diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/CodingGuidelines | 7 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/Makefile | 1 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/RelNotes/1.7.9.txt | 160 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/config.txt | 43 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/git-branch.txt | 5 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/git-commit-tree.txt | 16 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/git-credential-cache--daemon.txt | 26 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/git-credential-cache.txt | 77 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/git-credential-store.txt | 75 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/git-fsck.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/git-mv.txt | 8 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/git-pull.txt | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/git-stripspace.txt | 69 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/git-tag.txt | 7 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/gitattributes.txt | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/gitcredentials.txt | 183 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/technical/api-credentials.txt | 245 |
17 files changed, 920 insertions, 17 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/CodingGuidelines b/Documentation/CodingGuidelines index fe1c1e5bc2..483008699f 100644 --- a/Documentation/CodingGuidelines +++ b/Documentation/CodingGuidelines @@ -81,6 +81,10 @@ For shell scripts specifically (not exhaustive): are ERE elements not BRE (note that \? and \+ are not even part of BRE -- making them accessible from BRE is a GNU extension). + - Use Git's gettext wrappers in git-sh-i18n to make the user + interface translatable. See "Marking strings for translation" in + po/README. + For C programs: - We use tabs to indent, and interpret tabs as taking up to @@ -144,6 +148,9 @@ For C programs: - When we pass <string, length> pair to functions, we should try to pass them in that order. + - Use Git's gettext wrappers to make the user interface + translatable. See "Marking strings for translation" in po/README. + Writing Documentation: Every user-visible change should be reflected in the documentation. diff --git a/Documentation/Makefile b/Documentation/Makefile index 304b31edee..116f17587e 100644 --- a/Documentation/Makefile +++ b/Documentation/Makefile @@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ MAN5_TXT=gitattributes.txt gitignore.txt gitmodules.txt githooks.txt \ MAN7_TXT=gitcli.txt gittutorial.txt gittutorial-2.txt \ gitcvs-migration.txt gitcore-tutorial.txt gitglossary.txt \ gitdiffcore.txt gitnamespaces.txt gitrevisions.txt gitworkflows.txt +MAN7_TXT += gitcredentials.txt MAN_TXT = $(MAN1_TXT) $(MAN5_TXT) $(MAN7_TXT) MAN_XML=$(patsubst %.txt,%.xml,$(MAN_TXT)) diff --git a/Documentation/RelNotes/1.7.9.txt b/Documentation/RelNotes/1.7.9.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..70ff060231 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/RelNotes/1.7.9.txt @@ -0,0 +1,160 @@ +Git v1.7.9 Release Notes (draft) +======================== + +Updates since v1.7.8 +-------------------- + + * gitk updates accumulated since early 2011. + + * git-gui updated to 0.16.0. + + * git-p4 (in contrib/) updates. + + * i18n effort is going forward and Git uses localized messages if + available. + + * Porcelain commands like "git reset" did not distinguish deletions + and type-changes from ordinary modification, and reported them with + the same 'M' moniker. They now use 'D' (for deletion) and 'T' (for + type-change) to match "git status -s" and "git diff --name-status". + + * The code to handle username/password for HTTP transaction used in + "git push" & "git fetch" learned to talk "credential API" to + external programs to cache or store them, to allow integration with + platform native keychain mechanisms. + + * "git commit" and "git reset" re-learned the optimization to prime + the cache-tree information in the index, which makes it faster to + write a tree object out after the index entries are updated. + + * "git add" learned to stream large files directly into a packfile + instead of writing them into individual loose object files. + + * "git branch -m <current branch> HEAD" is an obvious no-op and is + now allowed. + + * "git checkout -B <current branch> <elsewhere>" is a more intuitive + way to spell "git reset --keep <elsewhere>". + + * "git checkout" and "git merge" learned "--no-overwrite-ignore" option + to tell Git that untracked and ignored files are not expendable. + + * "git commit --amend" learned "--no-edit" option to say that the + user is amending the tree being recorded, without updating the + commit log message. + + * fsck and prune are relatively lengthy operations that still go + silent while making the end-user wait. They learned to give progress + output like other slow operations. + + * The set of built-in function-header patterns