Documentation / config.txton commit Merge branch 'ar/diff' (d54fe39)
   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        If you wish to setup `git pull` so that it merges into <name> from
 276        another branch in the local repository, you can point
 277        branch.<name>.merge to the desired branch, and use the special setting
 278        `.` (a period) for branch.<name>.remote.
 279
 280color.branch::
 281        A boolean to enable/disable color in the output of
 282        gitlink:git-branch[1]. May be set to `true` (or `always`),
 283        `false` (or `never`) or `auto`, in which case colors are used
 284        only when the output is to a terminal. Defaults to false.
 285
 286color.branch.<slot>::
 287        Use customized color for branch coloration. `<slot>` is one of
 288        `current` (the current branch), `local` (a local branch),
 289        `remote` (a tracking branch in refs/remotes/), `plain` (other
 290        refs).
 291+
 292The value for these configuration variables is a list of colors (at most
 293two) and attributes (at most one), separated by spaces.  The colors
 294accepted are `normal`, `black`, `red`, `green`, `yellow`, `blue`,
 295`magenta`, `cyan` and `white`; the attributes are `bold`, `dim`, `ul`,
 296`blink` and `reverse`.  The first color given is the foreground; the
 297second is the background.  The position of the attribute, if any,
 298doesn't matter.
 299
 300color.diff::
 301        When true (or `always`), always use colors in patch.
 302        When false (or `never`), never.  When set to `auto`, use
 303        colors only when the output is to the terminal.
 304
 305color.diff.<slot>::
 306        Use customized color for diff colorization.  `<slot>` specifies
 307        which part of the patch to use the specified color, and is one
 308        of `plain` (context text), `meta` (metainformation), `frag`
 309        (hunk header), `old` (removed lines), `new` (added lines),
 310        `commit` (commit headers), or `whitespace` (highlighting dubious
 311        whitespace).  The values of these variables may be specified as
 312        in color.branch.<slot>.
 313
 314color.pager::
 315        A boolean to enable/disable colored output when the pager is in
 316        use (default is true).
 317
 318color.status::
 319        A boolean to enable/disable color in the output of
 320        gitlink:git-status[1]. May be set to `true` (or `always`),
 321        `false` (or `never`) or `auto`, in which case colors are used
 322        only when the output is to a terminal. Defaults to false.
 323
 324color.status.<slot>::
 325        Use customized color for status colorization. `<slot>` is
 326        one of `header` (the header text of the status message),
 327        `added` or `updated` (files which are added but not committed),
 328        `changed` (files which are changed but not added in the index),
 329        or `untracked` (files which are not tracked by git). The values of
 330        these variables may be specified as in color.branch.<slot>.
 331
 332diff.renameLimit::
 333        The number of files to consider when performing the copy/rename
 334        detection; equivalent to the git diff option '-l'.
 335
 336diff.renames::
 337        Tells git to detect renames.  If set to any boolean value, it
 338        will enable basic rename detection.  If set to "copies" or
 339        "copy", it will detect copies, as well.
 340
 341fetch.unpackLimit::
 342        If the number of objects fetched over the git native
 343        transfer is below this
 344        limit, then the objects will be unpacked into loose object
 345        files. However if the number of received objects equals or
 346        exceeds this limit then the received pack will be stored as
 347        a pack, after adding any missing delta bases.  Storing the
 348        pack from a push can make the push operation complete faster,
 349        especially on slow filesystems.
 350
 351format.headers::
 352        Additional email headers to include in a patch to be submitted
 353        by mail.  See gitlink:git-format-patch[1].
 354
 355format.suffix::
 356        The default for format-patch is to output files with the suffix
 357        `.patch`. Use this variable to change that suffix (make sure to
 358        include the dot if you want it).
 359
 360gc.packrefs::
 361        `git gc` does not run `git pack-refs` in a bare repository by
 362        default so that older dumb-transport clients can still fetch
 363        from the repository.  Setting this to `true` lets `git
 364        gc` to run `git pack-refs`.  Setting this to `false` tells
 365        `git gc` never to run `git pack-refs`. The default setting is
 366        `notbare`. Enable it only when you know you do not have to
 367        support such clients.  The default setting will change to `true`
 368        at some stage, and setting this to `false` will continue to
 369        prevent `git pack-refs` from being run from `git gc`.
 370
 371gc.reflogexpire::
 372        `git reflog expire` removes reflog entries older than
 373        this time; defaults to 90 days.
