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gitcredentials(7)
=================
 
NAME
----
gitcredentials - providing usernames and passwords to Git
 
SYNOPSIS
--------
------------------
git config credential.https://example.com.username myusername
git config credential.helper "$helper $options"
------------------
 
DESCRIPTION
-----------
 
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
features to avoid inputting these credentials repeatedly.
 
REQUESTING CREDENTIALS
----------------------
 
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
   specified by the variable is invoked. A suitable prompt is provided
   to the program on the command line, and the user's input is read
   from its standard output.
 
2. Otherwise, if the `core.askPass` configuration variable is set, its
   value is used as above.
 
3. Otherwise, if the `SSH_ASKPASS` environment variable is set, its
   value is used as above.
 
4. Otherwise, the user is prompted on the terminal.
 
AVOIDING REPETITION
-------------------
 
It can be cumbersome to input the same credentials over and over.  Git
provides two methods to reduce this annoyance:
 
1. Static configuration of usernames for a given authentication context.
 
2. Credential helpers to cache or store passwords, or to interact with
   a system password wallet or keychain.
 
The first is simple and appropriate if you do not have secure storage available
for a password. It is generally configured by adding this to your config:
 
---------------------------------------
[credential "https://example.com"]
	username = me
---------------------------------------
 
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.
 
To use a helper, you must first select one to use. Git currently
includes the following helpers:
 
cache::
 
	Cache credentials in memory for a short period of time. See
	linkgit:git-credential-cache[1] for details.
 
store::
 
	Store credentials indefinitely on disk. See
	linkgit:git-credential-store[1] for details.
 
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
credential.helper variable.
 
1. Find a helper.
+
-------------------------------------------
$ git help -a | grep credential-
credential-foo
-------------------------------------------
 
2. Read its description.
+
-------------------------------------------
$ git help credential-foo
-------------------------------------------
 
3. Tell Git to use it.
+
-------------------------------------------
$ git config --global credential.helper foo
-------------------------------------------
 
 
CREDENTIAL CONTEXTS
-------------------
 
Git considers each credential to have a context defined by a URL. This context
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
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:
 
--------------------------------------
[credential "https://example.com"]
	username = foo
--------------------------------------
 
then we will match: both protocols are the same, both hosts are the same, and
the "pattern" URL does not care about the path component at all. However, this
context would not match:
 
--------------------------------------
[credential "https://kernel.org"]
	username = foo
--------------------------------------
 
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.
 
If the "pattern" URL does include a path component, then this too must match
exactly: the context `https://example.com/bar/baz.git` will match a config
entry for `https://example.com/bar/baz.git` (in addition to matching the config
entry for `https://example.com`) but will not match a config entry for
`https://example.com/bar`.
 
 
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
above.
 
The following options are available in either location:
 
helper::
 
	The name of an external credential helper, and any associated options.
	If the helper name is not an absolute path, then the string `git
	credential-` is prepended. The resulting string is executed by the
	shell (so, for example, setting this to `foo --option=bar` will execute
	`git credential-foo --option=bar` via the shell. See the manual of
	specific helpers for examples of their use.
+
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, no more helpers will be tried.
+
If `credential.helper` is configured to the empty string, this resets
the helper list to empty (so you may override a helper set by a
lower-priority config file by configuring the empty-string helper,
followed by whatever set of helpers you would like).
 
username::
 
	A default username, if one is not provided in the URL.
 
useHttpPath::
 
	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
	cases, set this option to `true`.
 
 
CUSTOM HELPERS
--------------
 
You can write your own custom helpers to interface with any system in
which you keep credentials. See credential.h for details.
 
GIT
---
Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite