Documentation / config.txton commit Documentation: s/seperator/separator/ (c4431d3)
   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.
   9
  10They can be used by both the git plumbing
  11and the porcelains. The variables are divided into sections, where
  12in the fully qualified variable name the variable itself is the last
  13dot-separated segment and the section name is everything before the last
  14dot. The variable names are case-insensitive and only alphanumeric
  15characters are allowed. Some variables may appear multiple times.
  16
  17Syntax
  18~~~~~~
  19
  20The syntax is fairly flexible and permissive; whitespaces are mostly
  21ignored.  The '#' and ';' characters begin comments to the end of line,
  22blank lines are ignored.
  23
  24The file consists of sections and variables.  A section begins with
  25the name of the section in square brackets and continues until the next
  26section begins.  Section names are not case sensitive.  Only alphanumeric
  27characters, '`-`' and '`.`' are allowed in section names.  Each variable
  28must belong to some section, which means that there must be section
  29header before first setting of a variable.
  30
  31Sections can be further divided into subsections.  To begin a subsection
  32put its name in double quotes, separated by space from the section name,
  33in the section header, like in example below:
  34
  35--------
  36        [section "subsection"]
  37
  38--------
  39
  40Subsection names can contain any characters except newline (doublequote
  41'`"`' and backslash have to be escaped as '`\"`' and '`\\`',
  42respectively) and are case sensitive.  Section header cannot span multiple
  43lines.  Variables may belong directly to a section or to a given subsection.
  44You can have `[section]` if you have `[section "subsection"]`, but you
  45don't need to.
  46
  47There is also (case insensitive) alternative `[section.subsection]` syntax.
  48In this syntax subsection names follow the same restrictions as for section
  49name.
  50
  51All the other lines are recognized as setting variables, in the form
  52'name = value'.  If there is no equal sign on the line, the entire line
  53is taken as 'name' and the variable is recognized as boolean "true".
  54The variable names are case-insensitive and only alphanumeric
  55characters and '`-`' are allowed.  There can be more than one value
  56for a given variable; we say then that variable is multivalued.
  57
  58Leading and trailing whitespace in a variable value is discarded.
  59Internal whitespace within a variable value is retained verbatim.
  60
  61The values following the equals sign in variable assign are all either
  62a string, an integer, or a boolean.  Boolean values may be given as yes/no,
  630/1 or true/false.  Case is not significant in boolean values, when
  64converting value to the canonical form using '--bool' type specifier;
  65`git-config` will ensure that the output is "true" or "false".
  66
  67String values may be entirely or partially enclosed in double quotes.
  68You need to enclose variable value in double quotes if you want to
  69preserve leading or trailing whitespace, or if variable value contains
  70beginning of comment characters (if it contains '#' or ';').
  71Double quote '`"`' and backslash '`\`' characters in variable value must
  72be escaped: use '`\"`' for '`"`' and '`\\`' for '`\`'.
  73
  74The following escape sequences (beside '`\"`' and '`\\`') are recognized:
  75'`\n`' for newline character (NL), '`\t`' for horizontal tabulation (HT, TAB)
  76and '`\b`' for backspace (BS).  No other char escape sequence, nor octal
  77char sequences are valid.
  78
  79Variable value ending in a '`\`' is continued on the next line in the
  80customary UNIX fashion.
  81
  82Some variables may require special value format.
  83
  84Example
  85~~~~~~~
  86
  87        # Core variables
  88        [core]
  89                ; Don't trust file modes
  90                filemode = false
  91
  92        # Our diff algorithm
  93        [diff]
  94                external = "/usr/local/bin/gnu-diff -u"
  95                renames = true
  96
  97        [branch "devel"]
  98                remote = origin
  99                merge = refs/heads/devel
 100
 101        # Proxy settings
 102        [core]
 103                gitProxy="ssh" for "ssh://kernel.org/"
 104                gitProxy=default-proxy ; for the rest
 105
 106Variables
 107~~~~~~~~~
 108
 109Note that this list is non-comprehensive and not necessarily complete.
 110For command-specific variables, you will find a more detailed description
 111in the appropriate manual page. You will find a description of non-core
 112porcelain configuration variables in the respective porcelain documentation.
 113
 114core.fileMode::
 115        If false, the executable bit differences between the index and
 116        the working copy are ignored; useful on broken filesystems like FAT.
 117        See gitlink:git-update-index[1]. True by default.
 118
 119core.gitProxy::
 120        A "proxy command" to execute (as 'command host port') instead
 121        of establishing direct connection to the remote server when
 122        using the git protocol for fetching. If the variable value is
 123        in the "COMMAND for DOMAIN" format, the command is applied only
 124        on hostnames ending with the specified domain string. This variable
 125        may be set multiple times and is matched in the given order;
 126        the first match wins.
