Documentation / config.txton commit diff.c: emit_add_line() takes only the rest of the line (018cff7)
   1CONFIGURATION FILE
   2------------------
   3
   4The git configuration file contains a number of variables that affect
   5the git command's behavior. `.git/config` file for each repository
   6is used to store the information for that repository, and
   7`$HOME/.gitconfig` is used to store per user information to give
   8fallback values for `.git/config` file. The file `/etc/gitconfig`
   9can be used to store system-wide defaults.
  10
  11They can be used by both the git plumbing
  12and the porcelains. The variables are divided into sections, where
  13in the fully qualified variable name the variable itself is the last
  14dot-separated segment and the section name is everything before the last
  15dot. The variable names are case-insensitive and only alphanumeric
  16characters are allowed. Some variables may appear multiple times.
  17
  18Syntax
  19~~~~~~
  20
  21The syntax is fairly flexible and permissive; whitespaces are mostly
  22ignored.  The '#' and ';' characters begin comments to the end of line,
  23blank lines are ignored.
  24
  25The file consists of sections and variables.  A section begins with
  26the name of the section in square brackets and continues until the next
  27section begins.  Section names are not case sensitive.  Only alphanumeric
  28characters, '`-`' and '`.`' are allowed in section names.  Each variable
  29must belong to some section, which means that there must be section
  30header before first setting of a variable.
  31
  32Sections can be further divided into subsections.  To begin a subsection
  33put its name in double quotes, separated by space from the section name,
  34in the section header, like in example below:
  35
  36--------
  37        [section "subsection"]
  38
  39--------
  40
  41Subsection names can contain any characters except newline (doublequote
  42'`"`' and backslash have to be escaped as '`\"`' and '`\\`',
  43respectively) and are case sensitive.  Section header cannot span multiple
  44lines.  Variables may belong directly to a section or to a given subsection.
  45You can have `[section]` if you have `[section "subsection"]`, but you
  46don't need to.
  47
  48There is also (case insensitive) alternative `[section.subsection]` syntax.
  49In this syntax subsection names follow the same restrictions as for section
  50name.
  51
  52All 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
  54is taken as 'name' and the variable is recognized as boolean "true".
  55The variable names are case-insensitive and only alphanumeric
  56characters and '`-`' are allowed.  There can be more than one value
  57for a given variable; we say then that variable is multivalued.
  58
  59Leading and trailing whitespace in a variable value is discarded.
  60Internal whitespace within a variable value is retained verbatim.
  61
  62The values following the equals sign in variable assign are all either
  63a string, an integer, or a boolean.  Boolean values may be given as yes/no,
  640/1 or true/false.  Case is not significant in boolean values, when
  65converting value to the canonical form using '--bool' type specifier;
  66'git-config' will ensure that the output is "true" or "false".
  67
  68String values may be entirely or partially enclosed in double quotes.
  69You need to enclose variable value in double quotes if you want to
  70preserve leading or trailing whitespace, or if variable value contains
  71beginning of comment characters (if it contains '#' or ';').
  72Double quote '`"`' and backslash '`\`' characters in variable value must
  73be escaped: use '`\"`' for '`"`' and '`\\`' for '`\`'.
  74
  75The following escape sequences (beside '`\"`' and '`\\`') are recognized:
  76'`\n`' for newline character (NL), '`\t`' for horizontal tabulation (HT, TAB)
  77and '`\b`' for backspace (BS).  No other char escape sequence, nor octal
  78char sequences are valid.
  79
  80Variable value ending in a '`\`' is continued on the next line in the
  81customary UNIX fashion.
  82
  83Some variables may require special value format.
  84
  85Example
  86~~~~~~~
  87
  88        # Core variables
  89        [core]
  90                ; Don't trust file modes
  91                filemode = false
  92
  93        # Our diff algorithm
  94        [diff]
  95                external = /usr/local/bin/diff-wrapper
  96                renames = true
  97
  98        [branch "devel"]
  99                remote = origin
 100                merge = refs/heads/devel
 101
 102        # Proxy settings
 103        [core]
 104                gitProxy="ssh" for "kernel.org"
 105                gitProxy=default-proxy ; for the rest
 106
 107Variables
 108~~~~~~~~~
 109
 110Note that this list is non-comprehensive and not necessarily complete.
 111For command-specific variables, you will find a more detailed description
 112in the appropriate manual page. You will find a description of non-core
 113porcelain configuration variables in the respective porcelain documentation.
 114
 115core.fileMode::
 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 linkgit:git-update-index[1]. True by default.
 119
 120core.trustctime::
 121        If false, the ctime differences between the index and the
 122        working copy are ignored; useful when the inode change time
 123        is regularly modified by something outside Git (file system
 124        crawlers and some backup systems).
 125        See linkgit:git-update-index[1]. True by default.
 126
 127core.quotepath::
 128        The commands that output paths (e.g. 'ls-files',
 129        'diff'), when not given the `-z` option, will quote
 130        "unusual" characters in the pathname by enclosing the
 131        pathname in a double-quote pair and with backslashes the
 132        same way strings in C source code are quoted.  If this
 133        variable is set to false, the bytes higher than 0x80 are
 134        not quoted but output as verbatim.  Note that double
 135        quote, backslash and control characters are always
 136        quoted without `-z` regardless of the setting of this
 137        variable.
 138
 139core.autocrlf::
 140        If true, makes git convert `CRLF` at the end of lines in text files to
 141        `LF` when reading from the filesystem, and convert in reverse when
 142        writing to the filesystem.  The variable can be set to
 143        'input', in which case the conversion happens only while
 144        reading from the filesystem but files are written out with
 145        `LF` at the end of lines.  Currently, which paths to consider
 146        "text" (i.e. be subjected to the autocrlf mechanism) is
 147        decided purely based on the contents.
 148
 149core.safecrlf::
 150        If true, makes git check if converting `CRLF` as controlled by
 151        `core.autocrlf` is reversible.  Git will verify if a command
 152        modifies a file in the work tree either directly or indirectly.
 153        For example, committing a file followed by checking out the
 154        same file should yield the original file in the work tree.  If
 155        this is not the case for the current setting of
 156        `core.autocrlf`, git will reject the file.  The variable can
 157        be set to "warn", in which case git will only warn about an
 158        irreversible conversion but continue the operation.
