Documentation / config.txton commit Add core.symlinks to mark filesystems that do not support symbolic links. (78a8d64)
   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/gnu-diff -u"
  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 "ssh://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 gitlink:git-update-index[1]. True by default.
 119
 120core.symlinks::
 121        If false, symbolic links are checked out as small plain files that
 122        contain the link text. gitlink:git-update-index[1] and
 123        gitlink:git-add[1] will not change the recorded type to regular
 124        file. Useful on filesystems like FAT that do not support
 125        symbolic links. True by default.
 126
 127core.gitProxy::
 128        A "proxy command" to execute (as 'command host port') instead
 129        of establishing direct connection to the remote server when
 130        using the git protocol for fetching. If the variable value is
 131        in the "COMMAND for DOMAIN" format, the command is applied only
 132        on hostnames ending with the specified domain string. This variable
 133        may be set multiple times and is matched in the given order;
 134        the first match wins.
 135+
 136Can be overridden by the 'GIT_PROXY_COMMAND' environment variable
 137(which always applies universally, without the special "for"
 138handling).
 139
 140core.ignoreStat::
 141        The working copy files are assumed to stay unchanged until you
 142        mark them otherwise manually - Git will not detect the file changes
 143        by lstat() calls. This is useful on systems where those are very
 144        slow, such as Microsoft Windows.  See gitlink:git-update-index[1].
 145        False by default.
 146
 147core.preferSymlinkRefs::
 148        Instead of the default "symref" format for HEAD
 149        and other symbolic reference files, use symbolic links.
 150        This is sometimes needed to work with old scripts that
 151        expect HEAD to be a symbolic link.
 152
 153core.bare::
 154        If true this repository is assumed to be 'bare' and has no
 155        working directory associated with it.  If this is the case a
 156        number of commands that require a working directory will be
 157        disabled, such as gitlink:git-add[1] or gitlink:git-merge[1].
 158+
 159This setting is automatically guessed by gitlink:git-clone[1] or
 160gitlink:git-init[1] when the repository was created.  By default a
 161repository that ends in "/.git" is assumed to be not bare (bare =
 162false), while all other repositories are assumed to be bare (bare
 163= true).
 164
 165core.logAllRefUpdates::
 166        Updates to a ref <ref> is logged to the file
 167        "$GIT_DIR/logs/<ref>", by appending the new and old
 168        SHA1, the date/time and the reason of the update, but
 169        only when the file exists.  If this configuration
 170        variable is set to true, missing "$GIT_DIR/logs/<ref>"
 171        file is automatically created for branch heads.
 172+
 173This information can be used to determine what commit
 174was the tip of a branch "2 days ago".
 175+
 176This value is true by default in a repository that has
 177a working directory associated with it, and false by
 178default in a bare repository.
 179
 180core.repositoryFormatVersion::
 181        Internal variable identifying the repository format and layout
 182        version.
 183
 184core.sharedRepository::
 185        When 'group' (or 'true'), the repository is made shareable between
 186        several users in a group (making sure all the files and objects are
 187        group-writable). When 'all' (or 'world' or 'everybody'), the
 188        repository will be readable by all users, additionally to being
 189        group-shareable. When 'umask' (or 'false'), git will use permissions
 190        reported by umask(2). See gitlink:git-init[1]. False by default.
 191
 192core.warnAmbiguousRefs::
 193        If true, git will warn you if the ref name you passed it is ambiguous
 194        and might match multiple refs in the .git/refs/ tree. True by default.
 195
 196core.compression::
 197        An integer -1..9, indicating the compression level for objects that
 198        are not in a pack file. -1 is the zlib and git default. 0 means no
 199        compression, and 1..9 are various speed/size tradeoffs, 9 being
 200        slowest.