 127+
 128Can be overridden by the 'GIT_PROXY_COMMAND' environment variable
 129(which always applies universally, without the special "for"
 130handling).
 131
 132core.ignoreStat::
 133        The working copy files are assumed to stay unchanged until you
 134        mark them otherwise manually - Git will not detect the file changes
 135        by lstat() calls. This is useful on systems where those are very
 136        slow, such as Microsoft Windows.  See gitlink:git-update-index[1].
 137        False by default.
 138
 139core.preferSymlinkRefs::
 140        Instead of the default "symref" format for HEAD
 141        and other symbolic reference files, use symbolic links.
 142        This is sometimes needed to work with old scripts that
 143        expect HEAD to be a symbolic link.
 144
 145core.bare::
 146        If true this repository is assumed to be 'bare' and has no
 147        working directory associated with it.  If this is the case a
 148        number of commands that require a working directory will be
 149        disabled, such as gitlink:git-add[1] or gitlink:git-merge[1].
 150+
 151This setting is automatically guessed by gitlink:git-clone[1] or
 152gitlink:git-init[1] when the repository was created.  By default a
 153repository that ends in "/.git" is assumed to be not bare (bare =
 154false), while all other repositories are assumed to be bare (bare
 155= true).
 156
 157core.logAllRefUpdates::
 158        Updates to a ref <ref> is logged to the file
 159        "$GIT_DIR/logs/<ref>", by appending the new and old
 160        SHA1, the date/time and the reason of the update, but
 161        only when the file exists.  If this configuration
 162        variable is set to true, missing "$GIT_DIR/logs/<ref>"
 163        file is automatically created for branch heads.
 164+
 165This information can be used to determine what commit
 166was the tip of a branch "2 days ago".
 167+
 168This value is true by default in a repository that has
 169a working directory associated with it, and false by
 170default in a bare repository.
 171
 172core.repositoryFormatVersion::
 173        Internal variable identifying the repository format and layout
 174        version.
 175
 176core.sharedRepository::
 177        When 'group' (or 'true'), the repository is made shareable between
 178        several users in a group (making sure all the files and objects are
 179        group-writable). When 'all' (or 'world' or 'everybody'), the
 180        repository will be readable by all users, additionally to being
 181        group-shareable. When 'umask' (or 'false'), git will use permissions
 182        reported by umask(2). See gitlink:git-init[1]. False by default.
 183
 184core.warnAmbiguousRefs::
 185        If true, git will warn you if the ref name you passed it is ambiguous
 186        and might match multiple refs in the .git/refs/ tree. True by default.
 187
 188core.compression::
 189        An integer -1..9, indicating the compression level for objects that
 190        are not in a pack file. -1 is the zlib and git default. 0 means no
 191        compression, and 1..9 are various speed/size tradeoffs, 9 being
 192        slowest.
 193
 194core.legacyheaders::
 195        A boolean which
 196        changes the format of loose objects so that they are more
 197        efficient to pack and to send out of the repository over git
 198        native protocol, since v1.4.2.  However, loose objects
 199        written in the new format cannot be read by git older than
 200        that version; people fetching from your repository using
 201        older versions of git over dumb transports (e.g. http)
 202        will also be affected.
 203+
 204To let git use the new loose object format, you have to
 205set core.legacyheaders to false.
 206
 207core.packedGitWindowSize::
 208        Number of bytes of a pack file to map into memory in a
 209        single mapping operation.  Larger window sizes may allow
 210        your system to process a smaller number of large pack files
 211        more quickly.  Smaller window sizes will negatively affect
 212        performance due to increased calls to the operating system's
 213        memory manager, but may improve performance when accessing
 214        a large number of large pack files.
 215+
 216Default is 1 MiB if NO_MMAP was set at compile time, otherwise 32
 217MiB on 32 bit platforms and 1 GiB on 64 bit platforms.  This should
 218be reasonable for all users/operating systems.  You probably do
 219not need to adjust this value.
 220+
 221Common unit suffixes of 'k', 'm', or 'g' are supported.
 222
 223core.packedGitLimit::
 224        Maximum number of bytes to map simultaneously into memory
 225        from pack files.  If Git needs to access more than this many
 226        bytes at once to complete an operation it will unmap existing
 227        regions to reclaim virtual address space within the process.
 228+
 229Default is 256 MiB on 32 bit platforms and 8 GiB on 64 bit platforms.
