Documentation / config.txton commit checkout -m: recreate merge when checking out of unmerged index (0cf8581)
   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 or by giving the
 367        `core.pager` option a value such as "`less -+FRSX`".
 368
 369core.whitespace::
 370        A comma separated list of common whitespace problems to
 371        notice.  'git-diff' will use `color.diff.whitespace` to
 372        highlight them, and 'git-apply --whitespace=error' will
 373        consider them as errors.  You can prefix `-` to disable
 374        any of them (e.g. `-trailing-space`):
 375+
 376* `trailing-space` treats trailing whitespaces at the end of the line
 377  as an error (enabled by default).
 378* `space-before-tab` treats a space character that appears immediately
 379  before a tab character in the initial indent part of the line as an
 380  error (enabled by default).
 381* `indent-with-non-tab` treats a line that is indented with 8 or more
 382  space characters as an error (not enabled by default).
 383* `cr-at-eol` treats a carriage-return at the end of line as
 384  part of the line terminator, i.e. with it, `trailing-space`
 385  does not trigger if the character before such a carriage-return
 386  is not a whitespace (not enabled by default).
 387
 388core.fsyncobjectfiles::
 389        This boolean will enable 'fsync()' when writing object files.
 390+
 391This is a total waste of time and effort on a filesystem that orders
 392data writes properly, but can be useful for filesystems that do not use
 393journalling (traditional UNIX filesystems) or that only journal metadata
 394and not file contents (OS X's HFS+, or Linux ext3 with "data=writeback").
 395
 396alias.*::
 397        Command aliases for the linkgit:git[1] command wrapper - e.g.
 398        after defining "alias.last = cat-file commit HEAD", the invocation
 399        "git last" is equivalent to "git cat-file commit HEAD". To avoid
 400        confusion and troubles with script usage, aliases that
 401        hide existing git commands are ignored. Arguments are split by
 402        spaces, the usual shell quoting and escaping is supported.
 403        quote pair and a backslash can be used to quote them.
 404+
 405If the alias expansion is prefixed with an exclamation point,
 406it will be treated as a shell command.  For example, defining
 407"alias.new = !gitk --all --not ORIG_HEAD", the invocation
 408"git new" is equivalent to running the shell command
 409"gitk --all --not ORIG_HEAD".
 410
 411apply.whitespace::
 412        Tells 'git-apply' how to handle whitespaces, in the same way
 413        as the '--whitespace' option. See linkgit:git-apply[1].
 414
 415branch.autosetupmerge::
 416        Tells 'git-branch' and 'git-checkout' to setup new branches
 417        so that linkgit:git-pull[1] will appropriately merge from the
 418        starting point branch. Note that even if this option is not set,
 419        this behavior can be chosen per-branch using the `--track`
 420        and `--no-track` options. The valid settings are: `false` -- no
 421        automatic setup is done; `true` -- automatic setup is done when the
 422        starting point is a remote branch; `always` -- automatic setup is
 423        done when the starting point is either a local branch or remote
 424        branch. This option defaults to true.
 425
 426branch.autosetuprebase::
 427        When a new branch is created with 'git-branch' or 'git-checkout'
 428        that tracks another branch, this variable tells git to set
 429        up pull to rebase instead of merge (see "branch.<name>.rebase").
 430        When `never`, rebase is never automatically set to true.
 431        When `local`, rebase is set to true for tracked branches of
 432        other local branches.
 433        When `remote`, rebase is set to true for tracked branches of
 434        remote branches.
 435        When `always`, rebase will be set to true for all tracking
 436        branches.
 437        See "branch.autosetupmerge" for details on how to set up a
 438        branch to track another branch.
 439        This option defaults to never.
 440
 441branch.<name>.remote::
 442        When in branch <name>, it tells 'git-fetch' which remote to fetch.
 443        If this option is not given, 'git-fetch' defaults to remote "origin".
 444
 445branch.<name>.merge::
 446        When in branch <name>, it tells 'git-fetch' the default
 447        refspec to be marked for merging in FETCH_HEAD. The value is
 448        handled like the remote part of a refspec, and must match a
 449        ref which is fetched from the remote given by
 450        "branch.<name>.remote".
 451        The merge information is used by 'git-pull' (which at first calls
 452        'git-fetch') to lookup the default branch for merging. Without
 453        this option, 'git-pull' defaults to merge the first refspec fetched.