for various languages + knows MATLAB. + + * "git pull" can be used to fetch and merge an annotated/signed tag, + instead of the tip of a topic branch. The GPG signature from the + signed tag is recorded in the resulting merge commit for later + auditing. + + * "git branch --edit-description" can be used to add descriptive text + to explain what a topic branch is about. + + * "git fmt-merge-msg" learned to take the branch description into + account when preparing a merge summary that "git merge" records + when merging a local branch. + + * "git request-pull" has been updated to convey more information + useful for integrators to decide if a topic is worth merging and + what is pulled is indeed what the requestor asked to pull, + including: + + - the tip of the branch being requested to be merged; + - the branch description describing what the topic is about; + - the contents of the annotated tag, when requesting to pull a tag. + + * "git pull" learned to notice 'pull.rebase' configuration variable, + which serves as a global fallback for setting 'branch.<name>.rebase' + configuration variable per branch. + + * "git tag" learned "--cleanup" option to control how the whitespaces + and empty lines in tag message are cleaned up. + + * "gitweb" learned to show side-by-side diff. + +Also contains minor documentation updates and code clean-ups. + + +Fixes since v1.7.8 +------------------ + + * The function header pattern for files with "diff=cpp" attribute did + not consider "type *funcname(type param1,..." as the beginning of a + function. + (merge 37e7793 tr/userdiff-c-returns-pointer later to maint). + + * The replacement implemention for snprintf used on platforms with + native snprintf that is broken did not use va_copy correctly. + (merge a9bfbc5 jk/maint-snprintf-va-copy later to maint). + + * LF-to-CRLF streaming filter used when checking out a large-ish blob + fell into an infinite loop with a rare input. + (merge 284e3d2 cn/maint-lf-to-crlf-filter later to maint). + + * git native connection going over TCP (not over SSH) did not set + SO_KEEPALIVE option which failed to receive link layer errors. + (merge e47a858 ew/keepalive later to maint). + + * "git archive" mistakenly allowed remote clients to ask for commits + that are not at the tip of any ref. + (merge 7b51c33 jk/maint-upload-archive later to maint). + + * "git apply --check" did not error out when given an empty input + without any patch. + (merge cc64b31 bc/maint-apply-check-no-patch later to maint). + + * "git checkout -m" did not recreate the conflicted state in a "both + sides added, without any common ancestor version" conflict + situation. + (merge 335c6e4 jc/checkout-m-twoway later to maint). + + * "git cherry-pick $commit" (not a range) created an unnecessary + sequencer state and interfered with valid workflow to use the + command during a session to cherry-pick multiple commits. + (merge d596118 jn/maint-sequencer-fixes later to maint). + + * The error message from "git diff" and "git status" when they fail + to inspect changes in submodules did not report which submodule they + had trouble with. + (merge 6a5ceda jl/submodule-status-failure-report later to maint). + + * "fast-import" did not correctly update an existing notes tree, + possibly corrupting the fan-out. + + * "git fetch-pack" accepted unqualified refs that do not begin with + refs/ by mistake and compensated it by matching the refspec with + tail-match, which was doubly wrong. This broke fetching from a + repository with a funny named ref "refs/foo/refs/heads/master" and a + 'master' branch with "git fetch-pack refs/heads/master", as the + command incorrectly considered the former a "match". + (merge bab8d28 jk/fetch-no-tail-match-refs later to maint). + + * "git mv" gave suboptimal error/warning messages when it overwrites + target files. It also did not pay attention to "-v" option. + (merge 534376c jk/maint-mv later to maint). + + * When a "reword" action in "git rebase -i" failed to run "commit --amend", + we did not give the control back to the user to resolve the situation, and + instead kept the original commit log message. + (merge 0becb3e aw/rebase-i-stop-on-failure-to-amend later to maint). + + * Authenticated "git push" over dumb HTTP were broken with a recent + change and failed without asking for password when username is + given. + (merge a4ddbc3 jk/maint-push-over-dav later to maint). + +-- +exec >/var/tmp/1 +O=v1.7.8-351-g2dccad3 +echo O=$(git describe master) +git log --first-parent --oneline --reverse ^$O master +echo +git shortlog --no-merges ^$O ^maint master diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt index f22d926777..6e63b5938f 100644 --- a/Documentation/config.txt +++ b/Documentation/config.txt @@ -674,10 +674,12 @@ branch.<name>.mergeoptions:: branch.