 230This should be reasonable for all users/operating systems, except on
 231the largest projects.  You probably do not need to adjust this value.
 232+
 233Common unit suffixes of 'k', 'm', or 'g' are supported.
 234
 235alias.*::
 236        Command aliases for the gitlink:git[1] command wrapper - e.g.
 237        after defining "alias.last = cat-file commit HEAD", the invocation
 238        "git last" is equivalent to "git cat-file commit HEAD". To avoid
 239        confusion and troubles with script usage, aliases that
 240        hide existing git commands are ignored. Arguments are split by
 241        spaces, the usual shell quoting and escaping is supported.
 242        quote pair and a backslash can be used to quote them.
 243
 244        If the alias expansion is prefixed with an exclamation point,
 245        it will be treated as a shell command.  For example, defining
 246        "alias.new = !gitk --all --not ORIG_HEAD", the invocation
 247        "git new" is equivalent to running the shell command
 248        "gitk --all --not ORIG_HEAD".
 249
 250apply.whitespace::
 251        Tells `git-apply` how to handle whitespaces, in the same way
 252        as the '--whitespace' option. See gitlink:git-apply[1].
 253
 254branch.<name>.remote::
 255        When in branch <name>, it tells `git fetch` which remote to fetch.
 256        If this option is not given, `git fetch` defaults to remote "origin".
 257
 258branch.<name>.merge::
 259        When in branch <name>, it tells `git fetch` the default refspec to
 260        be marked for merging in FETCH_HEAD. The value has exactly to match
 261        a remote part of one of the refspecs which are fetched from the remote
 262        given by "branch.<name>.remote".
 263        The merge information is used by `git pull` (which at first calls
 264        `git fetch`) to lookup the default branch for merging. Without
 265        this option, `git pull` defaults to merge the first refspec fetched.
 266        Specify multiple values to get an octopus merge.
 267
 268color.branch::
 269        A boolean to enable/disable color in the output of
 270        gitlink:git-branch[1]. May be set to `true` (or `always`),
 271        `false` (or `never`) or `auto`, in which case colors are used
 272        only when the output is to a terminal. Defaults to false.
 273
 274color.branch.<slot>::
 275        Use customized color for branch coloration. `<slot>` is one of
 276        `current` (the current branch), `local` (a local branch),
 277        `remote` (a tracking branch in refs/remotes/), `plain` (other
 278        refs).
 279+
 280The value for these configuration variables is a list of colors (at most
 281two) and attributes (at most one), separated by spaces.  The colors
 282accepted are `normal`, `black`, `red`, `green`, `yellow`, `blue`,
 283`magenta`, `cyan` and `white`; the attributes are `bold`, `dim`, `ul`,
 284`blink` and `reverse`.  The first color given is the foreground; the
 285second is the background.  The position of the attribute, if any,
 286doesn't matter.
 287
 288color.diff::
 289        When true (or `always`), always use colors in patch.
 290        When false (or `never`), never.  When set to `auto`, use
 291        colors only when the output is to the terminal.
 292
 293color.diff.<slot>::
 294        Use customized color for diff colorization.  `<slot>` specifies
 295        which part of the patch to use the specified color, and is one
 296        of `plain` (context text), `meta` (metainformation), `frag`
 297        (hunk header), `old` (removed lines), `new` (added lines),
 298        `commit` (commit headers), or `whitespace` (highlighting dubious
 299        whitespace).  The values of these variables may be specified as
 300        in color.branch.<slot>.
 301
 302color.pager::
 303        A boolean to enable/disable colored output when the pager is in
 304        use (default is true).
 305
 306color.status::
 307        A boolean to enable/disable color in the output of
 308        gitlink:git-status[1]. May be set to `true` (or `always`),
 309        `false` (or `never`) or `auto`, in which case colors are used
 310        only when the output is to a terminal. Defaults to false.
 311
 312color.status.<slot>::
 313        Use customized color for status colorization. `<slot>` is
 314        one of `header` (the header text of the status message),
 315        `added` or `updated` (files which are added but not committed),
 316        `changed` (files which are changed but not added in the index),
 317        or `untracked` (files which are not tracked by git). The values of
 318        these variables may be specified as in color.branch.<slot>.
 319
 320diff.renameLimit::
 321        The number of files to consider when performing the copy/rename
 322        detection; equivalent to the git diff option '-l'.
 323
 324diff.renames::
 325        Tells git to detect renames.  If set to any boolean value, it
 326        will enable basic rename detection.  If set to "copies" or
 327        "copy", it will detect copies, as well.