 201
 202core.legacyheaders::
 203        A boolean which
 204        changes the format of loose objects so that they are more
 205        efficient to pack and to send out of the repository over git
 206        native protocol, since v1.4.2.  However, loose objects
 207        written in the new format cannot be read by git older than
 208        that version; people fetching from your repository using
 209        older versions of git over dumb transports (e.g. http)
 210        will also be affected.
 211+
 212To let git use the new loose object format, you have to
 213set core.legacyheaders to false.
 214
 215core.packedGitWindowSize::
 216        Number of bytes of a pack file to map into memory in a
 217        single mapping operation.  Larger window sizes may allow
 218        your system to process a smaller number of large pack files
 219        more quickly.  Smaller window sizes will negatively affect
 220        performance due to increased calls to the operating system's
 221        memory manager, but may improve performance when accessing
 222        a large number of large pack files.
 223+
 224Default is 1 MiB if NO_MMAP was set at compile time, otherwise 32
 225MiB on 32 bit platforms and 1 GiB on 64 bit platforms.  This should
 226be reasonable for all users/operating systems.  You probably do
 227not need to adjust this value.
 228+
 229Common unit suffixes of 'k', 'm', or 'g' are supported.
 230
 231core.packedGitLimit::
 232        Maximum number of bytes to map simultaneously into memory
 233        from pack files.  If Git needs to access more than this many
 234        bytes at once to complete an operation it will unmap existing
 235        regions to reclaim virtual address space within the process.
 236+
 237Default is 256 MiB on 32 bit platforms and 8 GiB on 64 bit platforms.
 238This should be reasonable for all users/operating systems, except on
 239the largest projects.  You probably do not need to adjust this value.
 240+
 241Common unit suffixes of 'k', 'm', or 'g' are supported.
 242
 243alias.*::
 244        Command aliases for the gitlink:git[1] command wrapper - e.g.
 245        after defining "alias.last = cat-file commit HEAD", the invocation
 246        "git last" is equivalent to "git cat-file commit HEAD". To avoid
 247        confusion and troubles with script usage, aliases that
 248        hide existing git commands are ignored. Arguments are split by
 249        spaces, the usual shell quoting and escaping is supported.
 250        quote pair and a backslash can be used to quote them.
 251
 252        If the alias expansion is prefixed with an exclamation point,
 253        it will be treated as a shell command.  For example, defining
 254        "alias.new = !gitk --all --not ORIG_HEAD", the invocation
 255        "git new" is equivalent to running the shell command
 256        "gitk --all --not ORIG_HEAD".
 257
 258apply.whitespace::
 259        Tells `git-apply` how to handle whitespaces, in the same way
 260        as the '--whitespace' option. See gitlink:git-apply[1].
 261
 262branch.<name>.remote::
 263        When in branch <name>, it tells `git fetch` which remote to fetch.
 264        If this option is not given, `git fetch` defaults to remote "origin".
 265
 266branch.<name>.merge::
 267        When in branch <name>, it tells `git fetch` the default refspec to
 268        be marked for merging in FETCH_HEAD. The value has exactly to match
 269        a remote part of one of the refspecs which are fetched from the remote
 270        given by "branch.<name>.remote".
 271        The merge information is used by `git pull` (which at first calls
 272        `git fetch`) to lookup the default branch for merging. Without
 273        this option, `git pull` defaults to merge the first refspec fetched.
 274        Specify multiple values to get an octopus merge.
 275
 276color.branch::
 277        A boolean to enable/disable color in the output of
 278        gitlink:git-branch[1]. May be set to `true` (or `always`),
 279        `false` (or `never`) or `auto`, in which case colors are used
 280        only when the output is to a terminal. Defaults to false.
 281
 282color.branch.<slot>::
 283        Use customized color for branch coloration. `<slot>` is one of
 284        `current` (the current branch), `local` (a local branch),
 285        `remote` (a tracking branch in refs/remotes/), `plain` (other
 286        refs).