<name>.rebase:: When true, rebase the branch <name> on top of the fetched branch, instead of merging the default branch from the default remote when - "git pull" is run. - *NOTE*: this is a possibly dangerous operation; do *not* use - it unless you understand the implications (see linkgit:git-rebase[1] - for details). + "git pull" is run. See "pull.rebase" for doing this in a non + branch-specific manner. ++ +*NOTE*: this is a possibly dangerous operation; do *not* use +it unless you understand the implications (see linkgit:git-rebase[1] +for details). browser.<tool>.cmd:: Specify the command to invoke the specified browser. The @@ -829,6 +831,29 @@ commit.template:: "{tilde}/" is expanded to the value of `$HOME` and "{tilde}user/" to the specified user's home directory. +credential.helper:: + Specify an external helper to be called when a username or + password credential is needed; the helper may consult external + storage to avoid prompting the user for the credentials. See + linkgit:gitcredentials[7] for details. + +credential.useHttpPath:: + When acquiring credentials, consider the "path" component of an http + or https URL to be important. Defaults to false. See + linkgit:gitcredentials[7] for more information. + +credential.username:: + If no username is set for a network authentication, use this username + by default. See credential.<context>.* below, and + linkgit:gitcredentials[7]. + +credential.<url>.*:: + Any of the credential.* options above can be applied selectively to + some credentials. For example "credential.https://example.com.username" + would set the default username only for https connections to + example.com. See linkgit:gitcredentials[7] for details on how URLs are + matched. + include::diff-config.txt[] difftool.<tool>.path:: @@ -1587,6 +1612,16 @@ pretty.<name>:: Note that an alias with the same name as a built-in format will be silently ignored. +pull.rebase:: + When true, rebase branches on top of the fetched branch, instead + of merging the default branch from the default remote when "git + pull" is run. See "branch.<name>.rebase" for setting this on a + per-branch basis. ++ +*NOTE*: this is a possibly dangerous operation; do *not* use +it unless you understand the implications (see linkgit:git-rebase[1] +for details). + pull.octopus:: The default merge strategy to use when pulling multiple branches at once. diff --git a/Documentation/git-branch.txt b/Documentation/git-branch.txt index f46013c91f..0427e80a35 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-branch.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-branch.txt @@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ SYNOPSIS 'git branch' [--set-upstream | --track | --no-track] [-l] [-f] <branchname> [<start-point>] 'git branch' (-m | -M) [<oldbranch>] <newbranch> 'git branch' (-d | -D) [-r] <branchname>... +'git branch' --edit-description [<branchname>] DESCRIPTION ----------- @@ -158,6 +159,10 @@ start-point is either a local or remote-tracking branch. like '--track' would when creating the branch, except that where branch points to is not changed. +--edit-description:: + Open an editor and edit the text to explain what the branch is + for, to be used by various other commands (e.g. `request-pull`). + --contains <commit>:: Only list branches which contain the specified commit. diff --git a/Documentation/git-commit-tree.txt b/Documentation/git-commit-tree.txt index 02133d5fc9..cfb9906bb5 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-commit-tree.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-commit-tree.txt @@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ git-commit-tree - Create a new commit object SYNOPSIS -------- [verse] -'git commit-tree' <tree> [(-p <parent commit>)...] < changelog +'git commit-tree' <tree> [(-p <parent>)...] < changelog +'git commit-tree' [(-p <parent>)...] [(-m <message>)...] [(-F <file>)...] <tree> DESCRIPTION ----------- @@ -17,7 +18,8 @@ This is usually not what an end user wants to run directly. See linkgit:git-commit[1] instead. Creates a new commit object based on the provided tree object and -emits the new commit object id on stdout. +emits the new commit object id on stdout. The log message is read +from the standard input, unless `-m` or `-F` options are given. A commit object may have any number of parents. With exactly one parent, it is an ordinary commit. Having more than one parent makes @@ -39,9 +41,17 @@ OPTIONS <tree>:: An existing tree object --p <parent commit>:: +-p <parent>:: Each '-p' indicates the id of a parent commit object. +-m <message>:: + A paragraph in the commig log message. This can be given more than + once and each <message> becomes its own paragraph. + +-F <file>:: + Read the commit log message from the given file. Use `-` to read + from the standard input. + Commit Information ------------------ diff --git a/Documentation/git-credential-cache--daemon.txt b/Documentation/git-credential-cache--daemon.