 159+
 160CRLF conversion bears a slight chance of corrupting data.
 161autocrlf=true will convert CRLF to LF during commit and LF to
 162CRLF during checkout.  A file that contains a mixture of LF and
 163CRLF before the commit cannot be recreated by git.  For text
 164files this is the right thing to do: it corrects line endings
 165such that we have only LF line endings in the repository.
 166But for binary files that are accidentally classified as text the
 167conversion can corrupt data.
 168+
 169If you recognize such corruption early you can easily fix it by
 170setting the conversion type explicitly in .gitattributes.  Right
 171after committing you still have the original file in your work
 172tree and this file is not yet corrupted.  You can explicitly tell
 173git that this file is binary and git will handle the file
 174appropriately.
 175+
 176Unfortunately, the desired effect of cleaning up text files with
 177mixed line endings and the undesired effect of corrupting binary
 178files cannot be distinguished.  In both cases CRLFs are removed
 179in an irreversible way.  For text files this is the right thing
 180to do because CRLFs are line endings, while for binary files
 181converting CRLFs corrupts data.
 182+
 183Note, this safety check does not mean that a checkout will generate a
 184file identical to the original file for a different setting of
 185`core.autocrlf`, but only for the current one.  For example, a text
 186file with `LF` would be accepted with `core.autocrlf=input` and could
 187later be checked out with `core.autocrlf=true`, in which case the
 188resulting file would contain `CRLF`, although the original file
 189contained `LF`.  However, in both work trees the line endings would be
 190consistent, that is either all `LF` or all `CRLF`, but never mixed.  A
 191file with mixed line endings would be reported by the `core.safecrlf`
 192mechanism.
 193
 194core.symlinks::
 195        If false, symbolic links are checked out as small plain files that
 196        contain the link text. linkgit:git-update-index[1] and
 197        linkgit:git-add[1] will not change the recorded type to regular
 198        file. Useful on filesystems like FAT that do not support
 199        symbolic links. True by default.
 200
 201core.gitProxy::
 202        A "proxy command" to execute (as 'command host port') instead
 203        of establishing direct connection to the remote server when
 204        using the git protocol for fetching. If the variable value is
 205        in the "COMMAND for DOMAIN" format, the command is applied only
 206        on hostnames ending with the specified domain string. This variable
 207        may be set multiple times and is matched in the given order;
 208        the first match wins.
 209+
 210Can be overridden by the 'GIT_PROXY_COMMAND' environment variable
 211(which always applies universally, without the special "for"
 212handling).
 213
 214core.ignoreStat::
 215        If true, commands which modify both the working tree and the index
 216        will mark the updated paths with the "assume unchanged" bit in the
 217        index. These marked files are then assumed to stay unchanged in the
 218        working copy, until you mark them otherwise manually - Git will not
 219        detect the file changes by lstat() calls. This is useful on systems
 220        where those are very slow, such as Microsoft Windows.
 221        See linkgit:git-update-index[1].
 222        False by default.
 223
 224core.preferSymlinkRefs::
 225        Instead of the default "symref" format for HEAD
 226        and other symbolic reference files, use symbolic links.
 227        This is sometimes needed to work with old scripts that
 228        expect HEAD to be a symbolic link.
 229
 230core.bare::
 231        If true this repository is assumed to be 'bare' and has no
 232        working directory associated with it.  If this is the case a
 233        number of commands that require a working directory will be
 234        disabled, such as linkgit:git-add[1] or linkgit:git-merge[1].
 235+
 236This setting is automatically guessed by linkgit:git-clone[1] or
 237linkgit:git-init[1] when the repository was created.  By default a
 238repository that ends in "/.git" is assumed to be not bare (bare =
 239false), while all other repositories are assumed to be bare (bare
 240= true).
 241
 242core.worktree::
 243        Set the path to the working tree.  The value will not be
 244        used in combination with repositories found automatically in
 245        a .git directory (i.e. $GIT_DIR is not set).
 246        This can be overridden by the GIT_WORK_TREE environment
 247        variable and the '--work-tree' command line option. It can be
 248        a absolute path or relative path to the directory specified by
 249        --git-dir or GIT_DIR.
 250        Note: If --git-dir or GIT_DIR are specified but none of
 251        --work-tree, GIT_WORK_TREE and core.worktree is specified,
 252        the current working directory is regarded as the top directory
 253        of your working tree.
 254
 255core.logAllRefUpdates::
 256        Enable the reflog. Updates to a ref <ref> is logged to the file
 257        "$GIT_DIR/logs/<ref>", by appending the new and old
 258        SHA1, the date/time and the reason of the update, but
 259        only when the file exists.  If this configuration
 260        variable is set to true, missing "$GIT_DIR/logs/<ref>"
 261        file is automatically created for branch heads.
 262+
 263This information can be used to determine what commit
 264was the tip of a branch "2 days ago".
 265+
 266This value is true by default in a repository that has
 267a working directory associated with it, and false by
 268default in a bare repository.
 269
 270core.repositoryFormatVersion::
 271        Internal variable identifying the repository format and layout
 272        version.
 273
 274core.sharedRepository::
 275        When 'group' (or 'true'), the repository is made shareable between
 276        several users in a group (making sure all the files and objects are
 277        group-writable). When 'all' (or 'world' or 'everybody'), the
 278        repository will be readable by all users, additionally to being
 279        group-shareable. When 'umask' (or 'false'), git will use permissions
 280        reported by umask(2). When '0xxx', where '0xxx' is an octal number,
 281        files in the repository will have this mode value. '0xxx' will override
 282        user's umask value, and thus, users with a safe umask (0077) can use
 283        this option. Examples: '0660' is equivalent to 'group'. '0640' is a
 284        repository that is group-readable but not group-writable.
 285        See linkgit:git-init[1]. False by default.
 286
 287core.warnAmbiguousRefs::
 288        If true, git will warn you if the ref name you passed it is ambiguous
 289        and might match multiple refs in the .git/refs/ tree. True by default.
 290
 291core.compression::
 292        An integer -1..9, indicating a default compression level.
 293        -1 is the zlib default. 0 means no compression,
 294        and 1..9 are various speed/size tradeoffs, 9 being slowest.
 295        If set, this provides a default to other compression variables,
 296        such as 'core.loosecompression' and 'pack.compression'.