 287+
 288The value for these configuration variables is a list of colors (at most
 289two) and attributes (at most one), separated by spaces.  The colors
 290accepted are `normal`, `black`, `red`, `green`, `yellow`, `blue`,
 291`magenta`, `cyan` and `white`; the attributes are `bold`, `dim`, `ul`,
 292`blink` and `reverse`.  The first color given is the foreground; the
 293second is the background.  The position of the attribute, if any,
 294doesn't matter.
 295
 296color.diff::
 297        When true (or `always`), always use colors in patch.
 298        When false (or `never`), never.  When set to `auto`, use
 299        colors only when the output is to the terminal.
 300
 301color.diff.<slot>::
 302        Use customized color for diff colorization.  `<slot>` specifies
 303        which part of the patch to use the specified color, and is one
 304        of `plain` (context text), `meta` (metainformation), `frag`
 305        (hunk header), `old` (removed lines), `new` (added lines),
 306        `commit` (commit headers), or `whitespace` (highlighting dubious
 307        whitespace).  The values of these variables may be specified as
 308        in color.branch.<slot>.
 309
 310color.pager::
 311        A boolean to enable/disable colored output when the pager is in
 312        use (default is true).
 313
 314color.status::
 315        A boolean to enable/disable color in the output of
 316        gitlink:git-status[1]. May be set to `true` (or `always`),
 317        `false` (or `never`) or `auto`, in which case colors are used
 318        only when the output is to a terminal. Defaults to false.
 319
 320color.status.<slot>::
 321        Use customized color for status colorization. `<slot>` is
 322        one of `header` (the header text of the status message),
 323        `added` or `updated` (files which are added but not committed),
 324        `changed` (files which are changed but not added in the index),
 325        or `untracked` (files which are not tracked by git). The values of
 326        these variables may be specified as in color.branch.<slot>.
 327
 328diff.renameLimit::
 329        The number of files to consider when performing the copy/rename
 330        detection; equivalent to the git diff option '-l'.
 331
 332diff.renames::
 333        Tells git to detect renames.  If set to any boolean value, it
 334        will enable basic rename detection.  If set to "copies" or
 335        "copy", it will detect copies, as well.
 336
 337fetch.unpackLimit::
 338        If the number of objects fetched over the git native
 339        transfer is below this
 340        limit, then the objects will be unpacked into loose object
 341        files. However if the number of received objects equals or
 342        exceeds this limit then the received pack will be stored as
 343        a pack, after adding any missing delta bases.  Storing the
 344        pack from a push can make the push operation complete faster,
 345        especially on slow filesystems.
 346
 347format.headers::
 348        Additional email headers to include in a patch to be submitted
 349        by mail.  See gitlink:git-format-patch[1].
 350
 351gc.packrefs::
 352        `git gc` does not run `git pack-refs` in a bare repository by
 353        default so that older dumb-transport clients can still fetch
 354        from the repository.  Setting this to `true` lets `git
 355        gc` to run `git pack-refs`.  Setting this to `false` tells
 356        `git gc` never to run `git pack-refs`. The default setting is
 357        `notbare`. Enable it only when you know you do not have to
 358        support such clients.  The default setting will change to `true`
 359        at some stage, and setting this to `false` will continue to
 360        prevent `git pack-refs` from being run from `git gc`.
 361
 362gc.reflogexpire::
 363        `git reflog expire` removes reflog entries older than
 364        this time; defaults to 90 days.
 365
 366gc.reflogexpireunreachable::
 367        `git reflog expire` removes reflog entries older than
 368        this time and are not reachable from the current tip;
 369        defaults to 30 days.
 370
 371gc.rerereresolved::
 372        Records of conflicted merge you resolved earlier are
 373        kept for this many days when `git rerere gc` is run.
 374        The default is 60 days.  See gitlink:git-rerere[1].
 375
 376gc.rerereunresolved::
 377        Records of conflicted merge you have not resolved are
 378        kept for this many days when `git rerere gc` is run.