 454        Specify multiple values to get an octopus merge.
 455        If you wish to setup 'git-pull' so that it merges into <name> from
 456        another branch in the local repository, you can point
 457        branch.<name>.merge to the desired branch, and use the special setting
 458        `.` (a period) for branch.<name>.remote.
 459
 460branch.<name>.mergeoptions::
 461        Sets default options for merging into branch <name>. The syntax and
 462        supported options are equal to that of linkgit:git-merge[1], but
 463        option values containing whitespace characters are currently not
 464        supported.
 465
 466branch.<name>.rebase::
 467        When true, rebase the branch <name> on top of the fetched branch,
 468        instead of merging the default branch from the default remote when
 469        "git pull" is run.
 470        *NOTE*: this is a possibly dangerous operation; do *not* use
 471        it unless you understand the implications (see linkgit:git-rebase[1]
 472        for details).
 473
 474browser.<tool>.cmd::
 475        Specify the command to invoke the specified browser. The
 476        specified command is evaluated in shell with the URLs passed
 477        as arguments. (See linkgit:git-web--browse[1].)
 478
 479browser.<tool>.path::
 480        Override the path for the given tool that may be used to
 481        browse HTML help (see '-w' option in linkgit:git-help[1]) or a
 482        working repository in gitweb (see linkgit:git-instaweb[1]).
 483
 484clean.requireForce::
 485        A boolean to make git-clean do nothing unless given -f
 486        or -n.   Defaults to true.
 487
 488color.branch::
 489        A boolean to enable/disable color in the output of
 490        linkgit:git-branch[1]. May be set to `always`,
 491        `false` (or `never`) or `auto` (or `true`), in which case colors are used
 492        only when the output is to a terminal. Defaults to false.
 493
 494color.branch.<slot>::
 495        Use customized color for branch coloration. `<slot>` is one of
 496        `current` (the current branch), `local` (a local branch),
 497        `remote` (a tracking branch in refs/remotes/), `plain` (other
 498        refs).
 499+
 500The value for these configuration variables is a list of colors (at most
 501two) and attributes (at most one), separated by spaces.  The colors
 502accepted are `normal`, `black`, `red`, `green`, `yellow`, `blue`,
 503`magenta`, `cyan` and `white`; the attributes are `bold`, `dim`, `ul`,
 504`blink` and `reverse`.  The first color given is the foreground; the
 505second is the background.  The position of the attribute, if any,
 506doesn't matter.
 507
 508color.diff::
 509        When set to `always`, always use colors in patch.
 510        When false (or `never`), never.  When set to `true` or `auto`, use
 511        colors only when the output is to the terminal. Defaults to false.
 512
 513color.diff.<slot>::
 514        Use customized color for diff colorization.  `<slot>` specifies
 515        which part of the patch to use the specified color, and is one
 516        of `plain` (context text), `meta` (metainformation), `frag`
 517        (hunk header), `old` (removed lines), `new` (added lines),
 518        `commit` (commit headers), or `whitespace` (highlighting
 519        whitespace errors). The values of these variables may be specified as
 520        in color.branch.<slot>.
 521
 522color.interactive::
 523        When set to `always`, always use colors for interactive prompts
 524        and displays (such as those used by "git-add --interactive").
 525        When false (or `never`), never.  When set to `true` or `auto`, use
 526        colors only when the output is to the terminal. Defaults to false.
 527
 528color.interactive.<slot>::
 529        Use customized color for 'git-add --interactive'
 530        output. `<slot>` may be `prompt`, `header`, or `help`, for
 531        three distinct types of normal output from interactive
 532        programs.  The values of these variables may be specified as
 533        in color.branch.<slot>.
 534
 535color.pager::
 536        A boolean to enable/disable colored output when the pager is in
 537        use (default is true).
 538
 539color.status::
 540        A boolean to enable/disable color in the output of
 541        linkgit:git-status[1]. May be set to `always`,
 542        `false` (or `never`) or `auto` (or `true`), in which case colors are used
 543        only when the output is to a terminal. Defaults to false.
 544
 545color.status.<slot>::
 546        Use customized color for status colorization. `<slot>` is
 547        one of `header` (the header text of the status message),
 548        `added` or `updated` (files which are added but not committed),
 549        `changed` (files which are changed but not added in the index),
 550        `untracked` (files which are not tracked by git), or
 551        `nobranch` (the color the 'no branch' warning is shown in, defaulting
 552        to red). The values of these variables may be specified as in
 553        color.branch.<slot>.