 297
 298core.loosecompression::
 299        An integer -1..9, indicating the compression level for objects that
 300        are not in a pack file. -1 is the zlib default. 0 means no
 301        compression, and 1..9 are various speed/size tradeoffs, 9 being
 302        slowest.  If not set,  defaults to core.compression.  If that is
 303        not set,  defaults to 1 (best speed).
 304
 305core.packedGitWindowSize::
 306        Number of bytes of a pack file to map into memory in a
 307        single mapping operation.  Larger window sizes may allow
 308        your system to process a smaller number of large pack files
 309        more quickly.  Smaller window sizes will negatively affect
 310        performance due to increased calls to the operating system's
 311        memory manager, but may improve performance when accessing
 312        a large number of large pack files.
 313+
 314Default is 1 MiB if NO_MMAP was set at compile time, otherwise 32
 315MiB on 32 bit platforms and 1 GiB on 64 bit platforms.  This should
 316be reasonable for all users/operating systems.  You probably do
 317not need to adjust this value.
 318+
 319Common unit suffixes of 'k', 'm', or 'g' are supported.
 320
 321core.packedGitLimit::
 322        Maximum number of bytes to map simultaneously into memory
 323        from pack files.  If Git needs to access more than this many
 324        bytes at once to complete an operation it will unmap existing
 325        regions to reclaim virtual address space within the process.
 326+
 327Default is 256 MiB on 32 bit platforms and 8 GiB on 64 bit platforms.
 328This should be reasonable for all users/operating systems, except on
 329the largest projects.  You probably do not need to adjust this value.
 330+
 331Common unit suffixes of 'k', 'm', or 'g' are supported.
 332
 333core.deltaBaseCacheLimit::
 334        Maximum number of bytes to reserve for caching base objects
 335        that multiple deltafied objects reference.  By storing the
 336        entire decompressed base objects in a cache Git is able
 337        to avoid unpacking and decompressing frequently used base
 338        objects multiple times.
 339+
 340Default is 16 MiB on all platforms.  This should be reasonable
 341for all users/operating systems, except on the largest projects.
 342You probably do not need to adjust this value.
 343+
 344Common unit suffixes of 'k', 'm', or 'g' are supported.
 345
 346core.excludesfile::
 347        In addition to '.gitignore' (per-directory) and
 348        '.git/info/exclude', git looks into this file for patterns
 349        of files which are not meant to be tracked.  See
 350        linkgit:gitignore[5].
 351
 352core.editor::
 353        Commands such as `commit` and `tag` that lets you edit
 354        messages by launching an editor uses the value of this
 355        variable when it is set, and the environment variable
 356        `GIT_EDITOR` is not set.  The order of preference is
 357        `GIT_EDITOR` environment, `core.editor`, `VISUAL` and
 358        `EDITOR` environment variables and then finally `vi`.
 359
 360core.pager::
 361        The command that git will use to paginate output.  Can
 362        be overridden with the `GIT_PAGER` environment
 363        variable.  Note that git sets the `LESS` environment
 364        variable to `FRSX` if it is unset when it runs the
 365        pager.  One can change these settings by setting the
 366        `LESS` variable to some other value.  Alternately,
 367        these settings can be overridden on a project or
 368        global basis by setting the `core.pager` option.
 369        Setting `core.pager` has no affect on the `LESS`
 370        environment variable behaviour above, so if you want
 371        to override git's default settings this way, you need
 372        to be explicit.  For example, to disable the S option
 373        in a backward compatible manner, set `core.pager`
 374        to "`less -+$LESS -FRX`".  This will be passed to the
 375        shell by git, which will translate the final command to
 376        "`LESS=FRSX less -+FRSX -FRX`".
 377
 378core.whitespace::
 379        A comma separated list of common whitespace problems to
 380        notice.  'git-diff' will use `color.diff.whitespace` to
 381        highlight them, and 'git-apply --whitespace=error' will
 382        consider them as errors.  You can prefix `-` to disable
 383        any of them (e.g. `-trailing-space`):
 384+
 385* `blank-at-eol` treats trailing whitespaces at the end of the line
 386  as an error (enabled by default).
 387* `space-before-tab` treats a space character that appears immediately
 388  before a tab character in the initial indent part of the line as an
 389  error (enabled by default).
 390* `indent-with-non-tab` treats a line that is indented with 8 or more
 391  space characters as an error (not enabled by default).
 392* `blank-at-eof` treats blank lines added at the end of file as an error
 393  (enabled by default).
 394* `trailing-space` is a short-hand to cover both `blank-at-eol` and
 395  `blank-at-eof`.
 396* `cr-at-eol` treats a carriage-return at the end of line as
 397  part of the line terminator, i.e. with it, `trailing-space`
 398  does not trigger if the character before such a carriage-return
 399  is not a whitespace (not enabled by default).
 400
 401core.fsyncobjectfiles::
 402        This boolean will enable 'fsync()' when writing object files.
 403+
 404This is a total waste of time and effort on a filesystem that orders
 405data writes properly, but can be useful for filesystems that do not use
 406journalling (traditional UNIX filesystems) or that only journal metadata
 407and not file contents (OS X's HFS+, or Linux ext3 with "data=writeback").
 408
 409alias.*::
 410        Command aliases for the linkgit:git[1] command wrapper - e.g.
 411        after defining "alias.last = cat-file commit HEAD", the invocation
 412        "git last" is equivalent to "git cat-file commit HEAD". To avoid
 413        confusion and troubles with script usage, aliases that
 414        hide existing git commands are ignored. Arguments are split by
 415        spaces, the usual shell quoting and escaping is supported.
 416        quote pair and a backslash can be used to quote them.
 417+
 418If the alias expansion is prefixed with an exclamation point,
 419it will be treated as a shell command.  For example, defining
 420"alias.new = !gitk --all --not ORIG_HEAD", the invocation
 421"git new" is equivalent to running the shell command
 422"gitk --all --not ORIG_HEAD".
 423
 424apply.whitespace::
 425        Tells 'git-apply' how to handle whitespaces, in the same way
 426        as the '--whitespace' option. See linkgit:git-apply[1].