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..11edc5a173 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/git-credential-cache--daemon.txt @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +git-credential-cache--daemon(1) +=============================== + +NAME +---- +git-credential-cache--daemon - temporarily store user credentials in memory + +SYNOPSIS +-------- +[verse] +git credential-cache--daemon <socket> + +DESCRIPTION +----------- + +NOTE: You probably don't want to invoke this command yourself; it is +started automatically when you use linkgit:git-credential-cache[1]. + +This command listens on the Unix domain socket specified by `<socket>` +for `git-credential-cache` clients. Clients may store and retrieve +credentials. Each credential is held for a timeout specified by the +client; once no credentials are held, the daemon exits. + +GIT +--- +Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite diff --git a/Documentation/git-credential-cache.txt b/Documentation/git-credential-cache.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..f3d09c5d51 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/git-credential-cache.txt @@ -0,0 +1,77 @@ +git-credential-cache(1) +======================= + +NAME +---- +git-credential-cache - helper to temporarily store passwords in memory + +SYNOPSIS +-------- +----------------------------- +git config credential.helper 'cache [options]' +----------------------------- + +DESCRIPTION +----------- + +This command caches credentials in memory for use by future git +programs. The stored credentials never touch the disk, and are forgotten +after a configurable timeout. The cache is accessible over a Unix +domain socket, restricted to the current user by filesystem permissions. + +You probably don't want to invoke this command directly; it is meant to +be used as a credential helper by other parts of git. See +linkgit:gitcredentials[7] or `EXAMPLES` below. + +OPTIONS +------- + +--timeout <seconds>:: + + Number of seconds to cache credentials (default: 900). + +--socket <path>:: + + Use `<path>` to contact a running cache daemon (or start a new + cache daemon if one is not started). Defaults to + `~/.git-credential-cache/socket`. If your home directory is on a + network-mounted filesystem, you may need to change this to a + local filesystem. + +CONTROLLING THE DAEMON +---------------------- + +If you would like the daemon to exit early, forgetting all cached +credentials before their timeout, you can issue an `exit` action: + +-------------------------------------- +git credential-cache exit +-------------------------------------- + +EXAMPLES +-------- + +The point of this helper is to reduce the number of times you must type +your username or password. For example: + +------------------------------------ +$ git config credential.helper cache +$ git push http://example.com/repo.git +Username: <type your username> +Password: <type your password> + +[work for 5 more minutes] +$ git push http://example.com/repo.git +[your credentials are used automatically] +------------------------------------ + +You can provide options via the credential.helper configuration +variable (this example drops the cache time to 5 minutes): + +------------------------------------------------------- +$ git config credential.helper 'cache --timeout=300' +------------------------------------------------------- + +GIT +--- +Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite diff --git a/Documentation/git-credential-store.txt b/Documentation/git-credential-store.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..31093467d1 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/git-credential-store.txt @@ -0,0 +1,75 @@ +git-credential-store(1) +======================= + +NAME +---- +git-credential-store - helper to store credentials on disk + +SYNOPSIS +-------- +------------------- +git config credential.helper 'store [options]' +------------------- + +DESCRIPTION +----------- + +NOTE: Using this helper will store your passwords unencrypted on disk, +protected only by filesystem permissions. If this is not an acceptable +security tradeoff, try linkgit:git-credential-cache[1], or find a helper +that integrates with secure storage provided by your operating system. + +This command stores credentials indefinitely on disk for use by future +git programs. + +You probably don't want to invoke this command directly; it is meant to +be used as a credential helper by other parts of git. See +linkgit:gitcredentials[7] or `EXAMPLES` below. + +OPTIONS +------- + +--store=<path>:: + + Use `<path>` to store credentials. The file will have its + filesystem permissions set to prevent other users on the system + from reading it, but will not be encrypted or otherwise + protected. Defaults to `~/.git-credentials`. + +EXAMPLES +-------- + +The point of this helper is to reduce the number of times you must type +your username or password. For example: + +------------------------------------------ +$ git config credential.helper store +$ git push http://example.com/repo.git +Username: <type your username> +Password: <type your password> + +[several days later] +$ git push http://example.com/repo.git +[your credentials are used automatically] +------------------------------------------ + +STORAGE FORMAT +-------------- + +The `.git-credentials` file is stored in plaintext. Each credential is +stored on its own line as a URL like: + +------------------------------ +https://user:pass@example.com +------------------------------ + +When git needs authentication for a particular URL context, +credential-store will consider that context a pattern to match against +each entry in the credentials file. If the protocol, hostname, and +username (if we already have one) match, then the password is returned +to git. See the discussion of configuration in linkgit:gitcredentials[7] +for more information. + +GIT +--- +Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite diff --git a/Documentation/git-fsck.txt b/Documentation/git-fsck.txt index a2a508dc28..0a17b4258e 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-fsck.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-fsck.txt @@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ SYNOPSIS -------- [verse] 'git fsck' [--tags] [--root] [--unreachable] [--cache] [--no-reflogs] - [--[no-]full] [--strict] [--verbose] [--lost-found] [<object>*] + [--[no-]full] [--strict] [--verbose] [--lost-found] + [--[no-]progress] [<object>*] DESCRIPTION ----------- @@ -72,6 +73,14 @@ index file, all SHA1 references in .git/refs/*, and all reflogs (unless a blob, the contents are written into the file, rather than its object name. +--progress:: +--no-progress:: + Progress status is reported on the standard error stream by + default when it is attached to a terminal, unless + --no-progress or --verbose is specified. --progress forces + progress status even if the standard error stream is not + directed to a terminal. + It tests SHA1 and general object sanity, and it does full tracking of the resulting reachability and everything else. It prints out any corruption it finds (missing or bad objects), and if you use the diff --git a/Documentation/git-mv.txt b/Documentation/git-mv.txt index b8db373964..e3c8448614 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-mv.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-mv.txt @@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ DESCRIPTION ----------- This script is used to move or rename a file, directory or symlink. - git mv [-f] [-n] <source> <destination> - git mv [-f] [-n] [-k] <source> ... <destination directory> + git mv [-v] [-f] [-n] [-k] <source> <destination> + git mv [-v] [-f] [-n] [-k] <source> ... <destination directory> In the first form, it renames <source>, which must exist and be either a file, symlink or directory, to <destination>. @@ -40,6 +40,10 @@ OPTIONS --dry-run:: Do nothing; only show what would happen +-v:: +--verbose:: + Report the names of files as they are moved. + GIT --- Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite diff --git a/Documentation/git-pull.txt b/Documentation/git-pull.txt index e1da468766..0f18ec891a 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-pull.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-pull.txt @@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ include::merge-options.txt[] fetched, the rebase uses that information to avoid rebasing non-local changes. + -See `branch.<name>.rebase` and `branch.autosetuprebase` in +See `pull.rebase`, `branch.<name>.rebase` and `branch.autosetuprebase` in linkgit:git-config[1] if you want to make `git pull` always use `{litdd}rebase` instead of merging. + diff --git a/Documentation/git-stripspace.txt b/Documentation/git-stripspace.txt index b78f031cd4..a80d94650d 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-stripspace.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-stripspace.txt @@ -3,26 +3,83 @@ git-stripspace(1) NAME ---- -git-stripspace - Filter out empty lines +git-stripspace - Remove unnecessary whitespace SYNOPSIS -------- [verse] -'git stripspace' [-s | --strip-comments] < <stream> +'git stripspace' [-s | --strip-comments] < input DESCRIPTION ----------- -Remove multiple empty lines, and empty lines at beginning and end. + +Clean the input in the manner used by 'git' for text such as commit +messages, notes, tags and branch descriptions. + +With no arguments, this will: + +- remove trailing whitespace from all lines +- collapse multiple consecutive empty lines into one empty line +- remove empty lines from the beginning and end of the input +- add a missing '\n' to the last line if necessary. + +In the case where the input consists entirely of whitespace characters, no +output will be produced. + +*NOTE*: This is intended for cleaning metadata, prefer the `--whitespace=fix` +mode of linkgit:git-apply[1] for correcting whitespace of patches or files in +the repository. OPTIONS ------- -s:: --strip-comments:: - In addition to empty lines, also strip lines starting with '#'. + Skip and remove all lines starting with '#'. + +EXAMPLES +-------- + +Given the following noisy input with '$' indicating the end of a line: -<stream>:: - Byte stream to act on. +-------- +|A brief introduction $ +| $ +|$ +|A new paragraph$ +|# with a commented-out line $ +|explaining lots of stuff.