Git Pocket Guide

Chapter 2. Getting Started

In this chapter, you’ll get started working with Git by setting your defaults and preferences, and learn the basics of creating a repository and adding initial content to it.

Basic Configuration

Before starting in with Git, you’ll want to set a few basic parameters using git config. This command reads and changes Git configuration at the repository, personal, or system level. Your personal Git configuration is in ~/.gitconfig; this is a plain-text file, which you can edit directly as well, if you like. Its format is called INI style (after a file extension commonly used for it, though not by Git), and is divided into sections, like so:

[user]
        name = Richard E. Silverman

[color]
        ui = auto # overall default for color usage

[mergetool "ediff"]
        trustExitCode = true

Comments are introduced with a hash sign (#) as shown, as is common in Unix configuration files. The parameters have full names qualified by the section in which they appear using a dot; for example, the parameters mentioned in this example are:

• user.name
• color.ui
• mergetool.ediff.trustExitCode

You use these names when reading or setting parameters with git config, rather than editing the file yourself. To set a parameter with git config:

$ git config --{local,global,system} parameter value

If you give this command when your current directory is inside a Git repository, it implies --local, and it will change the configuration for that repository only, in the file .git/config. Otherwise, the default ...