 427
 428branch.autosetupmerge::
 429        Tells 'git-branch' and 'git-checkout' to setup new branches
 430        so that linkgit:git-pull[1] will appropriately merge from the
 431        starting point branch. Note that even if this option is not set,
 432        this behavior can be chosen per-branch using the `--track`
 433        and `--no-track` options. The valid settings are: `false` -- no
 434        automatic setup is done; `true` -- automatic setup is done when the
 435        starting point is a remote branch; `always` -- automatic setup is
 436        done when the starting point is either a local branch or remote
 437        branch. This option defaults to true.
 438
 439branch.autosetuprebase::
 440        When a new branch is created with 'git-branch' or 'git-checkout'
 441        that tracks another branch, this variable tells git to set
 442        up pull to rebase instead of merge (see "branch.<name>.rebase").
 443        When `never`, rebase is never automatically set to true.
 444        When `local`, rebase is set to true for tracked branches of
 445        other local branches.
 446        When `remote`, rebase is set to true for tracked branches of
 447        remote branches.
 448        When `always`, rebase will be set to true for all tracking
 449        branches.
 450        See "branch.autosetupmerge" for details on how to set up a
 451        branch to track another branch.
 452        This option defaults to never.
 453
 454branch.<name>.remote::
 455        When in branch <name>, it tells 'git-fetch' which remote to fetch.
 456        If this option is not given, 'git-fetch' defaults to remote "origin".
 457
 458branch.<name>.merge::
 459        When in branch <name>, it tells 'git-fetch' the default
 460        refspec to be marked for merging in FETCH_HEAD. The value is
 461        handled like the remote part of a refspec, and must match a
 462        ref which is fetched from the remote given by
 463        "branch.<name>.remote".
 464        The merge information is used by 'git-pull' (which at first calls
 465        'git-fetch') to lookup the default branch for merging. Without
 466        this option, 'git-pull' defaults to merge the first refspec fetched.
 467        Specify multiple values to get an octopus merge.
 468        If you wish to setup 'git-pull' so that it merges into <name> from
 469        another branch in the local repository, you can point
 470        branch.<name>.merge to the desired branch, and use the special setting
 471        `.` (a period) for branch.<name>.remote.
 472
 473branch.<name>.mergeoptions::
 474        Sets default options for merging into branch <name>. The syntax and
 475        supported options are equal to that of linkgit:git-merge[1], but
 476        option values containing whitespace characters are currently not
 477        supported.
 478
 479branch.<name>.rebase::
 480        When true, rebase the branch <name> on top of the fetched branch,
 481        instead of merging the default branch from the default remote when
 482        "git pull" is run.
 483        *NOTE*: this is a possibly dangerous operation; do *not* use
 484        it unless you understand the implications (see linkgit:git-rebase[1]
 485        for details).
 486
 487browser.<tool>.cmd::
 488        Specify the command to invoke the specified browser. The
 489        specified command is evaluated in shell with the URLs passed
 490        as arguments. (See linkgit:git-web--browse[1].)
 491
 492browser.<tool>.path::
 493        Override the path for the given tool that may be used to
 494        browse HTML help (see '-w' option in linkgit:git-help[1]) or a
 495        working repository in gitweb (see linkgit:git-instaweb[1]).
 496
 497clean.requireForce::
 498        A boolean to make git-clean do nothing unless given -f
 499        or -n.   Defaults to true.
 500
 501color.branch::
 502        A boolean to enable/disable color in the output of
 503        linkgit:git-branch[1]. May be set to `always`,
 504        `false` (or `never`) or `auto` (or `true`), in which case colors are used
 505        only when the output is to a terminal. Defaults to false.
 506
 507color.branch.<slot>::
 508        Use customized color for branch coloration. `<slot>` is one of
 509        `current` (the current branch), `local` (a local branch),
 510        `remote` (a tracking branch in refs/remotes/), `plain` (other
 511        refs).
 512+
 513The value for these configuration variables is a list of colors (at most
 514two) and attributes (at most one), separated by spaces.  The colors
 515accepted are `normal`, `black`, `red`, `green`, `yellow`, `blue`,
 516`magenta`, `cyan` and `white`; the attributes are `bold`, `dim`, `ul`,
 517`blink` and `reverse`.  The first color given is the foreground; the
 518second is the background.  The position of the attribute, if any,
 519doesn't matter.
 520
 521color.diff::
 522        When set to `always`, always use colors in patch.
 523        When false (or `never`), never.  When set to `true` or `auto`, use
 524        colors only when the output is to the terminal. Defaults to false.
 525
 526color.diff.<slot>::
 527        Use customized color for diff colorization.  `<slot>` specifies
 528        which part of the patch to use the specified color, and is one
 529        of `plain` (context text), `meta` (metainformation), `frag`
 530        (hunk header), `old` (removed lines), `new` (added lines),
 531        `commit` (commit headers), or `whitespace` (highlighting
 532        whitespace errors). The values of these variables may be specified as
 533        in color.branch.<slot>.
 534
 535color.interactive::
 536        When set to `always`, always use colors for interactive prompts
 537        and displays (such as those used by "git-add --interactive").
 538        When false (or `never`), never.  When set to `true` or `auto`, use
 539        colors only when the output is to the terminal. Defaults to false.
 540
 541color.interactive.<slot>::
 542        Use customized color for 'git-add --interactive'
 543        output. `<slot>` may be `prompt`, `header`, or `help`, for
 544        three distinct types of normal output from interactive
 545        programs.  The values of these variables may be specified as
 546        in color.branch.<slot>.
 547
 548color.pager::
 549        A boolean to enable/disable colored output when the pager is in
 550        use (default is true).
 551
 552color.status::
 553        A boolean to enable/disable color in the output of
 554        linkgit:git-status[1]. May be set to `always`,
 555        `false` (or `never`) or `auto` (or `true`), in which case colors are used
 556        only when the output is to a terminal. Defaults to false.
 557
 558color.status.<slot>::
 559        Use customized color for status colorization. `<slot>` is
 560        one of `header` (the header text of the status message),
 561        `added` or `updated` (files which are added but not committed),
 562        `changed` (files which are changed but not added in the index),
 563        `untracked` (files which are not tracked by git), or
 564        `nobranch` (the color the 'no branch' warning is shown in, defaulting
 565        to red). The values of these variables may be specified as in
 566        color.branch.<slot>.
 567
 568color.ui::
 569        When set to `always`, always use colors in all git commands which
 570        are capable of colored output. When false (or `never`), never. When
 571        set to `true` or `auto`, use colors only when the output is to the
 572        terminal. When more specific variables of color.* are set, they always
 573        take precedence over this setting. Defaults to false.
