The `helpers` member of the struct is a `string_list` of helpers. Each
string specifies an external helper which will be run, in order, to
either acquire or store credentials. See the section on credential
-helpers below.
+helpers below. This list is filled-in by the API functions
+according to the corresponding configuration variables before
+consulting helpers, so there usually is no need for a caller to
+modify the helpers field at all.
+
This struct should always be initialized with `CREDENTIAL_INIT` or
`credential_init`.
in-memory for a few minutes, or indefinitely on disk).
Each helper is specified by a single string in the configuration
-variable `credential.helper` (and others, see linkgit:../git-config[1]).
+variable `credential.helper` (and others, see linkgit:git-config[1]).
The string is transformed by git into a command to be executed using
these rules:
Remove a matching credential, if any, from the helper's storage.
The details of the credential will be provided on the helper's stdin
-stream. The credential is split into a set of named attributes.
-Attributes are provided to the helper, one per line. Each attribute is
-specified by a key-value pair, separated by an `=` (equals) sign,
-followed by a newline. The key may contain any bytes except `=`,
-newline, or NUL. The value may contain any bytes except newline or NUL.
-In both cases, all bytes are treated as-is (i.e., there is no quoting,
-and one cannot transmit a value with newline or NUL in it). The list of
-attributes is terminated by a blank line or end-of-file.
-
-Git will send the following attributes (but may not send all of
-them for a given credential; for example, a `host` attribute makes no
-sense when dealing with a non-network protocol):
-
-`protocol`::
-
- The protocol over which the credential will be used (e.g.,
- `https`).
-
-`host`::
-
- The remote hostname for a network credential.
-
-`path`::
-
- The path with which the credential will be used. E.g., for
- accessing a remote https repository, this will be the
- repository's path on the server.
-
-`username`::
-
- The credential's username, if we already have one (e.g., from a
- URL, from the user, or from a previously run helper).
-
-`password`::
-
- The credential's password, if we are asking it to be stored.
+stream. The exact format is the same as the input/output format of the
+`git credential` plumbing command (see the section `INPUT/OUTPUT
+FORMAT` in linkgit:git-credential[7] for a detailed specification).
For a `get` operation, the helper should produce a list of attributes
on stdout in the same format. A helper is free to produce a subset, or
If a helper receives any other operation, it should silently ignore the
request. This leaves room for future operations to be added (older
helpers will just ignore the new requests).
+
+See also
+--------
+
+linkgit:gitcredentials[7]
+
+linkgit:git-config[5] (See configuration variables `credential.*`)