 328
 329fetch.unpackLimit::
 330        If the number of objects fetched over the git native
 331        transfer is below this
 332        limit, then the objects will be unpacked into loose object
 333        files. However if the number of received objects equals or
 334        exceeds this limit then the received pack will be stored as
 335        a pack, after adding any missing delta bases.  Storing the
 336        pack from a push can make the push operation complete faster,
 337        especially on slow filesystems.
 338
 339format.headers::
 340        Additional email headers to include in a patch to be submitted
 341        by mail.  See gitlink:git-format-patch[1].
 342
 343format.suffix::
 344        The default for format-patch is to output files with the suffix
 345        `.patch`. Use this variable to change that suffix (make sure to
 346        include the dot if you want it).
 347
 348gc.packrefs::
 349        `git gc` does not run `git pack-refs` in a bare repository by
 350        default so that older dumb-transport clients can still fetch
 351        from the repository.  Setting this to `true` lets `git
 352        gc` to run `git pack-refs`.  Setting this to `false` tells
 353        `git gc` never to run `git pack-refs`. The default setting is
 354        `notbare`. Enable it only when you know you do not have to
 355        support such clients.  The default setting will change to `true`
 356        at some stage, and setting this to `false` will continue to
 357        prevent `git pack-refs` from being run from `git gc`.
 358
 359gc.reflogexpire::
 360        `git reflog expire` removes reflog entries older than
 361        this time; defaults to 90 days.
 362
 363gc.reflogexpireunreachable::
 364        `git reflog expire` removes reflog entries older than
 365        this time and are not reachable from the current tip;
 366        defaults to 30 days.
 367
 368gc.rerereresolved::
 369        Records of conflicted merge you resolved earlier are
 370        kept for this many days when `git rerere gc` is run.
 371        The default is 60 days.  See gitlink:git-rerere[1].
 372
 373gc.rerereunresolved::
 374        Records of conflicted merge you have not resolved are
 375        kept for this many days when `git rerere gc` is run.
 376        The default is 15 days.  See gitlink:git-rerere[1].
 377
 378gitcvs.enabled::
 379        Whether the cvs pserver interface is enabled for this repository.
 380        See gitlink:git-cvsserver[1].
 381
 382gitcvs.logfile::
 383        Path to a log file where the cvs pserver interface well... logs
 384        various stuff. See gitlink:git-cvsserver[1].
 385
 386http.sslVerify::
 387        Whether to verify the SSL certificate when fetching or pushing
 388        over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY' environment
 389        variable.
 390
 391http.sslCert::
 392        File containing the SSL certificate when fetching or pushing
 393        over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_CERT' environment
 394        variable.
 395
 396http.sslKey::
 397        File containing the SSL private key when fetching or pushing
 398        over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_KEY' environment
 399        variable.
 400
 401http.sslCAInfo::
 402        File containing the certificates to verify the peer with when
 403        fetching or pushing over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the
 404        'GIT_SSL_CAINFO' environment variable.
 405
 406http.sslCAPath::
 407        Path containing files with the CA certificates to verify the peer
 408        with when fetching or pushing over HTTPS. Can be overridden
 409        by the 'GIT_SSL_CAPATH' environment variable.
 410
 411http.maxRequests::
 412        How many HTTP requests to launch in parallel. Can be overridden
 413        by the 'GIT_HTTP_MAX_REQUESTS' environment variable. Default is 5.
 414
 415http.lowSpeedLimit, http.lowSpeedTime::
 416        If the HTTP transfer speed is less than 'http.lowSpeedLimit'
 417        for longer than 'http.lowSpeedTime' seconds, the transfer is aborted.
 418        Can be overridden by the 'GIT_HTTP_LOW_SPEED_LIMIT' and
 419        'GIT_HTTP_LOW_SPEED_TIME' environment variables.
 420
 421http.noEPSV::
 422        A boolean which disables using of EPSV ftp command by curl.
 423        This can helpful with some "poor" ftp servers which doesn't
 424        support EPSV mode. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_CURL_FTP_NO_EPSV'
 425        environment variable. Default is false (curl will use EPSV).
 426
 427i18n.commitEncoding::
 428        Character encoding the commit messages are stored in; git itself
 429        does not care per se, but this information is necessary e.g. when
 430        importing commits from emails or in the gitk graphical history
 431        browser (and possibly at other places in the future or in other
 432        porcelains). See e.g. gitlink:git-mailinfo[1]. Defaults to 'utf-8'.
 433
 434i18n.logOutputEncoding::
 435        Character encoding the commit messages are converted to when
 436        running `git-log` and friends.