 574
 575commit.template::
 576        Specify a file to use as the template for new commit messages.
 577
 578diff.autorefreshindex::
 579        When using 'git-diff' to compare with work tree
 580        files, do not consider stat-only change as changed.
 581        Instead, silently run `git update-index --refresh` to
 582        update the cached stat information for paths whose
 583        contents in the work tree match the contents in the
 584        index.  This option defaults to true.  Note that this
 585        affects only 'git-diff' Porcelain, and not lower level
 586        'diff' commands, such as 'git-diff-files'.
 587
 588diff.external::
 589        If this config variable is set, diff generation is not
 590        performed using the internal diff machinery, but using the
 591        given command.  Can be overridden with the `GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF'
 592        environment variable.  The command is called with parameters
 593        as described under "git Diffs" in linkgit:git[1].  Note: if
 594        you want to use an external diff program only on a subset of
 595        your files, you might want to use linkgit:gitattributes[5] instead.
 596
 597diff.renameLimit::
 598        The number of files to consider when performing the copy/rename
 599        detection; equivalent to the 'git-diff' option '-l'.
 600
 601diff.renames::
 602        Tells git to detect renames.  If set to any boolean value, it
 603        will enable basic rename detection.  If set to "copies" or
 604        "copy", it will detect copies, as well.
 605
 606fetch.unpackLimit::
 607        If the number of objects fetched over the git native
 608        transfer is below this
 609        limit, then the objects will be unpacked into loose object
 610        files. However if the number of received objects equals or
 611        exceeds this limit then the received pack will be stored as
 612        a pack, after adding any missing delta bases.  Storing the
 613        pack from a push can make the push operation complete faster,
 614        especially on slow filesystems.  If not set, the value of
 615        `transfer.unpackLimit` is used instead.
 616
 617format.numbered::
 618        A boolean which can enable sequence numbers in patch subjects.
 619        Setting this option to "auto" will enable it only if there is
 620        more than one patch.  See --numbered option in
 621        linkgit:git-format-patch[1].
 622
 623format.headers::
 624        Additional email headers to include in a patch to be submitted
 625        by mail.  See linkgit:git-format-patch[1].
 626
 627format.suffix::
 628        The default for format-patch is to output files with the suffix
 629        `.patch`. Use this variable to change that suffix (make sure to
 630        include the dot if you want it).
 631
 632format.pretty::
 633        The default pretty format for log/show/whatchanged command,
 634        See linkgit:git-log[1], linkgit:git-show[1],
 635        linkgit:git-whatchanged[1].
 636
 637gc.aggressiveWindow::
 638        The window size parameter used in the delta compression
 639        algorithm used by 'git-gc --aggressive'.  This defaults
 640        to 10.
 641
 642gc.auto::
 643        When there are approximately more than this many loose
 644        objects in the repository, `git gc --auto` will pack them.
 645        Some Porcelain commands use this command to perform a
 646        light-weight garbage collection from time to time.  The
 647        default value is 6700.  Setting this to 0 disables it.
 648
 649gc.autopacklimit::
 650        When there are more than this many packs that are not
 651        marked with `*.keep` file in the repository, `git gc
 652        --auto` consolidates them into one larger pack.  The
 653        default value is 50.  Setting this to 0 disables it.
 654
 655gc.packrefs::
 656        'git-gc' does not run `git pack-refs` in a bare repository by
 657        default so that older dumb-transport clients can still fetch
 658        from the repository.  Setting this to `true` lets 'git-gc'
 659        to run `git pack-refs`.  Setting this to `false` tells
 660        'git-gc' never to run `git pack-refs`. The default setting is
 661        `notbare`. Enable it only when you know you do not have to
 662        support such clients.  The default setting will change to `true`
 663        at some stage, and setting this to `false` will continue to
 664        prevent `git pack-refs` from being run from 'git-gc'.
 665
 666gc.pruneexpire::
 667        When 'git-gc' is run, it will call 'prune --expire 2.weeks.ago'.
 668        Override the grace period with this config variable.
 669
 670gc.reflogexpire::
 671        'git-reflog expire' removes reflog entries older than
 672        this time; defaults to 90 days.
 673
 674gc.reflogexpireunreachable::
 675        'git-reflog expire' removes reflog entries older than
 676        this time and are not reachable from the current tip;
 677        defaults to 30 days.
 678
 679gc.rerereresolved::
 680        Records of conflicted merge you resolved earlier are
 681        kept for this many days when 'git-rerere gc' is run.
 682        The default is 60 days.  See linkgit:git-rerere[1].
 683
 684gc.rerereunresolved::
 685        Records of conflicted merge you have not resolved are
 686        kept for this many days when 'git-rerere gc' is run.
 687        The default is 15 days.  See linkgit:git-rerere[1].
 688
 689gitcvs.enabled::
 690        Whether the CVS server interface is enabled for this repository.
 691        See linkgit:git-cvsserver[1].
 692
 693gitcvs.logfile::
 694        Path to a log file where the CVS server interface well... logs
 695        various stuff. See linkgit:git-cvsserver[1].
 696
 697gitcvs.usecrlfattr::
 698        If true, the server will look up the `crlf` attribute for
 699        files to determine the '-k' modes to use. If `crlf` is set,
 700        the '-k' mode will be left blank, so cvs clients will
 701        treat it as text. If `crlf` is explicitly unset, the file
 702        will be set with '-kb' mode, which suppresses any newline munging
 703        the client might otherwise do. If `crlf` is not specified,
 704        then 'gitcvs.allbinary' is used. See linkgit:gitattributes[5].
 705
 706gitcvs.allbinary::
 707        This is used if 'gitcvs.usecrlfattr' does not resolve
 708        the correct '-kb' mode to use. If true, all
 709        unresolved files are sent to the client in
 710        mode '-kb'. This causes the client to treat them
 711        as binary files, which suppresses any newline munging it
 712        otherwise might do. Alternatively, if it is set to "guess",
 713        then the contents of the file are examined to decide if
 714        it is binary, similar to 'core.autocrlf'.
