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diff --git a/Documentation/git-credential.txt b/Documentation/git-credential.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..b211440373 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/git-credential.txt @@ -0,0 +1,154 @@ +git-credential(1) +================= + +NAME +---- +git-credential - Retrieve and store user credentials + +SYNOPSIS +-------- +------------------ +git credential <fill|approve|reject> +------------------ + +DESCRIPTION +----------- + +Git has an internal interface for storing and retrieving credentials +from system-specific helpers, as well as prompting the user for +usernames and passwords. The git-credential command exposes this +interface to scripts which may want to retrieve, store, or prompt for +credentials in the same manner as Git. The design of this scriptable +interface models the internal C API; see +link:technical/api-credentials.html[the Git credential API] for more +background on the concepts. + +git-credential takes an "action" option on the command-line (one of +`fill`, `approve`, or `reject`) and reads a credential description +on stdin (see <<IOFMT,INPUT/OUTPUT FORMAT>>). + +If the action is `fill`, git-credential will attempt to add "username" +and "password" attributes to the description by reading config files, +by contacting any configured credential helpers, or by prompting the +user. The username and password attributes of the credential +description are then printed to stdout together with the attributes +already provided. + +If the action is `approve`, git-credential will send the description +to any configured credential helpers, which may store the credential +for later use. + +If the action is `reject`, git-credential will send the description to +any configured credential helpers, which may erase any stored +credential matching the description. + +If the action is `approve` or `reject`, no output should be emitted. + +TYPICAL USE OF GIT CREDENTIAL +----------------------------- + +An application using git-credential will typically use `git +credential` following these steps: + + 1. Generate a credential description based on the context. ++ +For example, if we want a password for +`https://example.com/foo.git`, we might generate the following +credential description (don't forget the blank line at the end; it +tells `git credential` that the application finished feeding all the +information it has): + + protocol=https + host=example.com + path=foo.git + + 2. Ask git-credential to give us a username and password for this + description. This is done by running `git credential fill`, + feeding the description from step (1) to its standard input. The complete + credential description (including the credential per se, i.e. the + login and password) will be produced on standard output, like: + + protocol=https + host=example.com + username=bob + password=secr3t ++ +In most cases, this means the attributes given in the input will be +repeated in the output, but Git may also modify the credential +description, for example by removing the `path` attribute when the +protocol is HTTP(s) and `credential.useHttpPath` is false. ++ +If the `git credential` knew about the password, this step may +not have involved the user actually typing this password (the +user may have typed a password to unlock the keychain instead, +or no user interaction was done if the keychain was already +unlocked) before it returned `password=secr3t`. + + 3. Use the credential (e.g., access the URL with the username and + password from step (2)), and see if it's accepted. + + 4. Report on the success or failure of the password. If the + credential allowed the operation to complete successfully, then + it can be marked with an "approve" action to tell `git + credential` to reuse it in its next invocation. If the credential + was rejected during the operation, use the "reject" action so + that `git credential` will ask for a new password in its next + invocation. In either case, `git credential` should be fed with + the credential description obtained from step (2) (which also + contain the ones provided in step (1)). + +[[IOFMT]] +INPUT/OUTPUT FORMAT +------------------- + +`git credential` reads and/or writes (depending on the action used) +credential information in its standard input/output. This information +can correspond either to keys for which `git credential` will obtain +the login/password information (e.g. host, protocol, path), or to the +actual credential data to be obtained (login/password). + +The credential is split into a set of named attributes, with one +attribute 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 understands the following attributes: + +`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. + +`url`:: + + When this special attribute is read by `git credential`, the + value is parsed as a URL and treated as if its constituent parts + were read (e.g., `url=https://example.com` would behave as if + `protocol=https` and `host=example.com` had been provided). This + can help callers avoid parsing URLs themselves. Note that any + components which are missing from the URL (e.g., there is no + username in the example above) will be set to empty; if you want + to provide a URL and override some attributes, provide the URL + attribute first, followed by any overrides. |