 379        The default is 15 days.  See gitlink:git-rerere[1].
 380
 381gitcvs.enabled::
 382        Whether the cvs pserver interface is enabled for this repository.
 383        See gitlink:git-cvsserver[1].
 384
 385gitcvs.logfile::
 386        Path to a log file where the cvs pserver interface well... logs
 387        various stuff. See gitlink:git-cvsserver[1].
 388
 389http.sslVerify::
 390        Whether to verify the SSL certificate when fetching or pushing
 391        over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY' environment
 392        variable.
 393
 394http.sslCert::
 395        File containing the SSL certificate when fetching or pushing
 396        over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_CERT' environment
 397        variable.
 398
 399http.sslKey::
 400        File containing the SSL private key when fetching or pushing
 401        over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_KEY' environment
 402        variable.
 403
 404http.sslCAInfo::
 405        File containing the certificates to verify the peer with when
 406        fetching or pushing over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the
 407        'GIT_SSL_CAINFO' environment variable.
 408
 409http.sslCAPath::
 410        Path containing files with the CA certificates to verify the peer
 411        with when fetching or pushing over HTTPS. Can be overridden
 412        by the 'GIT_SSL_CAPATH' environment variable.
 413
 414http.maxRequests::
 415        How many HTTP requests to launch in parallel. Can be overridden
 416        by the 'GIT_HTTP_MAX_REQUESTS' environment variable. Default is 5.
 417
 418http.lowSpeedLimit, http.lowSpeedTime::
 419        If the HTTP transfer speed is less than 'http.lowSpeedLimit'
 420        for longer than 'http.lowSpeedTime' seconds, the transfer is aborted.
 421        Can be overridden by the 'GIT_HTTP_LOW_SPEED_LIMIT' and
 422        'GIT_HTTP_LOW_SPEED_TIME' environment variables.
 423
 424http.noEPSV::
 425        A boolean which disables using of EPSV ftp command by curl.
 426        This can helpful with some "poor" ftp servers which doesn't
 427        support EPSV mode. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_CURL_FTP_NO_EPSV'
 428        environment variable. Default is false (curl will use EPSV).
 429
 430i18n.commitEncoding::
 431        Character encoding the commit messages are stored in; git itself
 432        does not care per se, but this information is necessary e.g. when
 433        importing commits from emails or in the gitk graphical history
 434        browser (and possibly at other places in the future or in other
 435        porcelains). See e.g. gitlink:git-mailinfo[1]. Defaults to 'utf-8'.
 436
 437i18n.logOutputEncoding::
 438        Character encoding the commit messages are converted to when
 439        running `git-log` and friends.
 440
 441log.showroot::
 442        If true, the initial commit will be shown as a big creation event.
 443        This is equivalent to a diff against an empty tree.
 444        Tools like gitlink:git-log[1] or gitlink:git-whatchanged[1], which
 445        normally hide the root commit will now show it. True by default.
 446
 447merge.summary::
 448        Whether to include summaries of merged commits in newly created
 449        merge commit messages. False by default.
 450
 451merge.verbosity::
 452        Controls the amount of output shown by the recursive merge
 453        strategy.  Level 0 outputs nothing except a final error
 454        message if conflicts were detected. Level 1 outputs only
 455        conflicts, 2 outputs conflicts and file changes.  Level 5 and
 456        above outputs debugging information.  The default is level 2.
 457
 458pack.window::
 459        The size of the window used by gitlink:git-pack-objects[1] when no
 460        window size is given on the command line. Defaults to 10.
 461
 462pull.octopus::
 463        The default merge strategy to use when pulling multiple branches
 464        at once.
 465
 466pull.twohead::
 467        The default merge strategy to use when pulling a single branch.
 468
 469remote.<name>.url::
 470        The URL of a remote repository.  See gitlink:git-fetch[1] or
 471        gitlink:git-push[1].