 715
 716gitcvs.dbname::
 717        Database used by git-cvsserver to cache revision information
 718        derived from the git repository. The exact meaning depends on the
 719        used database driver, for SQLite (which is the default driver) this
 720        is a filename. Supports variable substitution (see
 721        linkgit:git-cvsserver[1] for details). May not contain semicolons (`;`).
 722        Default: '%Ggitcvs.%m.sqlite'
 723
 724gitcvs.dbdriver::
 725        Used Perl DBI driver. You can specify any available driver
 726        for this here, but it might not work. git-cvsserver is tested
 727        with 'DBD::SQLite', reported to work with 'DBD::Pg', and
 728        reported *not* to work with 'DBD::mysql'. Experimental feature.
 729        May not contain double colons (`:`). Default: 'SQLite'.
 730        See linkgit:git-cvsserver[1].
 731
 732gitcvs.dbuser, gitcvs.dbpass::
 733        Database user and password. Only useful if setting 'gitcvs.dbdriver',
 734        since SQLite has no concept of database users and/or passwords.
 735        'gitcvs.dbuser' supports variable substitution (see
 736        linkgit:git-cvsserver[1] for details).
 737
 738gitcvs.dbTableNamePrefix::
 739        Database table name prefix.  Prepended to the names of any
 740        database tables used, allowing a single database to be used
 741        for several repositories.  Supports variable substitution (see
 742        linkgit:git-cvsserver[1] for details).  Any non-alphabetic
 743        characters will be replaced with underscores.
 744
 745All gitcvs variables except for 'gitcvs.usecrlfattr' and
 746'gitcvs.allbinary' can also be specified as
 747'gitcvs.<access_method>.<varname>' (where 'access_method'
 748is one of "ext" and "pserver") to make them apply only for the given
 749access method.
 750
 751gui.commitmsgwidth::
 752        Defines how wide the commit message window is in the
 753        linkgit:git-gui[1]. "75" is the default.
 754
 755gui.diffcontext::
 756        Specifies how many context lines should be used in calls to diff
 757        made by the linkgit:git-gui[1]. The default is "5".
 758
 759gui.matchtrackingbranch::
 760        Determines if new branches created with linkgit:git-gui[1] should
 761        default to tracking remote branches with matching names or
 762        not. Default: "false".
 763
 764gui.newbranchtemplate::
 765        Is used as suggested name when creating new branches using the
 766        linkgit:git-gui[1].
 767
 768gui.pruneduringfetch::
 769        "true" if linkgit:git-gui[1] should prune tracking branches when
 770        performing a fetch. The default value is "false".
 771
 772gui.trustmtime::
 773        Determines if linkgit:git-gui[1] should trust the file modification
 774        timestamp or not. By default the timestamps are not trusted.
 775
 776gui.spellingdictionary::
 777        Specifies the dictionary used for spell checking commit messages in
 778        the linkgit:git-gui[1]. When set to "none" spell checking is turned
 779        off.
 780
 781help.browser::
 782        Specify the browser that will be used to display help in the
 783        'web' format. See linkgit:git-help[1].
 784
 785help.format::
 786        Override the default help format used by linkgit:git-help[1].
 787        Values 'man', 'info', 'web' and 'html' are supported. 'man' is
 788        the default. 'web' and 'html' are the same.
 789
 790http.proxy::
 791        Override the HTTP proxy, normally configured using the 'http_proxy'
 792        environment variable (see linkgit:curl[1]).  This can be overridden
 793        on a per-remote basis; see remote.<name>.proxy
 794
 795http.sslVerify::
 796        Whether to verify the SSL certificate when fetching or pushing
 797        over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY' environment
 798        variable.
 799
 800http.sslCert::
 801        File containing the SSL certificate when fetching or pushing
 802        over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_CERT' environment
 803        variable.
 804
 805http.sslKey::
 806        File containing the SSL private key when fetching or pushing
 807        over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_KEY' environment
 808        variable.
 809
 810http.sslCAInfo::
 811        File containing the certificates to verify the peer with when
 812        fetching or pushing over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the
 813        'GIT_SSL_CAINFO' environment variable.
 814
 815http.sslCAPath::
 816        Path containing files with the CA certificates to verify the peer
 817        with when fetching or pushing over HTTPS. Can be overridden
 818        by the 'GIT_SSL_CAPATH' environment variable.
 819
 820http.maxRequests::
 821        How many HTTP requests to launch in parallel. Can be overridden
 822        by the 'GIT_HTTP_MAX_REQUESTS' environment variable. Default is 5.
 823
 824http.lowSpeedLimit, http.lowSpeedTime::
 825        If the HTTP transfer speed is less than 'http.lowSpeedLimit'
 826        for longer than 'http.lowSpeedTime' seconds, the transfer is aborted.
 827        Can be overridden by the 'GIT_HTTP_LOW_SPEED_LIMIT' and
 828        'GIT_HTTP_LOW_SPEED_TIME' environment variables.
 829
 830http.noEPSV::
 831        A boolean which disables using of EPSV ftp command by curl.
 832        This can helpful with some "poor" ftp servers which don't
 833        support EPSV mode. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_CURL_FTP_NO_EPSV'
 834        environment variable. Default is false (curl will use EPSV).
 835
 836i18n.commitEncoding::
 837        Character encoding the commit messages are stored in; git itself
 838        does not care per se, but this information is necessary e.g. when
 839        importing commits from emails or in the gitk graphical history
 840        browser (and possibly at other places in the future or in other
 841        porcelains). See e.g. linkgit:git-mailinfo[1]. Defaults to 'utf-8'.
 842
 843i18n.logOutputEncoding::
 844        Character encoding the commit messages are converted to when
 845        running 'git-log' and friends.
 846
 847imap::
 848        The configuration variables in the 'imap' section are described
 849        in linkgit:git-imap-send[1].
 850
 851instaweb.browser::
 852        Specify the program that will be used to browse your working
 853        repository in gitweb. See linkgit:git-instaweb[1].
 854
 855instaweb.httpd::
 856        The HTTP daemon command-line to start gitweb on your working
 857        repository. See linkgit:git-instaweb[1].
 858
 859instaweb.local::
 860        If true the web server started by linkgit:git-instaweb[1] will
 861        be bound to the local IP (127.0.0.1).
 862
 863instaweb.modulepath::
 864        The module path for an apache httpd used by linkgit:git-instaweb[1].
 865
 866instaweb.port::
 867        The port number to bind the gitweb httpd to. See
 868        linkgit:git-instaweb[1].