 554
 555commit.template::
 556        Specify a file to use as the template for new commit messages.
 557
 558color.ui::
 559        When set to `always`, always use colors in all git commands which
 560        are capable of colored output. When false (or `never`), never. When
 561        set to `true` or `auto`, use colors only when the output is to the
 562        terminal. When more specific variables of color.* are set, they always
 563        take precedence over this setting. Defaults to false.
 564
 565diff.autorefreshindex::
 566        When using 'git-diff' to compare with work tree
 567        files, do not consider stat-only change as changed.
 568        Instead, silently run `git update-index --refresh` to
 569        update the cached stat information for paths whose
 570        contents in the work tree match the contents in the
 571        index.  This option defaults to true.  Note that this
 572        affects only 'git-diff' Porcelain, and not lower level
 573        'diff' commands, such as 'git-diff-files'.
 574
 575diff.external::
 576        If this config variable is set, diff generation is not
 577        performed using the internal diff machinery, but using the
 578        given command.  Can be overridden with the `GIT_EXTERNAL_DIFF'
 579        environment variable.  The command is called with parameters
 580        as described under "git Diffs" in linkgit:git[1].  Note: if
 581        you want to use an external diff program only on a subset of
 582        your files, you might want to use linkgit:gitattributes[5] instead.
 583
 584diff.renameLimit::
 585        The number of files to consider when performing the copy/rename
 586        detection; equivalent to the 'git-diff' option '-l'.
 587
 588diff.renames::
 589        Tells git to detect renames.  If set to any boolean value, it
 590        will enable basic rename detection.  If set to "copies" or
 591        "copy", it will detect copies, as well.
 592
 593fetch.unpackLimit::
 594        If the number of objects fetched over the git native
 595        transfer is below this
 596        limit, then the objects will be unpacked into loose object
 597        files. However if the number of received objects equals or
 598        exceeds this limit then the received pack will be stored as
 599        a pack, after adding any missing delta bases.  Storing the
 600        pack from a push can make the push operation complete faster,
 601        especially on slow filesystems.  If not set, the value of
 602        `transfer.unpackLimit` is used instead.
 603
 604format.numbered::
 605        A boolean which can enable sequence numbers in patch subjects.
 606        Setting this option to "auto" will enable it only if there is
 607        more than one patch.  See --numbered option in
 608        linkgit:git-format-patch[1].
 609
 610format.headers::
 611        Additional email headers to include in a patch to be submitted
 612        by mail.  See linkgit:git-format-patch[1].
 613
 614format.suffix::
 615        The default for format-patch is to output files with the suffix
 616        `.patch`. Use this variable to change that suffix (make sure to
 617        include the dot if you want it).
 618
 619format.pretty::
 620        The default pretty format for log/show/whatchanged command,
 621        See linkgit:git-log[1], linkgit:git-show[1],
 622        linkgit:git-whatchanged[1].
 623
 624gc.aggressiveWindow::
 625        The window size parameter used in the delta compression
 626        algorithm used by 'git-gc --aggressive'.  This defaults
 627        to 10.
 628
 629gc.auto::
 630        When there are approximately more than this many loose
 631        objects in the repository, `git gc --auto` will pack them.
 632        Some Porcelain commands use this command to perform a
 633        light-weight garbage collection from time to time.  The
 634        default value is 6700.  Setting this to 0 disables it.
 635
 636gc.autopacklimit::
 637        When there are more than this many packs that are not
 638        marked with `*.keep` file in the repository, `git gc
 639        --auto` consolidates them into one larger pack.  The
 640        default value is 50.  Setting this to 0 disables it.
 641
 642gc.packrefs::
 643        'git-gc' does not run `git pack-refs` in a bare repository by
 644        default so that older dumb-transport clients can still fetch
 645        from the repository.  Setting this to `true` lets 'git-gc'
 646        to run `git pack-refs`.  Setting this to `false` tells
 647        'git-gc' never to run `git pack-refs`. The default setting is
 648        `notbare`. Enable it only when you know you do not have to
 649        support such clients.  The default setting will change to `true`
 650        at some stage, and setting this to `false` will continue to
 651        prevent `git pack-refs` from being run from 'git-gc'.