 374
 375gc.reflogexpireunreachable::
 376        `git reflog expire` removes reflog entries older than
 377        this time and are not reachable from the current tip;
 378        defaults to 30 days.
 379
 380gc.rerereresolved::
 381        Records of conflicted merge you resolved earlier are
 382        kept for this many days when `git rerere gc` is run.
 383        The default is 60 days.  See gitlink:git-rerere[1].
 384
 385gc.rerereunresolved::
 386        Records of conflicted merge you have not resolved are
 387        kept for this many days when `git rerere gc` is run.
 388        The default is 15 days.  See gitlink:git-rerere[1].
 389
 390gitcvs.enabled::
 391        Whether the cvs pserver interface is enabled for this repository.
 392        See gitlink:git-cvsserver[1].
 393
 394gitcvs.logfile::
 395        Path to a log file where the cvs pserver interface well... logs
 396        various stuff. See gitlink:git-cvsserver[1].
 397
 398http.sslVerify::
 399        Whether to verify the SSL certificate when fetching or pushing
 400        over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_NO_VERIFY' environment
 401        variable.
 402
 403http.sslCert::
 404        File containing the SSL certificate when fetching or pushing
 405        over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_CERT' environment
 406        variable.
 407
 408http.sslKey::
 409        File containing the SSL private key when fetching or pushing
 410        over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_SSL_KEY' environment
 411        variable.
 412
 413http.sslCAInfo::
 414        File containing the certificates to verify the peer with when
 415        fetching or pushing over HTTPS. Can be overridden by the
 416        'GIT_SSL_CAINFO' environment variable.
 417
 418http.sslCAPath::
 419        Path containing files with the CA certificates to verify the peer
 420        with when fetching or pushing over HTTPS. Can be overridden
 421        by the 'GIT_SSL_CAPATH' environment variable.
 422
 423http.maxRequests::
 424        How many HTTP requests to launch in parallel. Can be overridden
 425        by the 'GIT_HTTP_MAX_REQUESTS' environment variable. Default is 5.
 426
 427http.lowSpeedLimit, http.lowSpeedTime::
 428        If the HTTP transfer speed is less than 'http.lowSpeedLimit'
 429        for longer than 'http.lowSpeedTime' seconds, the transfer is aborted.
 430        Can be overridden by the 'GIT_HTTP_LOW_SPEED_LIMIT' and
 431        'GIT_HTTP_LOW_SPEED_TIME' environment variables.
 432
 433http.noEPSV::
 434        A boolean which disables using of EPSV ftp command by curl.
 435        This can helpful with some "poor" ftp servers which doesn't
 436        support EPSV mode. Can be overridden by the 'GIT_CURL_FTP_NO_EPSV'
 437        environment variable. Default is false (curl will use EPSV).
 438
 439i18n.commitEncoding::
 440        Character encoding the commit messages are stored in; git itself
 441        does not care per se, but this information is necessary e.g. when
 442        importing commits from emails or in the gitk graphical history
 443        browser (and possibly at other places in the future or in other
 444        porcelains). See e.g. gitlink:git-mailinfo[1]. Defaults to 'utf-8'.
 445
 446i18n.logOutputEncoding::
 447        Character encoding the commit messages are converted to when
 448        running `git-log` and friends.
 449
 450log.showroot::
 451        If true, the initial commit will be shown as a big creation event.
 452        This is equivalent to a diff against an empty tree.
 453        Tools like gitlink:git-log[1] or gitlink:git-whatchanged[1], which
 454        normally hide the root commit will now show it. True by default.
 455
 456merge.summary::
 457        Whether to include summaries of merged commits in newly created
 458        merge commit messages. False by default.
 459
 460merge.tool::
 461        Controls which merge resolution program is used by
 462        gitlink:git-mergetool[l].  Valid values are: "kdiff3", "tkdiff",
 463        "meld", "xxdiff", "emerge"
 464
 465merge.verbosity::
 466        Controls the amount of output shown by the recursive merge
 467        strategy.  Level 0 outputs nothing except a final error
 468        message if conflicts were detected. Level 1 outputs only
 469        conflicts, 2 outputs conflicts and file changes.  Level 5 and
 470        above outputs debugging information.  The default is level 2.
 471
 472pack.window::
 473        The size of the window used by gitlink:git-pack-objects[1] when no
 474        window size is given on the command line. Defaults to 10.