 869
 870log.date::
 871        Set default date-time mode for the log command. Setting log.date
 872        value is similar to using 'git-log'\'s --date option. The value is one of the
 873        following alternatives: {relative,local,default,iso,rfc,short}.
 874        See linkgit:git-log[1].
 875
 876log.showroot::
 877        If true, the initial commit will be shown as a big creation event.
 878        This is equivalent to a diff against an empty tree.
 879        Tools like linkgit:git-log[1] or linkgit:git-whatchanged[1], which
 880        normally hide the root commit will now show it. True by default.
 881
 882man.viewer::
 883        Specify the programs that may be used to display help in the
 884        'man' format. See linkgit:git-help[1].
 885
 886man.<tool>.cmd::
 887        Specify the command to invoke the specified man viewer. The
 888        specified command is evaluated in shell with the man page
 889        passed as argument. (See linkgit:git-help[1].)
 890
 891man.<tool>.path::
 892        Override the path for the given tool that may be used to
 893        display help in the 'man' format. See linkgit:git-help[1].
 894
 895include::merge-config.txt[]
 896
 897mergetool.<tool>.path::
 898        Override the path for the given tool.  This is useful in case
 899        your tool is not in the PATH.
 900
 901mergetool.<tool>.cmd::
 902        Specify the command to invoke the specified merge tool.  The
 903        specified command is evaluated in shell with the following
 904        variables available: 'BASE' is the name of a temporary file
 905        containing the common base of the files to be merged, if available;
 906        'LOCAL' is the name of a temporary file containing the contents of
 907        the file on the current branch; 'REMOTE' is the name of a temporary
 908        file containing the contents of the file from the branch being
 909        merged; 'MERGED' contains the name of the file to which the merge
 910        tool should write the results of a successful merge.
 911
 912mergetool.<tool>.trustExitCode::
 913        For a custom merge command, specify whether the exit code of
 914        the merge command can be used to determine whether the merge was
 915        successful.  If this is not set to true then the merge target file
 916        timestamp is checked and the merge assumed to have been successful
 917        if the file has been updated, otherwise the user is prompted to
 918        indicate the success of the merge.
 919
 920mergetool.keepBackup::
 921        After performing a merge, the original file with conflict markers
 922        can be saved as a file with a `.orig` extension.  If this variable
 923        is set to `false` then this file is not preserved.  Defaults to
 924        `true` (i.e. keep the backup files).
 925
 926pack.window::
 927        The size of the window used by linkgit:git-pack-objects[1] when no
 928        window size is given on the command line. Defaults to 10.
 929
 930pack.depth::
 931        The maximum delta depth used by linkgit:git-pack-objects[1] when no
 932        maximum depth is given on the command line. Defaults to 50.
 933
 934pack.windowMemory::
 935        The window memory size limit used by linkgit:git-pack-objects[1]
 936        when no limit is given on the command line.  The value can be
 937        suffixed with "k", "m", or "g".  Defaults to 0, meaning no
 938        limit.
 939
 940pack.compression::
 941        An integer -1..9, indicating the compression level for objects
 942        in a pack file. -1 is the zlib default. 0 means no
 943        compression, and 1..9 are various speed/size tradeoffs, 9 being
 944        slowest.  If not set,  defaults to core.compression.  If that is
 945        not set,  defaults to -1, the zlib default, which is "a default
 946        compromise between speed and compression (currently equivalent
 947        to level 6)."
 948
 949pack.deltaCacheSize::
 950        The maximum memory in bytes used for caching deltas in
 951        linkgit:git-pack-objects[1].
 952        A value of 0 means no limit. Defaults to 0.
 953
 954pack.deltaCacheLimit::
 955        The maximum size of a delta, that is cached in
 956        linkgit:git-pack-objects[1]. Defaults to 1000.
 957
 958pack.threads::
 959        Specifies the number of threads to spawn when searching for best
 960        delta matches.  This requires that linkgit:git-pack-objects[1]
 961        be compiled with pthreads otherwise this option is ignored with a
 962        warning. This is meant to reduce packing time on multiprocessor
 963        machines. The required amount of memory for the delta search window
 964        is however multiplied by the number of threads.
 965        Specifying 0 will cause git to auto-detect the number of CPU's
 966        and set the number of threads accordingly.
 967
 968pack.indexVersion::
 969        Specify the default pack index version.  Valid values are 1 for
 970        legacy pack index used by Git versions prior to 1.5.2, and 2 for
 971        the new pack index with capabilities for packs larger than 4 GB
 972        as well as proper protection against the repacking of corrupted
 973        packs.  Version 2 is the default.  Note that version 2 is enforced
 974        and this config option ignored whenever the corresponding pack is
 975        larger than 2 GB.
 976+
 977If you have an old git that does not understand the version 2 `{asterisk}.idx` file,
 978cloning or fetching over a non native protocol (e.g. "http" and "rsync")
 979that will copy both `{asterisk}.pack` file and corresponding `{asterisk}.idx` file from the
 980other side may give you a repository that cannot be accessed with your
 981older version of git. If the `{asterisk}.pack` file is smaller than 2 GB, however,
 982you can use linkgit:git-index-pack[1] on the *.pack file to regenerate
 983the `{asterisk}.idx` file.
 984
 985pack.packSizeLimit::
 986        The default maximum size of a pack.  This setting only affects
 987        packing to a file, i.e. the git:// protocol is unaffected.  It
 988        can be overridden by the `\--max-pack-size` option of
 989        linkgit:git-repack[1].
 990
 991pager.<cmd>::
 992        Allows turning on or off pagination of the output of a
 993        particular git subcommand when writing to a tty.  If
 994        `\--paginate` or `\--no-pager` is specified on the command line,
 995        it takes precedence over this option.  To disable pagination for
 996        all commands, set `core.pager` or 'GIT_PAGER' to "`cat`".
 997
 998pull.octopus::
 999        The default merge strategy to use when pulling multiple branches
1000        at once.
1001
1002pull.twohead::
1003        The default merge strategy to use when pulling a single branch.
1004
1005receive.fsckObjects::
1006        If it is set to true, git-receive-pack will check all received
1007        objects. It will abort in the case of a malformed object or a
1008        broken link. The result of an abort are only dangling objects.
