spaces. The colors
319 accepted are `normal`, `black`, `red`, `green`, `yellow`, `blue`,
320 `magenta`, `cyan` and `white`; the attributes are `bold`, `dim`, `ul`,
321 `blink` and `reverse`. The first color given is the foreground; the
322 second is the background. The position of the attribute, if any,
326 When true (or `always`), always use colors in patch.
327 When false (or `never`), never. When set to `auto`, use
328 colors only when the output is to the terminal.
331 Use customized color for diff colorization. `<slot>` specifies
332 which part of the patch to use the specified color, and is one
333 of `plain` (context text), `meta` (metainformation), `frag`
334 (hunk header), `old` (removed lines), `new` (added lines),
335 `commit` (commit headers), or `whitespace` (highlighting dubious
336 whitespace). The values of these variables may be specified as
337 in color.branch.<slot>.
340 A boolean to enable/disable colored output when the pager is in
341 use (default is true).
344 A boolean to enable/disable color in the output of
345 gitlink:git-status[1]. May be set to `true` (or `always`),
346 `false` (or `never`) or `auto`, in which case colors are used
347 only when the output is to a terminal. Defaults to false.
349 color.status.<slot>::
350 Use customized color for status colorization. `<slot>` is
351 one of `header` (the header text of the status message),
352 `added` or `updated` (files which are added but not committed),
353 `changed` (files which are changed but not added in the index),
354 or `untracked` (files which are not tracked by git). The values of
355 these variables may be specified as in color.branch.<slot>.
358 The number of files to consider when performing the copy/rename
359 detection; equivalent to the git diff option '-l'.
362 Tells git to detect renames. If set to any boolean value, it
363 will enable basic rename detection. If set to "copies" or
364 "copy", it will detect copies, as well.
367 If the number of objects fetched over the git native
368 transfer is below this
369 limit, then the objects will be unpacked into loose object
370 files. However if the number of received objects equals or
371 exceeds this limit then the received pack will be stored as
372 a pack, after adding any missing delta bases. Storing the
373 pack from a push can make the push operation complete faster,
374 especially on slow filesystems.
377 Additional email headers to include in a patch to be submitted
378 by mail. See gitlink:git-format-patch[1].
381 The default for format-patch is to output files with the suffix
382 `.patch`. Use this variable to change that suffix (make sure to
383 include the dot if you want it).
385 gc.aggressiveWindow::
386 The window size parameter used in the delta compression
387 algorithm used by 'git gc --aggressive'. This defaults
391 `git gc` does not run `git pack-refs` in a bare repository by
392 default so that older dumb-transport clients can still fetch
393 from the repository. Setting this to `true` lets `git
394 gc` to run `git pack-refs`. Setting this to `false` tells
395 `git gc` never to run `git pack-refs`. The default setting is
396 `notbare`. Enable it only when you know you do not have to
397 support such clients. The default setting will change to `true`
398 at some stage, and setting this to `false` will continue to
399 prevent `git pack-refs` from being run from `git gc`.
402 `git reflog expire` removes reflog entries older than
403 this time; defaults to 90 days.
405 gc.reflogexpireunreachable::
406 `git reflog expire` removes reflog entries older than
407 this time and are not reachable from the current tip;
411 Records of conflicted merge you resolved earlier are
412 kept for this many days when `git rerere gc` is run.
413 The default is 60 days. See gitlink:git-rerere[1].
415 gc.rerereunresolved::
416 Records of conflicted merge you have not resolved are
417 kept for this many days when `git rerere gc` is run.
418 The default is 15 days. See gitlink:git-rerere[1].
421 Whether the cvs server interface is enabled for this repository.
422 See gitlink:git-cvsserver[1].
425 Path to a log file where the cvs server interface well... logs
426 various stuff. See gitlink:git-cvsserver[1].
429 If true, all files are sent to the client in mode '-kb'. This
430 causes the client to treat all files as binary files which suppresses
431 any newline munging it otherwise might do. A work-around for the
432 fact that there is no way yet to set single files to mode '-kb'.