 475
 476pull.octopus::
 477        The default merge strategy to use when pulling multiple branches
 478        at once.
 479
 480pull.twohead::
 481        The default merge strategy to use when pulling a single branch.
 482
 483remote.<name>.url::
 484        The URL of a remote repository.  See gitlink:git-fetch[1] or
 485        gitlink:git-push[1].
 486
 487remote.<name>.fetch::
 488        The default set of "refspec" for gitlink:git-fetch[1]. See
 489        gitlink:git-fetch[1].
 490
 491remote.<name>.push::
 492        The default set of "refspec" for gitlink:git-push[1]. See
 493        gitlink:git-push[1].
 494
 495remote.<name>.skipDefaultUpdate::
 496        If true, this remote will be skipped by default when updating
 497        using the remote subcommand of gitlink:git-remote[1].
 498
 499remote.<name>.receivepack::
 500        The default program to execute on the remote side when pushing.  See
 501        option \--exec of gitlink:git-push[1].
 502
 503remote.<name>.uploadpack::
 504        The default program to execute on the remote side when fetching.  See
 505        option \--exec of gitlink:git-fetch-pack[1].
 506
 507remote.<name>.tagopt::
 508        Setting this value to --no-tags disables automatic tag following when fetching
 509        from remote <name>
 510
 511remotes.<group>::
 512        The list of remotes which are fetched by "git remote update
 513        <group>".  See gitlink:git-remote[1].
 514
 515repack.usedeltabaseoffset::
 516        Allow gitlink:git-repack[1] to create packs that uses
 517        delta-base offset.  Defaults to false.
 518
 519show.difftree::
 520        The default gitlink:git-diff-tree[1] arguments to be used
 521        for gitlink:git-show[1].
 522
 523showbranch.default::
 524        The default set of branches for gitlink:git-show-branch[1].
 525        See gitlink:git-show-branch[1].
 526
 527tar.umask::
 528        By default, gitlink:git-tar-tree[1] sets file and directories modes
 529        to 0666 or 0777. While this is both useful and acceptable for projects
 530        such as the Linux Kernel, it might be excessive for other projects.
 531        With this variable, it becomes possible to tell
 532        gitlink:git-tar-tree[1] to apply a specific umask to the modes above.
 533        The special value "user" indicates that the user's current umask will
 534        be used. This should be enough for most projects, as it will lead to
 535        the same permissions as gitlink:git-checkout[1] would use. The default
 536        value remains 0, which means world read-write.
 537
 538user.email::
 539        Your email address to be recorded in any newly created commits.
 540        Can be overridden by the 'GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL' and 'GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL'
 541        environment variables.  See gitlink:git-commit-tree[1].
 542
 543user.name::
 544        Your full name to be recorded in any newly created commits.
 545        Can be overridden by the 'GIT_AUTHOR_NAME' and 'GIT_COMMITTER_NAME'
 546        environment variables.  See gitlink:git-commit-tree[1].
 547
 548user.signingkey::
 549        If gitlink:git-tag[1] is not selecting the key you want it to
 550        automatically when creating a signed tag, you can override the
 551        default selection with this variable.  This option is passed
 552        unchanged to gpg's --local-user parameter, so you may specify a key
 553        using any method that gpg supports.
 554
 555whatchanged.difftree::
 556        The default gitlink:git-diff-tree[1] arguments to be used
 557        for gitlink:git-whatchanged[1].
 558
 559imap::
 560        The configuration variables in the 'imap' section are described
 561        in gitlink:git-imap-send[1].
 562
 563receive.unpackLimit::
 564        If the number of objects received in a push is below this
 565        limit then the objects will be unpacked into loose object
 566        files. However if the number of received objects equals or
 567        exceeds this limit then the received pack will be stored as
 568        a pack, after adding any missing delta bases.  Storing the
 569        pack from a push can make the push operation complete faster,
 570        especially on slow filesystems.
 571
 572receive.denyNonFastForwards::
 573        If set to true, git-receive-pack will deny a ref update which is
 574        not a fast forward. Use this to prevent such an update via a push,
 575        even if that push is forced. This configuration variable is
 576        set when initializing a shared repository.
 577
 578transfer.unpackLimit::
 579        When `fetch.unpackLimit` or `receive.unpackLimit` are
 580        not set, the value of this variable is used instead.
 581
 582