 652
 653gc.pruneexpire::
 654        When 'git-gc' is run, it will call 'prune --expire 2.weeks.ago'.
 655        Override the grace period with this config variable.
 656
 657gc.reflogexpire::
 658        'git-reflog expire' removes reflog entries older than
 659        this time; defaults to 90 days.
 660
 661gc.reflogexpireunreachable::
 662        'git-reflog expire' removes reflog entries older than
 663        this time and are not reachable from the current tip;
 664        defaults to 30 days.
 665
 666gc.rerereresolved::
 667        Records of conflicted merge you resolved earlier are
 668        kept for this many days when 'git-rerere gc' is run.
 669        The default is 60 days.  See linkgit:git-rerere[1].
 670
 671gc.rerereunresolved::
 672        Records of conflicted merge you have not resolved are
 673        kept for this many days when 'git-rerere gc' is run.
 674        The default is 15 days.  See linkgit:git-rerere[1].
 675
 676rerere.autoupdate::
 677        When set to true, `git-rerere` updates the index with the
 678        resulting contents after it cleanly resolves conflicts using
 679        previously recorded resolution.  Defaults to false.
 680
 681rerere.enabled::
 682        Activate recording of resolved conflicts, so that identical
 683        conflict hunks can be resolved automatically, should they
 684        be encountered again.  linkgit:git-rerere[1] command is by
 685        default enabled if you create `rr-cache` directory under
 686        `$GIT_DIR`, but can be disabled by setting this option to false.
 687
 688gitcvs.enabled::
 689        Whether the CVS server interface is enabled for this repository.
 690        See linkgit:git-cvsserver[1].
 691
 692gitcvs.logfile::
 693        Path to a log file where the CVS server interface well... logs
 694        various stuff. See linkgit:git-cvsserver[1].
 695
 696gitcvs.usecrlfattr
 697        If true, the server will look up the `crlf` attribute for
 698        files to determine the '-k' modes to use. If `crlf` is set,
 699        the '-k' mode will be left blank, so cvs clients will
 700        treat it as text. If `crlf` is explicitly unset, the file
 701        will be set with '-kb' mode, which suppresses any newline munging
 702        the client might otherwise do. If `crlf` is not specified,
 703        then 'gitcvs.allbinary' is used. See linkgit:gitattributes[5].
 704
 705gitcvs.allbinary::
 706        This is used if 'gitcvs.usecrlfattr' does not resolve
 707        the correct '-kb' mode to use. If true, all
 708        unresolved files are sent to the client in
 709        mode '-kb'. This causes the client to treat them
 710        as binary files, which suppresses any newline munging it
 711        otherwise might do. Alternatively, if it is set to "guess",
 712        then the contents of the file are examined to decide if
 713        it is binary, similar to 'core.autocrlf'.
 714
 715gitcvs.dbname::
 716        Database used by git-cvsserver to cache revision information
 717        derived from the git repository. The exact meaning depends on the
 718        used database driver, for SQLite (which is the default driver) this
 719        is a filename. Supports variable substitution (see
 720        linkgit:git-cvsserver[1] for details). May not contain semicolons (`;`).
 721        Default: '%Ggitcvs.%m.sqlite'
 722
 723gitcvs.dbdriver::
 724        Used Perl DBI driver. You can specify any available driver
 725        for this here, but it might not work. git-cvsserver is tested
 726        with 'DBD::SQLite', reported to work with 'DBD::Pg', and
 727        reported *not* to work with 'DBD::mysql'. Experimental feature.
 728        May not contain double colons (`:`). Default: 'SQLite'.
 729        See linkgit:git-cvsserver[1].
 730
 731gitcvs.dbuser, gitcvs.dbpass::
 732        Database user and password. Only useful if setting 'gitcvs.dbdriver',
 733        since SQLite has no concept of database users and/or passwords.
 734        'gitcvs.dbuser' supports variable substitution (see
 735        linkgit:git-cvsserver[1] for details).
 736
 737gitcvs.dbTableNamePrefix::
 738        Database table name prefix.  Prepended to the names of any
 739        database tables used, allowing a single database to be used
 740        for several repositories.  Supports variable substitution (see
 741        linkgit:git-cvsserver[1] for details).  Any non-alphabetic
 742        characters will be replaced with underscores.
