Git Configuration¶

Configuration Locations¶

Git knows the following configurations locations:

System: /etc/gitconfig Configuration per system, settings apply to all users and all repositories access from that system.
Global: ~/.gitconfig or ~/.config/git/config Configuration per user, settings apply to all repositories access by that user.
Local: ${repository}/.git/config Configuration per repository, settings apply to anyone accessing that repository.

Hint

If a configuration is made in two locations, the more specific one overwrites the less specific one.

Example

if user.name is set both in ~/.gitconfig (global) and ${repository}/.git/config (local), the one in ${repository}/.git/config is being used.

Basic Configuration¶

Name and Email¶

Set your name and email:

git config --global user.name "John Doe"
git config --global user.email john.doe@example.org

PGP Signing Key¶

If you have a PGP Key you can use it to sign tags and commits with:

git config --global user.signingkey KEY_ID

Pull¶

Always pull with –rebase to avoid uneeded merges:

git config --global pull.rebase true

Colors¶

Enable colors in Git outputs (e.g. in git diff, git log, etc.):

git config --global color.ui true

Decorations¶

Show commit decorations (e.g. in git log, git show, etc.):

git config --global log.decorate true

Whitespace¶

Highlight uneeded whitespaces:

git config --global core.whitespace blank-at-eol,space-before-tab,indent-with-non-tab,blank-at-eof

Differences¶

Track renamed files in git diff:

git config --global diff.renames copies

Advanced Configuration¶

Abbreviations¶

If you are annoyed by the full SHA hashes, you can let Git shorten them for you to the common 7-characters string:

git config --global log.abbrevCommit true

Advice¶

If you are a Git expert and are bored by the hints that Git gives you, you can disable them:

git config --global advice.statusHints false

Alias¶

Sometimes it is handy to see differences not line based but word based. The following aliases define word-based pendants to the default line-based ones:

git config --global alias.wdiff "diff --color-words"
git config --global alias.wlog "log --color-words"
git config --global alias.wshow "show --color-words"

Instead of¶

Git can use abbreviation for URLs to clone from. Using the following snippet in your global configuration file:

[url "git@git.example.org:foo/bar/"]
    insteadOf = foobar:

This allows you to use:

git clone foobar:baz.git

instead of:

git clone git@git.example.org:foo/bar/baz.git

Push¶

Git can push multiple branches if none is specified. To push all branches that are known in origin, use:

git config --global push.default matching

Status¶

If you like Git to not show relativ paths to files in git status you can use:

git config --global status.relativePaths false

Prompt¶

With Git and bash-completion installed, the shell prompt can be configured to display status information such as the current branch and if/what has changed. Use the following code in /etc/profile.d/zzz-git-sh-prompt.sh.

#!/bin/sh

if [ -z "$BASH" ] && [ "$BASH" = "/bin/sh" ]
then
exit 0
fi

if [ "$(id -u)" -eq 0 ]
then
     exit 0
fi

if [ -e /usr/lib/git-core/git-sh-prompt ] && [ -e /etc/profile.d/bash_completion.sh ]
then
     # See /usr/lib/git-core/git-sh-prompt for more information about git-prompt options
     export GIT_PS1_SHOWCOLORHINTS="true"
     export GIT_PS1_SHOWDIRTYSTATE="true"
     export GIT_PS1_SHOWSTASHSTATE="true"
     export GIT_PS1_SHOWUNTRACKEDFILES="true"
     export GIT_PS1_SHOWUPSTREAM="verbose"
     export GIT_PS1_DESCRIBE_STYLE="branch"

     export PROMPT_COMMAND="__git_ps1 '' '\[\e[0m\]\u@\h:\w\\\$\[\e[0m\] '"
fi