 437
 438log.showroot::
 439        If true, the initial commit will be shown as a big creation event.
 440        This is equivalent to a diff against an empty tree.
 441        Tools like gitlink:git-log[1] or gitlink:git-whatchanged[1], which
 442        normally hide the root commit will now show it. True by default.
 443
 444merge.summary::
 445        Whether to include summaries of merged commits in newly created
 446        merge commit messages. False by default.
 447
 448merge.verbosity::
 449        Controls the amount of output shown by the recursive merge
 450        strategy.  Level 0 outputs nothing except a final error
 451        message if conflicts were detected. Level 1 outputs only
 452        conflicts, 2 outputs conflicts and file changes.  Level 5 and
 453        above outputs debugging information.  The default is level 2.
 454
 455pack.window::
 456        The size of the window used by gitlink:git-pack-objects[1] when no
 457        window size is given on the command line. Defaults to 10.
 458
 459pull.octopus::
 460        The default merge strategy to use when pulling multiple branches
 461        at once.
 462
 463pull.twohead::
 464        The default merge strategy to use when pulling a single branch.
 465
 466remote.<name>.url::
 467        The URL of a remote repository.  See gitlink:git-fetch[1] or
 468        gitlink:git-push[1].
 469
 470remote.<name>.fetch::
 471        The default set of "refspec" for gitlink:git-fetch[1]. See
 472        gitlink:git-fetch[1].
 473
 474remote.<name>.push::
 475        The default set of "refspec" for gitlink:git-push[1]. See
 476        gitlink:git-push[1].
 477
 478remote.<name>.receivepack::
 479        The default program to execute on the remote side when pushing.  See
 480        option \--exec of gitlink:git-push[1].
 481
 482remote.<name>.uploadpack::
 483        The default program to execute on the remote side when fetching.  See
 484        option \--exec of gitlink:git-fetch-pack[1].
 485
 486repack.usedeltabaseoffset::
 487        Allow gitlink:git-repack[1] to create packs that uses
 488        delta-base offset.  Defaults to false.
 489
 490show.difftree::
 491        The default gitlink:git-diff-tree[1] arguments to be used
 492        for gitlink:git-show[1].
 493
 494showbranch.default::
 495        The default set of branches for gitlink:git-show-branch[1].
 496        See gitlink:git-show-branch[1].
 497
 498tar.umask::
 499        By default, gitlink:git-tar-tree[1] sets file and directories modes
 500        to 0666 or 0777. While this is both useful and acceptable for projects
 501        such as the Linux Kernel, it might be excessive for other projects.
 502        With this variable, it becomes possible to tell
 503        gitlink:git-tar-tree[1] to apply a specific umask to the modes above.
 504        The special value "user" indicates that the user's current umask will
 505        be used. This should be enough for most projects, as it will lead to
 506        the same permissions as gitlink:git-checkout[1] would use. The default
 507        value remains 0, which means world read-write.
 508
 509user.email::
 510        Your email address to be recorded in any newly created commits.
 511        Can be overridden by the 'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL' and 'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL'
 512        environment variables.  See gitlink:git-commit-tree[1].
 513
 514user.name::
 515        Your full name to be recorded in any newly created commits.
 516        Can be overridden by the 'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME' and 'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME'
 517        environment variables.  See gitlink:git-commit-tree[1].
 518
 519user.signingkey::
 520        If gitlink:git-tag[1] is not selecting the key you want it to
 521        automatically when creating a signed tag, you can override the
 522        default selection with this variable.  This option is passed
 523        unchanged to gpg's --local-user parameter, so you may specify a key
 524        using any method that gpg supports.
 525
 526whatchanged.difftree::
 527        The default gitlink:git-diff-tree[1] arguments to be used
 528        for gitlink:git-whatchanged[1].
 529
 530imap::
 531        The configuration variables in the 'imap' section are described
 532        in gitlink:git-imap-send[1].
 533
 534receive.unpackLimit::
 535        If the number of objects received in a push is below this
 536        limit then the objects will be unpacked into loose object
 537        files. However if the number of received objects equals or
 538        exceeds this limit then the received pack will be stored as
 539        a pack, after adding any missing delta bases.  Storing the
 540        pack from a push can make the push operation complete faster,
 541        especially on slow filesystems.
 542
 543receive.denyNonFastForwards::
 544        If set to true, git-receive-pack will deny a ref update which is
 545        not a fast forward. Use this to prevent such an update via a push,
 546        even if that push is forced. This configuration variable is
 547        set when initializing a shared repository.
 548
 549transfer.unpackLimit::
 550        When `fetch.unpackLimit` or `receive.unpackLimit` are
 551        not set, the value of this variable is used instead.
 552
 553