 743
 744All gitcvs variables except for 'gitcvs.usecrlfattr' and
 745'gitcvs.allbinary' can also be specified as
 746'gitcvs.<access_method>.<varname>' (where 'access_method'
 747is one of "ext" and "pserver") to make them apply only for the given
 748access method.
 749
 750gui.commitmsgwidth::
 751        Defines how wide the commit message window is in the
 752        linkgit:git-gui[1]. "75" is the default.
 753
 754gui.diffcontext::
 755        Specifies how many context lines should be used in calls to diff
 756        made by the linkgit:git-gui[1]. The default is "5".
 757
 758gui.matchtrackingbranch::
 759        Determines if new branches created with linkgit:git-gui[1] should
 760        default to tracking remote branches with matching names or
 761        not. Default: "false".
 762
 763gui.newbranchtemplate::
 764        Is used as suggested name when creating new branches using the
 765        linkgit:git-gui[1].
 766
 767gui.pruneduringfetch::
 768        "true" if linkgit:git-gui[1] should prune tracking branches when
 769        performing a fetch. The default value is "false".
 770
 771gui.trustmtime::
 772        Determines if linkgit:git-gui[1] should trust the file modification
 773        timestamp or not. By default the timestamps are not trusted.
 774
 775gui.spellingdictionary::
 776        Specifies the dictionary used for spell checking commit messages in
 777        the linkgit:git-gui[1]. When set to "none" spell checking is turned
 778        off.
 779
 780help.browser::
 781        Specify the browser that will be used to display help in the
 782        'web' format. See linkgit:git-help[1].
 783
 784help.format::
 785        Override the default help format used by linkgit:git-help[1].
 786        Values 'man', 'info', 'web' and 'html' are supported. 'man' is
 787        the default. 'web' and 'html' are the same.
 788
 789http.proxy::
 790        Override the HTTP proxy, normally configured using the 'http_proxy'
 791        environment variable (see linkgit:curl[1]).  This can be overridden
 792        on a per-remote basis; see remote.<name>.proxy
 793
 794http.sslVerify::
 795        Whether to verify the SSL certificate when fetching or pushing
 796        over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY' environment
 797        variable.
 798
 799http.sslCert::
 800        File containing the SSL certificate when fetching or pushing
 801        over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_CERT' environment
 802        variable.
 803
 804http.sslKey::
 805        File containing the SSL private key when fetching or pushing
 806        over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_KEY' environment
 807        variable.
 808
 809http.sslCAInfo::
 810        File containing the certificates to verify the peer with when
 811        fetching or pushing over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the
 812        'GIT_SSL_CAINFO' environment variable.
 813
 814http.sslCAPath::
 815        Path containing files with the CA certificates to verify the peer
 816        with when fetching or pushing over HTTPS. Can be overridden
 817        by the 'GIT_SSL_CAPATH' environment variable.
 818
 819http.maxRequests::
 820        How many HTTP requests to launch in parallel. Can be overridden
 821        by the 'GIT_HTTP_MAX_REQUESTS' environment variable. Default is 5.
 822
 823http.lowSpeedLimit, http.lowSpeedTime::
 824        If the HTTP transfer speed is less than 'http.lowSpeedLimit'
 825        for longer than 'http.lowSpeedTime' seconds, the transfer is aborted.
 826        Can be overridden by the 'GIT_HTTP_LOW_SPEED_LIMIT' and
 827        'GIT_HTTP_LOW_SPEED_TIME' environment variables.
 828
 829http.noEPSV::
 830        A boolean which disables using of EPSV ftp command by curl.
 831        This can helpful with some "poor" ftp servers which don't
 832        support EPSV mode. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_CURL_FTP_NO_EPSV'
 833        environment variable. Default is false (curl will use EPSV).
 834
 835i18n.commitEncoding::
 836        Character encoding the commit messages are stored in; git itself
 837        does not care per se, but this information is necessary e.g. when
 838        importing commits from emails or in the gitk graphical history
 839        browser (and possibly at other places in the future or in other
 840        porcelains). See e.g. linkgit:git-mailinfo[1]. Defaults to 'utf-8'.
 841
 842i18n.logOutputEncoding::
 843        Character encoding the commit messages are converted to when
 844        running 'git-log' and friends.
 845
 846instaweb.browser::
 847        Specify the program that will be used to browse your working
 848        repository in gitweb. See linkgit:git-instaweb[1].