1009        Defaults to false.
1010
1011receive.unpackLimit::
1012        If the number of objects received in a push is below this
1013        limit then the objects will be unpacked into loose object
1014        files. However if the number of received objects equals or
1015        exceeds this limit then the received pack will be stored as
1016        a pack, after adding any missing delta bases.  Storing the
1017        pack from a push can make the push operation complete faster,
1018        especially on slow filesystems.  If not set, the value of
1019        `transfer.unpackLimit` is used instead.
1020
1021receive.denyNonFastForwards::
1022        If set to true, git-receive-pack will deny a ref update which is
1023        not a fast forward. Use this to prevent such an update via a push,
1024        even if that push is forced. This configuration variable is
1025        set when initializing a shared repository.
1026
1027remote.<name>.url::
1028        The URL of a remote repository.  See linkgit:git-fetch[1] or
1029        linkgit:git-push[1].
1030
1031remote.<name>.proxy::
1032        For remotes that require curl (http, https and ftp), the URL to
1033        the proxy to use for that remote.  Set to the empty string to
1034        disable proxying for that remote.
1035
1036remote.<name>.fetch::
1037        The default set of "refspec" for linkgit:git-fetch[1]. See
1038        linkgit:git-fetch[1].
1039
1040remote.<name>.push::
1041        The default set of "refspec" for linkgit:git-push[1]. See
1042        linkgit:git-push[1].
1043
1044remote.<name>.mirror::
1045        If true, pushing to this remote will automatically behave
1046        as if the `\--mirror` option was given on the command line.
1047
1048remote.<name>.skipDefaultUpdate::
1049        If true, this remote will be skipped by default when updating
1050        using the update subcommand of linkgit:git-remote[1].
1051
1052remote.<name>.receivepack::
1053        The default program to execute on the remote side when pushing.  See
1054        option \--receive-pack of linkgit:git-push[1].
1055
1056remote.<name>.uploadpack::
1057        The default program to execute on the remote side when fetching.  See
1058        option \--upload-pack of linkgit:git-fetch-pack[1].
1059
1060remote.<name>.tagopt::
1061        Setting this value to \--no-tags disables automatic tag following when
1062        fetching from remote <name>
1063
1064remotes.<group>::
1065        The list of remotes which are fetched by "git remote update
1066        <group>".  See linkgit:git-remote[1].
1067
1068repack.usedeltabaseoffset::
1069        By default, linkgit:git-repack[1] creates packs that use
1070        delta-base offset. If you need to share your repository with
1071        git older than version 1.4.4, either directly or via a dumb
1072        protocol such as http, then you need to set this option to
1073        "false" and repack. Access from old git versions over the
1074        native protocol are unaffected by this option.
1075
1076rerere.autoupdate::
1077        When set to true, `git-rerere` updates the index with the
1078        resulting contents after it cleanly resolves conflicts using
1079        previously recorded resolution.  Defaults to false.
1080
1081rerere.enabled::
1082        Activate recording of resolved conflicts, so that identical
1083        conflict hunks can be resolved automatically, should they
1084        be encountered again.  linkgit:git-rerere[1] command is by
1085        default enabled if you create `rr-cache` directory under
1086        `$GIT_DIR`, but can be disabled by setting this option to false.
1087
1088showbranch.default::
1089        The default set of branches for linkgit:git-show-branch[1].
1090        See linkgit:git-show-branch[1].
1091
1092status.relativePaths::
1093        By default, linkgit:git-status[1] shows paths relative to the
1094        current directory. Setting this variable to `false` shows paths
1095        relative to the repository root (this was the default for git
1096        prior to v1.5.4).
1097
1098status.showUntrackedFiles::
1099        By default, linkgit:git-status[1] and linkgit:git-commit[1] show
1100        files which are not currently tracked by Git. Directories which
1101        contain only untracked files, are shown with the directory name
1102        only. Showing untracked files means that Git needs to lstat() all
1103        all the files in the whole repository, which might be slow on some
1104        systems. So, this variable controls how the commands displays
1105        the untracked files. Possible values are:
1106+
1107--
1108        - 'no'     - Show no untracked files
1109        - 'normal' - Shows untracked files and directories
1110        - 'all'    - Shows also individual files in untracked directories.
1111--
1112+
1113If this variable is not specified, it defaults to 'normal'.
1114This variable can be overridden with the -u|--untracked-files option
1115of linkgit:git-status[1] and linkgit:git-commit[1].
1116
1117tar.umask::
1118        This variable can be used to restrict the permission bits of
1119        tar archive entries.  The default is 0002, which turns off the
1120        world write bit.  The special value "user" indicates that the
1121        archiving user's umask will be used instead.  See umask(2) and
1122        linkgit:git-archive[1].
1123
1124transfer.unpackLimit::
1125        When `fetch.unpackLimit` or `receive.unpackLimit` are
1126        not set, the value of this variable is used instead.
1127        The default value is 100.
1128
1129url.<base>.insteadOf::
1130        Any URL that starts with this value will be rewritten to
1131        start, instead, with <base>. In cases where some site serves a
1132        large number of repositories, and serves them with multiple
1133        access methods, and some users need to use different access
1134        methods, this feature allows people to specify any of the
1135        equivalent URLs and have git automatically rewrite the URL to
1136        the best alternative for the particular user, even for a
1137        never-before-seen repository on the site.  When more than one
1138        insteadOf strings match a given URL, the longest match is used.
1139
1140user.email::
1141        Your email address to be recorded in any newly created commits.
1142        Can be overridden by the 'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL', 'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL', and
1143        'EMAIL' environment variables.  See linkgit:git-commit-tree[1].
1144
1145user.name::
1146        Your full name to be recorded in any newly created commits.
1147        Can be overridden by the 'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME' and 'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME'
1148        environment variables.  See linkgit:git-commit-tree[1].
1149
1150user.signingkey::
1151        If linkgit:git-tag[1] is not selecting the key you want it to
1152        automatically when creating a signed tag, you can override the
1153        default selection with this variable.  This option is passed
1154        unchanged to gpg's --local-user parameter, so you may specify a key
1155        using any method that gpg supports.
1156
1157web.browser::
1158        Specify a web browser that may be used by some commands.
1159        Currently only linkgit:git-instaweb[1] and linkgit:git-help[1]
1160        may use it.