435 Database used by git-cvsserver to cache revision information
436 derived from the git repository. The exact meaning depends on the
437 used database driver, for SQLite (which is the default driver) this
438 is a filename. Supports variable substitution (see
439 gitlink:git-cvsserver[1] for details). May not contain semicolons (`;`).
440 Default: '%Ggitcvs.%m.sqlite'
443 Used Perl DBI driver. You can specify any available driver
444 for this here, but it might not work. git-cvsserver is tested
445 with 'DBD::SQLite', reported to work with 'DBD::Pg', and
446 reported *not* to work with 'DBD::mysql'. Experimental feature.
447 May not contain double colons (`:`). Default: 'SQLite'.
448 See gitlink:git-cvsserver[1].
450 gitcvs.dbuser, gitcvs.dbpass::
451 Database user and password. Only useful if setting 'gitcvs.dbdriver',
452 since SQLite has no concept of database users and/or passwords.
453 'gitcvs.dbuser' supports variable substitution (see
454 gitlink:git-cvsserver[1] for details).
456 All gitcvs variables except for 'gitcvs.allbinary' can also specifed
457 as 'gitcvs.<access_method>.<varname>' (where 'access_method' is one
458 of "ext" and "pserver") to make them apply only for the given access
462 Whether to verify the SSL certificate when fetching or pushing
463 over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY' environment
467 File containing the SSL certificate when fetching or pushing
468 over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_CERT' environment
472 File containing the SSL private key when fetching or pushing
473 over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_KEY' environment
477 File containing the certificates to verify the peer with when
478 fetching or pushing over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the
479 'GIT_SSL_CAINFO' environment variable.
482 Path containing files with the CA certificates to verify the peer
483 with when fetching or pushing over HTTPS. Can be overridden
484 by the 'GIT_SSL_CAPATH' environment variable.
487 How many HTTP requests to launch in parallel. Can be overridden
488 by the 'GIT_HTTP_MAX_REQUESTS' environment variable. Default is 5.
490 http.lowSpeedLimit, http.lowSpeedTime::
491 If the HTTP transfer speed is less than 'http.lowSpeedLimit'
492 for longer than 'http.lowSpeedTime' seconds, the transfer is aborted.
493 Can be overridden by the 'GIT_HTTP_LOW_SPEED_LIMIT' and
494 'GIT_HTTP_LOW_SPEED_TIME' environment variables.
497 A boolean which disables using of EPSV ftp command by curl.
498 This can helpful with some "poor" ftp servers which don't
499 support EPSV mode. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_CURL_FTP_NO_EPSV'
500 environment variable. Default is false (curl will use EPSV).
502 i18n.commitEncoding::
503 Character encoding the commit messages are stored in; git itself
504 does not care per se, but this information is necessary e.g. when
505 importing commits from emails or in the gitk graphical history
506 browser (and possibly at other places in the future or in other
507 porcelains). See e.g. gitlink:git-mailinfo[1]. Defaults to 'utf-8'.
509 i18n.logOutputEncoding::
510 Character encoding the commit messages are converted to when
511 running `git-log` and friends.
514 If true, the initial commit will be shown as a big creation event.
515 This is equivalent to a diff against an empty tree.
516 Tools like gitlink:git-log[1] or gitlink:git-whatchanged[1], which
517 normally hide the root commit will now show it. True by default.
520 Whether to include summaries of merged commits in newly created
521 merge commit messages. False by default.
524 Controls which merge resolution program is used by
525 gitlink:git-mergetool[l]. Valid values are: "kdiff3", "tkdiff",
526 "meld", "xxdiff", "emerge", "vimdiff", and "opendiff"
529 Controls the amount of output shown by the recursive merge
530 strategy. Level 0 outputs nothing except a final error
531 message if conflicts were detected. Level 1 outputs only
532 conflicts, 2 outputs conflicts and file changes. Level 5 and
533 above outputs debugging information. The default is level 2.
535 merge.<driver>.name::
536 Defines a human readable name for a custom low-level
537 merge driver. See gitlink:gitattributes[5] for details.
539 merge.<driver>.driver::
540 Defines the command that implements a custom low-level
541 merge driver. See gitlink:gitattributes[5] for details.
543 merge.<driver>.recursive::
544 Names a low-level merge driver to be used when
545 performing an internal merge between common ancestors.
