NAME
----
-gitcredentials - providing usernames and passwords to git
+gitcredentials - providing usernames and passwords to Git
SYNOPSIS
--------
Git will sometimes need credentials from the user in order to perform
operations; for example, it may need to ask for a username and password
in order to access a remote repository over HTTP. This manual describes
-the mechanisms git uses to request these credentials, as well as some
+the mechanisms Git uses to request these credentials, as well as some
features to avoid inputting these credentials repeatedly.
REQUESTING CREDENTIALS
----------------------
-Without any credential helpers defined, git will try the following
+Without any credential helpers defined, Git will try the following
strategies to ask the user for usernames and passwords:
1. If the `GIT_ASKPASS` environment variable is set, the program
username = me
---------------------------------------
-Credential helpers, on the other hand, are external programs from which git can
+Credential helpers, on the other hand, are external programs from which Git can
request both usernames and passwords; they typically interface with secure
storage provided by the OS or other programs.
You may also have third-party helpers installed; search for
`credential-*` in the output of `git help -a`, and consult the
documentation of individual helpers. Once you have selected a helper,
-you can tell git to use it by putting its name into the
+you can tell Git to use it by putting its name into the
credential.helper variable.
1. Find a helper.
$ git help credential-foo
-------------------------------------------
-3. Tell git to use it.
+3. Tell Git to use it.
+
-------------------------------------------
$ git config --global credential.helper foo
If there are multiple instances of the `credential.helper` configuration
variable, each helper will be tried in turn, and may provide a username,
-password, or nothing. Once git has acquired both a username and a
+password, or nothing. Once Git has acquired both a username and a
password, no more helpers will be tried.
is used to look up context-specific configuration, and is passed to any
helpers, which may use it as an index into secure storage.
-For instance, imagine we are accessing `https://example.com/foo.git`. When git
+For instance, imagine we are accessing `https://example.com/foo.git`. When Git
looks into a config file to see if a section matches this context, it will
consider the two a match if the context is a more-specific subset of the
pattern in the config file. For example, if you have this in your config file:
username = foo
--------------------------------------
-because the hostnames differ. Nor would it match `foo.example.com`; git
+because the hostnames differ. Nor would it match `foo.example.com`; Git
compares hostnames exactly, without considering whether two hosts are part of
the same domain. Likewise, a config entry for `http://example.com` would not
-match: git compares the protocols exactly.
+match: Git compares the protocols exactly.
CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
---------------------
Options for a credential context can be configured either in
-`credential.\*` (which applies to all credentials), or
-`credential.<url>.\*`, where <url> matches the context as described
+`credential.*` (which applies to all credentials), or
+`credential.<url>.*`, where <url> matches the context as described
above.
The following options are available in either location:
useHttpPath::
- By default, git does not consider the "path" component of an http URL
+ By default, Git does not consider the "path" component of an http URL
to be worth matching via external helpers. This means that a credential
stored for `https://example.com/foo.git` will also be used for
`https://example.com/bar.git`. If you do want to distinguish these
--------------
You can write your own custom helpers to interface with any system in
-which you keep credentials. See the documentation for git's
+which you keep credentials. See the documentation for Git's
link:technical/api-credentials.html[credentials API] for details.
GIT