 849
 850instaweb.httpd::
 851        The HTTP daemon command-line to start gitweb on your working
 852        repository. See linkgit:git-instaweb[1].
 853
 854instaweb.local::
 855        If true the web server started by linkgit:git-instaweb[1] will
 856        be bound to the local IP (127.0.0.1).
 857
 858instaweb.modulepath::
 859        The module path for an apache httpd used by linkgit:git-instaweb[1].
 860
 861instaweb.port::
 862        The port number to bind the gitweb httpd to. See
 863        linkgit:git-instaweb[1].
 864
 865log.date::
 866        Set default date-time mode for the log command. Setting log.date
 867        value is similar to using 'git-log'\'s --date option. The value is one of the
 868        following alternatives: {relative,local,default,iso,rfc,short}.
 869        See linkgit:git-log[1].
 870
 871log.showroot::
 872        If true, the initial commit will be shown as a big creation event.
 873        This is equivalent to a diff against an empty tree.
 874        Tools like linkgit:git-log[1] or linkgit:git-whatchanged[1], which
 875        normally hide the root commit will now show it. True by default.
 876
 877man.viewer::
 878        Specify the programs that may be used to display help in the
 879        'man' format. See linkgit:git-help[1].
 880
 881include::merge-config.txt[]
 882
 883man.<tool>.cmd::
 884        Specify the command to invoke the specified man viewer. The
 885        specified command is evaluated in shell with the man page
 886        passed as argument. (See linkgit:git-help[1].)
 887
 888man.<tool>.path::
 889        Override the path for the given tool that may be used to
 890        display help in the 'man' format. See linkgit:git-help[1].
 891
 892merge.conflictstyle::
 893        Specify the style in which conflicted hunks are written out to
 894        working tree files upon merge.  The default is "merge", which
 895        shows `<<<<<<<` conflict marker, change made by one side,
 896        `=======` marker, change made by the other side, and then
 897        `>>>>>>>` marker.  An alternate style, "diff3", adds `|||||||`
 898        marker and the original text before `=======` marker.
 899
 900mergetool.<tool>.path::
 901        Override the path for the given tool.  This is useful in case
 902        your tool is not in the PATH.
 903
 904mergetool.<tool>.cmd::
 905        Specify the command to invoke the specified merge tool.  The
 906        specified command is evaluated in shell with the following
 907        variables available: 'BASE' is the name of a temporary file
 908        containing the common base of the files to be merged, if available;
 909        'LOCAL' is the name of a temporary file containing the contents of
 910        the file on the current branch; 'REMOTE' is the name of a temporary
 911        file containing the contents of the file from the branch being
 912        merged; 'MERGED' contains the name of the file to which the merge
 913        tool should write the results of a successful merge.
 914
 915mergetool.<tool>.trustExitCode::
 916        For a custom merge command, specify whether the exit code of
 917        the merge command can be used to determine whether the merge was
 918        successful.  If this is not set to true then the merge target file
 919        timestamp is checked and the merge assumed to have been successful
 920        if the file has been updated, otherwise the user is prompted to
 921        indicate the success of the merge.
 922
 923mergetool.keepBackup::
 924        After performing a merge, the original file with conflict markers
 925        can be saved as a file with a `.orig` extension.  If this variable
 926        is set to `false` then this file is not preserved.  Defaults to
 927        `true` (i.e. keep the backup files).
 928
 929pack.window::
 930        The size of the window used by linkgit:git-pack-objects[1] when no
 931        window size is given on the command line. Defaults to 10.
 932
 933pack.depth::
 934        The maximum delta depth used by linkgit:git-pack-objects[1] when no
 935        maximum depth is given on the command line. Defaults to 50.
 936
 937pack.windowMemory::
 938        The window memory size limit used by linkgit:git-pack-objects[1]
 939        when no limit is given on the command line.  The value can be
 940        suffixed with "k", "m", or "g".  Defaults to 0, meaning no
 941        limit.
 942
 943pack.compression::
 944        An integer -1..9, indicating the compression level for objects
 945        in a pack file. -1 is the zlib default. 0 means no
 946        compression, and 1..9 are various speed/size tradeoffs, 9 being
 947        slowest.  If not set,  defaults to core.compression.  If that is
 948        not set,  defaults to -1, the zlib default, which is "a default
 949        compromise between speed and compression (currently equivalent
 950        to level 6)."