546 See gitlink:gitattributes[5] for details.
549 The size of the window used by gitlink:git-pack-objects[1] when no
550 window size is given on the command line. Defaults to 10.
553 The maximum delta depth used by gitlink:git-pack-objects[1] when no
554 maximum depth is given on the command line. Defaults to 50.
557 An integer -1..9, indicating the compression level for objects
558 in a pack file. -1 is the zlib default. 0 means no
559 compression, and 1..9 are various speed/size tradeoffs, 9 being
560 slowest. If not set, defaults to core.compression. If that is
561 not set, defaults to -1.
564 The default merge strategy to use when pulling multiple branches
568 The default merge strategy to use when pulling a single branch.
571 The URL of a remote repository. See gitlink:git-fetch[1] or
574 remote.<name>.fetch::
575 The default set of "refspec" for gitlink:git-fetch[1]. See
576 gitlink:git-fetch[1].
579 The default set of "refspec" for gitlink:git-push[1]. See
582 remote.<name>.skipDefaultUpdate::
583 If true, this remote will be skipped by default when updating
584 using the remote subcommand of gitlink:git-remote[1].
586 remote.<name>.receivepack::
587 The default program to execute on the remote side when pushing. See
588 option \--exec of gitlink:git-push[1].
590 remote.<name>.uploadpack::
591 The default program to execute on the remote side when fetching. See
592 option \--exec of gitlink:git-fetch-pack[1].
594 remote.<name>.tagopt::
595 Setting this value to --no-tags disables automatic tag following when fetching
599 The list of remotes which are fetched by "git remote update
600 <group>". See gitlink:git-remote[1].
602 repack.usedeltabaseoffset::
603 Allow gitlink:git-repack[1] to create packs that uses
604 delta-base offset. Defaults to false.
607 The default gitlink:git-diff-tree[1] arguments to be used
608 for gitlink:git-show[1].
611 The default set of branches for gitlink:git-show-branch[1].
612 See gitlink:git-show-branch[1].
615 By default, gitlink:git-tar-tree[1] sets file and directories modes
616 to 0666 or 0777. While this is both useful and acceptable for projects
617 such as the Linux Kernel, it might be excessive for other projects.
618 With this variable, it becomes possible to tell
619 gitlink:git-tar-tree[1] to apply a specific umask to the modes above.
620 The special value "user" indicates that the user's current umask will
621 be used. This should be enough for most projects, as it will lead to
622 the same permissions as gitlink:git-checkout[1] would use. The default
623 value remains 0, which means world read-write.
626 Your email address to be recorded in any newly created commits.
627 Can be overridden by the 'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL', 'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL', and
628 'EMAIL' environment variables. See gitlink:git-commit-tree[1].
631 Your full name to be recorded in any newly created commits.
632 Can be overridden by the 'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME' and 'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME'
633 environment variables. See gitlink:git-commit-tree[1].
636 If gitlink:git-tag[1] is not selecting the key you want it to
637 automatically when creating a signed tag, you can override the
638 default selection with this variable. This option is passed
639 unchanged to gpg's --local-user parameter, so you may specify a key
640 using any method that gpg supports.
642 whatchanged.difftree::
643 The default gitlink:git-diff-tree[1] arguments to be used
644 for gitlink:git-whatchanged[1].
647 The configuration variables in the 'imap' section are described
648 in gitlink:git-imap-send[1].
650 receive.unpackLimit::
651 If the number of objects received in a push is below this
652 limit then the objects will be unpacked into loose object
653 files. However if the number of received objects equals or
654 exceeds this limit then the received pack will be stored as
655 a pack, after adding any missing delta bases. Storing the
656 pack from a push can make the push operation complete faster,
657 especially on slow filesystems.
659 receive.denyNonFastForwards::
660 If set to true, git-receive-pack will deny a ref update which is
661 not a fast forward. Use this to prevent such an update via a push,
662 even if that push is forced. This configuration variable is
663 set when initializing a shared repository.
665 transfer.unpackLimit::
666 When `fetch.unpackLimit` or `receive.unpackLimit` are
667 not set, the value of this variable is used instead.