 472
 473remote.<name>.fetch::
 474        The default set of "refspec" for gitlink:git-fetch[1]. See
 475        gitlink:git-fetch[1].
 476
 477remote.<name>.push::
 478        The default set of "refspec" for gitlink:git-push[1]. See
 479        gitlink:git-push[1].
 480
 481remote.<name>.skipDefaultUpdate::
 482        If true, this remote will be skipped by default when updating
 483        using the remote subcommand of gitlink:git-remote[1].
 484
 485remote.<name>.receivepack::
 486        The default program to execute on the remote side when pushing.  See
 487        option \--exec of gitlink:git-push[1].
 488
 489remote.<name>.uploadpack::
 490        The default program to execute on the remote side when fetching.  See
 491        option \--exec of gitlink:git-fetch-pack[1].
 492
 493remote.<name>.tagopt::
 494        Setting this value to --no-tags disables automatic tag following when fetching
 495        from remote <name>
 496
 497remotes.<group>::
 498        The list of remotes which are fetched by "git remote update
 499        <group>".  See gitlink:git-remote[1].
 500
 501repack.usedeltabaseoffset::
 502        Allow gitlink:git-repack[1] to create packs that uses
 503        delta-base offset.  Defaults to false.
 504
 505show.difftree::
 506        The default gitlink:git-diff-tree[1] arguments to be used
 507        for gitlink:git-show[1].
 508
 509showbranch.default::
 510        The default set of branches for gitlink:git-show-branch[1].
 511        See gitlink:git-show-branch[1].
 512
 513tar.umask::
 514        By default, gitlink:git-tar-tree[1] sets file and directories modes
 515        to 0666 or 0777. While this is both useful and acceptable for projects
 516        such as the Linux Kernel, it might be excessive for other projects.
 517        With this variable, it becomes possible to tell
 518        gitlink:git-tar-tree[1] to apply a specific umask to the modes above.
 519        The special value "user" indicates that the user's current umask will
 520        be used. This should be enough for most projects, as it will lead to
 521        the same permissions as gitlink:git-checkout[1] would use. The default
 522        value remains 0, which means world read-write.
 523
 524user.email::
 525        Your email address to be recorded in any newly created commits.
 526        Can be overridden by the 'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL' and 'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL'
 527        environment variables.  See gitlink:git-commit-tree[1].
 528
 529user.name::
 530        Your full name to be recorded in any newly created commits.
 531        Can be overridden by the 'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME' and 'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME'
 532        environment variables.  See gitlink:git-commit-tree[1].
 533
 534user.signingkey::
 535        If gitlink:git-tag[1] is not selecting the key you want it to
 536        automatically when creating a signed tag, you can override the
 537        default selection with this variable.  This option is passed
 538        unchanged to gpg's --local-user parameter, so you may specify a key
 539        using any method that gpg supports.
 540
 541whatchanged.difftree::
 542        The default gitlink:git-diff-tree[1] arguments to be used
 543        for gitlink:git-whatchanged[1].
 544
 545imap::
 546        The configuration variables in the 'imap' section are described
 547        in gitlink:git-imap-send[1].
 548
 549receive.unpackLimit::
 550        If the number of objects received in a push is below this
 551        limit then the objects will be unpacked into loose object
 552        files. However if the number of received objects equals or
 553        exceeds this limit then the received pack will be stored as
 554        a pack, after adding any missing delta bases.  Storing the
 555        pack from a push can make the push operation complete faster,
 556        especially on slow filesystems.
 557
 558receive.denyNonFastForwards::
 559        If set to true, git-receive-pack will deny a ref update which is
 560        not a fast forward. Use this to prevent such an update via a push,
 561        even if that push is forced. This configuration variable is
 562        set when initializing a shared repository.
 563
 564transfer.unpackLimit::
 565        When `fetch.unpackLimit` or `receive.unpackLimit` are
 566        not set, the value of this variable is used instead.
 567
 568