 951
 952pack.deltaCacheSize::
 953        The maximum memory in bytes used for caching deltas in
 954        linkgit:git-pack-objects[1].
 955        A value of 0 means no limit. Defaults to 0.
 956
 957pack.deltaCacheLimit::
 958        The maximum size of a delta, that is cached in
 959        linkgit:git-pack-objects[1]. Defaults to 1000.
 960
 961pack.threads::
 962        Specifies the number of threads to spawn when searching for best
 963        delta matches.  This requires that linkgit:git-pack-objects[1]
 964        be compiled with pthreads otherwise this option is ignored with a
 965        warning. This is meant to reduce packing time on multiprocessor
 966        machines. The required amount of memory for the delta search window
 967        is however multiplied by the number of threads.
 968        Specifying 0 will cause git to auto-detect the number of CPU's
 969        and set the number of threads accordingly.
 970
 971pack.indexVersion::
 972        Specify the default pack index version.  Valid values are 1 for
 973        legacy pack index used by Git versions prior to 1.5.2, and 2 for
 974        the new pack index with capabilities for packs larger than 4 GB
 975        as well as proper protection against the repacking of corrupted
 976        packs.  Version 2 is the default.  Note that version 2 is enforced
 977        and this config option ignored whenever the corresponding pack is
 978        larger than 2 GB.
 979+
 980If you have an old git that does not understand the version 2 `{asterisk}.idx` file,
 981cloning or fetching over a non native protocol (e.g. "http" and "rsync")
 982that will copy both `{asterisk}.pack` file and corresponding `{asterisk}.idx` file from the
 983other side may give you a repository that cannot be accessed with your
 984older version of git. If the `{asterisk}.pack` file is smaller than 2 GB, however,
 985you can use linkgit:git-index-pack[1] on the *.pack file to regenerate
 986the `{asterisk}.idx` file.
 987
 988pack.packSizeLimit::
 989        The default maximum size of a pack.  This setting only affects
 990        packing to a file, i.e. the git:// protocol is unaffected.  It
 991        can be overridden by the `\--max-pack-size` option of
 992        linkgit:git-repack[1].
 993
 994pager.<cmd>::
 995        Allows turning on or off pagination of the output of a
 996        particular git subcommand when writing to a tty.  If
 997        `\--paginate` or `\--no-pager` is specified on the command line,
 998        it takes precedence over this option.  To disable pagination for
 999        all commands, set `core.pager` or 'GIT_PAGER' to "`cat`".
1000
1001pull.octopus::
1002        The default merge strategy to use when pulling multiple branches
1003        at once.
1004
1005pull.twohead::
1006        The default merge strategy to use when pulling a single branch.
1007
1008remote.<name>.url::
1009        The URL of a remote repository.  See linkgit:git-fetch[1] or
1010        linkgit:git-push[1].
1011
1012remote.<name>.proxy::
1013        For remotes that require curl (http, https and ftp), the URL to
1014        the proxy to use for that remote.  Set to the empty string to
1015        disable proxying for that remote.
1016
1017remote.<name>.fetch::
1018        The default set of "refspec" for linkgit:git-fetch[1]. See
1019        linkgit:git-fetch[1].
1020
1021remote.<name>.push::
1022        The default set of "refspec" for linkgit:git-push[1]. See
1023        linkgit:git-push[1].
1024
1025remote.<name>.mirror::
1026        If true, pushing to this remote will automatically behave
1027        as if the `\--mirror` option was given on the command line.
1028
1029remote.<name>.skipDefaultUpdate::
1030        If true, this remote will be skipped by default when updating
1031        using the update subcommand of linkgit:git-remote[1].
1032
1033remote.<name>.receivepack::
1034        The default program to execute on the remote side when pushing.  See
1035        option \--receive-pack of linkgit:git-push[1].
1036
1037remote.<name>.uploadpack::
1038        The default program to execute on the remote side when fetching.  See
1039        option \--upload-pack of linkgit:git-fetch-pack[1].
1040
1041remote.<name>.tagopt::
1042        Setting this value to \--no-tags disables automatic tag following when
1043        fetching from remote <name>
1044
1045remotes.<group>::
1046        The list of remotes which are fetched by "git remote update
1047        <group>".  See linkgit:git-remote[1].