$ +|$ +|# An old paragraph, also commented-out. $ +| $ +|The end.$ +| $ +--------- + +Use 'git stripspace' with no arguments to obtain: + +-------- +|A brief introduction$ +|$ +|A new paragraph$ +|# with a commented-out line$ +|explaining lots of stuff.$ +|$ +|# An old paragraph, also commented-out.$ +|$ +|The end.$ +--------- + +Use 'git stripspace --strip-comments' to obtain: + +-------- +|A brief introduction$ +|$ +|A new paragraph$ +|explaining lots of stuff.$ +|$ +|The end.$ +--------- GIT --- diff --git a/Documentation/git-tag.txt b/Documentation/git-tag.txt index c83cb13de6..622a019eb0 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-tag.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-tag.txt @@ -99,6 +99,13 @@ OPTIONS Implies `-a` if none of `-a`, `-s`, or `-u <key-id>` is given. +--cleanup=<mode>:: + This option sets how the tag message is cleaned up. + The '<mode>' can be one of 'verbatim', 'whitespace' and 'strip'. The + 'strip' mode is default. The 'verbatim' mode does not change message at + all, 'whitespace' removes just leading/trailing whitespace lines and + 'strip' removes both whitespace and commentary. + <tagname>:: The name of the tag to create, delete, or describe. The new tag name must pass all checks defined by diff --git a/Documentation/gitattributes.txt b/Documentation/gitattributes.txt index 25e46aeb7a..a85b187e04 100644 --- a/Documentation/gitattributes.txt +++ b/Documentation/gitattributes.txt @@ -500,6 +500,8 @@ patterns are available: - `java` suitable for source code in the Java language. +- `matlab` suitable for source code in the MATLAB language. + - `objc` suitable for source code in the Objective-C language. - `pascal` suitable for source code in the Pascal/Delphi language. diff --git a/Documentation/gitcredentials.txt b/Documentation/gitcredentials.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..066f825f2e --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/gitcredentials.txt @@ -0,0 +1,183 @@ +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 +------------------------------------------- + +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. + + +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. + + +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. + +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 the documentation for git's +link:technical/api-credentials.html[credentials API] for details. + +GIT +--- +Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite diff --git a/Documentation/technical/api-credentials.txt b/Documentation/technical/api-credentials.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..21ca6a2553 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/technical/api-credentials.txt @@ -0,0 +1,245 @@ +credentials API +=============== + +The credentials API provides an abstracted way of gathering username and +password credentials from the user (even though credentials in the wider +world can take many forms, in this document the word "credential" always +refers to a username and password pair). + +Data Structures +--------------- + +`struct credential`:: + + This struct represents a single username/password combination + along with any associated context. All string fields should be + heap-allocated (or NULL if they are not known or not applicable). + The meaning of the individual context fields is the same as + their counterparts in the helper protocol; see the section below + for a description of each field. ++ +The `helpers` member of the struct is a `string_list` of helpers. Each +string specifies an external helper which will be run, in order, to +either acquire or store credentials. See the section on credential +helpers below. ++ +This struct should always be initialized with `CREDENTIAL_INIT` or +`credential_init`. + + +Functions +--------- + +`credential_init`:: + + Initialize a credential structure, setting all fields to empty. + +`credential_clear`:: + + Free any resources associated with the credential structure, + returning it to a pristine initialized state. + +`credential_fill`:: + + Instruct the credential subsystem to fill the username and + password fields of the passed credential struct by first + consulting helpers, then asking the user. After this function + returns, the username and password fields of the credential are + guaranteed to be non-NULL. If an error occurs, the function will + die(). + +`credential_reject`:: + + Inform the credential subsystem that the provided credentials + have been rejected. This will cause the credential subsystem to + notify any helpers of the rejection (which allows them, for + example, to purge the invalid credentials from storage). It + will also free() the username and password fields of the + credential and set them to NULL (readying the credential for + another call to `credential_fill`). Any errors from helpers are + ignored. + +`credential_approve`:: + + Inform the credential subsystem that the provided credentials + were successfully used for authentication. This will cause the + credential subsystem to notify any helpers of the approval, so + that they may store the result to be used again. Any errors + from helpers are ignored. + +`credential_from_url`:: + + Parse a URL into broken-down credential fields. + +Example +------- + +The example below shows how the functions of the credential API could be +used to login to a fictitious "foo" service on a remote host: + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- +int foo_login(struct foo_connection *f) +{ + int status; + /* + * Create a credential with some context; we don't yet know the + * username or password. + */ + + struct credential c = CREDENTIAL_INIT; + c.protocol = xstrdup("foo"); + c.host = xstrdup(f->hostname); + + /* + * Fill in the username and password fields by contacting + * helpers and/or asking the user. The function will die if it + * fails. + */ + credential_fill(&c); + + /* + * Otherwise, we have a username and password. Try to use it. + */ + status = send_foo_login(f, c.username, c.password); + switch (status) { + case FOO_OK: + /* It worked. Store the credential for later use. */ + credential_accept(&c); + break; + case FOO_BAD_LOGIN: + /* Erase the credential from storage so we don't try it + * again. */ + credential_reject(&c); + break; + default: + /* + * Some other error occured. We don't know if the + * credential is good or bad, so report nothing to the + * credential subsystem. + */ + } + + /* Free any associated resources. */ + credential_clear(&c); + + return status; +} +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + + +Credential Helpers +------------------ + +Credential helpers are programs executed by git to fetch or save +credentials from and to long-term storage (where "long-term" is simply +longer than a single git process; e.g., credentials may be stored +in-memory for a few minutes, or indefinitely on disk). + +Each helper is specified by a single string. The string is transformed +by git into a command to be executed using these rules: + + 1. If the helper string begins with "!", it is considered a shell + snippet, and everything after the "!" becomes the command. + + 2. Otherwise, if the helper string begins with an absolute path, the + verbatim helper string becomes the command. + + 3. Otherwise, the string "git credential-" is prepended to the helper + string, and the result becomes the command. + +The resulting command then has an "operation" argument appended to it +(see below for details), and the result is executed by the shell. + +Here are some example specifications: + +---------------------------------------------------- +# run "git credential-foo" +foo + +# same as above, but pass an argument to the helper +foo --bar=baz + +# the arguments are parsed by the shell, so use shell +# quoting if necessary +foo --bar="whitespace arg" + +# you can also use an absolute path, which will not use the git wrapper +/path/to/my/helper --with-arguments + +# or you can specify your own shell snippet +!f() { echo "password=`cat $HOME/.secret`"; }; f +---------------------------------------------------- + +Generally speaking, rule (3) above is the simplest for users to specify. +Authors of credential helpers should make an effort to assist their +users by naming their program "git-credential-$NAME", and putting it in +the $PATH or $GIT_EXEC_PATH during installation, which will allow a user +to enable it with `git config credential.helper $NAME`. + +When a helper is executed, it will have one "operation" argument +appended to its command line, which is one of: + +`get`:: + + Return a matching credential, if any exists. + +`store`:: + + Store the credential, if applicable to the helper. + +`erase`:: + + Remove a matching credential, if any, from the helper's storage. + +The details of the credential will be provided on the helper's stdin +stream. The credential is split into a set of named attributes. +Attributes are provided to the helper, one 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 will send the following attributes (but may not send all of +them for a given credential; for example, a `host` attribute makes no +sense when dealing with a non-network protocol): + +`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. + +For a `get` operation, the helper should produce a list of attributes +on stdout in the same format. A helper is free to produce a subset, or +even no values at all if it has nothing useful to provide. Any provided +attributes will overwrite those already known about by git. + +For a `store` or `erase` operation, the helper's output is ignored. +If it fails to perform the requested operation, it may complain to +stderr to inform the user. If it does not support the requested +operation (e.g., a read-only store), it should silently ignore the +request. + +If a helper receives any other operation, it should silently ignore the +request. This leaves room for future operations to be added (older +helpers will just ignore the new requests). |