1048
1049repack.usedeltabaseoffset::
1050        By default, linkgit:git-repack[1] creates packs that use
1051        delta-base offset. If you need to share your repository with
1052        git older than version 1.4.4, either directly or via a dumb
1053        protocol such as http, then you need to set this option to
1054        "false" and repack. Access from old git versions over the
1055        native protocol are unaffected by this option.
1056
1057showbranch.default::
1058        The default set of branches for linkgit:git-show-branch[1].
1059        See linkgit:git-show-branch[1].
1060
1061status.relativePaths::
1062        By default, linkgit:git-status[1] shows paths relative to the
1063        current directory. Setting this variable to `false` shows paths
1064        relative to the repository root (this was the default for git
1065        prior to v1.5.4).
1066
1067status.showUntrackedFiles::
1068        By default, linkgit:git-status[1] and linkgit:git-commit[1] show
1069        files which are not currently tracked by Git. Directories which
1070        contain only untracked files, are shown with the directory name
1071        only. Showing untracked files means that Git needs to lstat() all
1072        all the files in the whole repository, which might be slow on some
1073        systems. So, this variable controls how the commands displays
1074        the untracked files. Possible values are:
1075+
1076--
1077        - 'no'     - Show no untracked files
1078        - 'normal' - Shows untracked files and directories
1079        - 'all'    - Shows also individual files in untracked directories.
1080--
1081+
1082If this variable is not specified, it defaults to 'normal'.
1083This variable can be overridden with the -u|--untracked-files option
1084of linkgit:git-status[1] and linkgit:git-commit[1].
1085
1086tar.umask::
1087        This variable can be used to restrict the permission bits of
1088        tar archive entries.  The default is 0002, which turns off the
1089        world write bit.  The special value "user" indicates that the
1090        archiving user's umask will be used instead.  See umask(2) and
1091        linkgit:git-archive[1].
1092
1093url.<base>.insteadOf::
1094        Any URL that starts with this value will be rewritten to
1095        start, instead, with <base>. In cases where some site serves a
1096        large number of repositories, and serves them with multiple
1097        access methods, and some users need to use different access
1098        methods, this feature allows people to specify any of the
1099        equivalent URLs and have git automatically rewrite the URL to
1100        the best alternative for the particular user, even for a
1101        never-before-seen repository on the site.  When more than one
1102        insteadOf strings match a given URL, the longest match is used.
1103
1104user.email::
1105        Your email address to be recorded in any newly created commits.
1106        Can be overridden by the 'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL', 'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL', and
1107        'EMAIL' environment variables.  See linkgit:git-commit-tree[1].
1108
1109user.name::
1110        Your full name to be recorded in any newly created commits.
1111        Can be overridden by the 'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME' and 'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME'
1112        environment variables.  See linkgit:git-commit-tree[1].
1113
1114user.signingkey::
1115        If linkgit:git-tag[1] is not selecting the key you want it to
1116        automatically when creating a signed tag, you can override the
1117        default selection with this variable.  This option is passed
1118        unchanged to gpg's --local-user parameter, so you may specify a key
1119        using any method that gpg supports.
1120
1121imap::
1122        The configuration variables in the 'imap' section are described
1123        in linkgit:git-imap-send[1].
1124
1125receive.fsckObjects::
1126        If it is set to true, git-receive-pack will check all received
1127        objects. It will abort in the case of a malformed object or a
1128        broken link. The result of an abort are only dangling objects.
1129        Defaults to false.
1130
1131receive.unpackLimit::
1132        If the number of objects received in a push is below this
1133        limit then the objects will be unpacked into loose object
1134        files. However if the number of received objects equals or
1135        exceeds this limit then the received pack will be stored as
1136        a pack, after adding any missing delta bases.  Storing the
1137        pack from a push can make the push operation complete faster,
1138        especially on slow filesystems.  If not set, the value of
1139        `transfer.unpackLimit` is used instead.
1140
1141receive.denyNonFastForwards::
1142        If set to true, git-receive-pack will deny a ref update which is
1143        not a fast forward. Use this to prevent such an update via a push,
1144        even if that push is forced. This configuration variable is
1145        set when initializing a shared repository.
1146
1147transfer.unpackLimit::
1148        When `fetch.unpackLimit` or `receive.unpackLimit` are
1149        not set, the value of this variable is used instead.
1150        The default value is 100.
1151
1152web.browser::
1153        Specify a web browser that may be used by some commands.
1154        Currently only linkgit:git-instaweb[1] and linkgit:git-help[1]
1155        may use it.