Setting up Git's Defaults

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Git has a lot of default settings you can change to match your personal preferences. These settings are stored in a configuration (config) file and can be updated at any time using the git config command. Most settings can be updated globally (for all of your repositories) or locally (on a per repository basis).

New to Git? Need a refresher?

Click to learn about repositories!

A repository (also called a repo) is a directory (folder) where Git is tracking the history of changes to files; one repository usually corresponds to one project. This means you can tell Git to use a setting for all of your projects or just one.

If you’ve never used Git before, don’t worry about those details just yet. It will make more sense once you complete The Fujoshi Guide to Web Development Volume 0, Issue 1: Local Version Control with Git!

The Basic git config Command

Git config commands all follow this format:

git config <setting_key> <value> [flags]

Why are there different brackets in documentation?

When reading documentation, values written in angled brackets <> are required, while values written in square brackets [] are optional!

Reviewing Your Defaults (Optional)

You can review individual settings by running:

git config <setting_key>

<setting_key> should be the name of the setting you want to check. For example, to check the name of your global config, you run:

git config --get user.name

To see a list of all your existing configuration values (but not all possible settings), run:

git config -l

If you run this command inside of a repo, you may see fewer or different settings than when you run it outside of one. This is because most defaults are set globally. To see the global configuration while inside of a repo, you can run the command:

git config --global -l

Help! My terminal is stuck!

Running the above command opens the pager, allowing you to use the up and down arrow keys on your keyboard to review the entire list. You are unable to use the command line while inside of the pager. To exit the pager, press q or :q.

Default Name & Email

When you commit (save things to Git’s memory), your name and email are associated with the changes in Git’s log. Since Git was primarily designed for teams, this allows teams to keep track of who made changes to the code and when.

Git’s config requires you to enter a name and email address. In fact, if you try to commit without a name and email set, you will receive an error message.

Updating your name and email

While these settings can be updated at any time, the name and email address associated with prior changes will not be updated automatically; each commit you’ve made with your previous settings must be edited manually once your config has been updated.

Once you transmit your repos to a cloud-based Git service (like GitHub, GitLab, etc.) or otherwise share your code publicly, that name and email will be permanently visible to those willing to comb through Git’s log.

Choosing a Name & Email

There’s no requirement that the name you enter be your wallet name or that you provide a functional email address. You can use your fandom nickname or even a single unicode character for your name. And although Git does check to ensure the email address provided is a valid format, it doesn’t do any further checks. There are no confirmation emails sent or any further validation required.

When choosing the name and email address to use, we recommend you consider whether you:

• may at any point share your code publicly on GitHub or similar cloud-based services
• plan to contribute to open source projects
• primarily use your machine for professional or personal projects

Remember: you can set your name and email on a per repo basis! This means you can choose the most common (or safer) name for the global configuration, and then override it as needed. For example, if you primarily use Git to build a professional coding portfolio under your wallet name, you can make those values the global setting, then use a local setting for the projects you want associated with your “personal hobby” identity.

Being mindful of how (global versus local) you set your name and email can save you a lot of time, pain, and effort later!

Work and pleasure: juggling multiple identities with Git(Hub)

If you have strict privacy requirements (like the need to separate your unsafe-for-work fannish identity from your professional one), here’s some bold advice from our community: do not set a global identity in the first place!

With no global identity, Git will ask you what identity to use when you first commit to a repository. The need to make an explicit choice might just save you from accidentally leaking your private information!

How do I delete my global username and email settings?

To delete your global username and email settings (if any exist), run the following two commands:

git config --global --unset user.name

Unset the global Git username...

git config --global --unset user.email

...then unset the global Git email!

Then, to make sure your global username and email are now unset, you can once again run:

git config --global --get user.name

Print the global Git username...

git config --global --get user.email

...then print the global Git email!

If everything went well, you’ll see no output, confirming that no values are set.

Global

Setting Your Global Name & Email

To set your global name and email, copy the commands below, replace our placeholders with the name and email you want to use (but keep the quotation marks!), and run the command in your terminal:

1. Set your name.

   git config --global user.name "Boba-tan"

2. Set your email.

   git config --global user.email "boba-tan@fujocoded.com"

Local (Per Repo)

To set your local name and email:

1. Using your terminal, navigate to the repo where you want to set your name.

   Need help with the terminal?

   If you’re not sure what this step means, you can review the basics and get some hands-on practice by following along in Terminal: Navigation Practice.

2. Set your name. Copy the command below, replace our placeholder name with the name you want to use (but keep the quotation marks!), and run the command:

   git config user.name "Boba-tan"

3. Set your email. Copy the command below, replace our placeholder email with the email you want to use (but keep the quotation marks!), and run the command:

   git config user.email "boba-tan@fujocoded.com"

Initial Branch Name

When Git is first initialized in a repository, it creates a starting branch for you to save your work to. By default, that branch is called “master”. Recently, it’s more common for projects to use “main” for this branch. We recommend you set this as a global configuration.

To make this change, run:

git config --global init.defaultBranch main

Global vs. local

While you can set the default branch name locally, it won’t do anything useful or noticeable for your repos. Be sure to include the --global flag.

Setting Your Editor

Git brings up a text editor for editing commit messages if you fail to add a flag or if you intentionally choose to use one in order to create multiline commit messages. Git may also need a text editor for resolving conflicts that can sometimes arise when pieces of code are edited in ways that it can’t resolve automatically.

Note

Git’s default editor is Vim. Vim is an open-source, screen-based text editor program designed for use from both a command line and a graphical user interface. It’s very powerful, but has a learning curve that makes it difficult for beginners to use without guidance. We provide the important commands for Vim in FujoGuide and recommend that everyone gets a little experience with using it.

If you decide it’s time to change your editor settings, you can run the following command. Note that we’ve provided common options for a text editor for each OS. You can find a full list of editors for this setting on Git’s website.

Windows

git config --global core.editor notepad

File path

On Windows systems, depending on your chosen editor, you may have to use the editor’s full file path to update this setting. Please see the linked page from Git’s website for more guidance.

MacOS

git config --global core.editor "open --wait-apps --new -e"

Linux

git config --global core.editor "gedit --wait --new-window"

Caution

Gedit comes pre-installed on most Ubuntu distros. If you don’t have gedit installed, you can:

• find your distro’s standard plain text editor on the list linked above
• install Gedit using your favorite package manager

Line Endings

When collaborating on projects with people who use different operating systems, subtle difference between these systems can often make code harder to review. For example, MacOS and Linux both handle line endings and new lines differently than Windows. This can result in it appearing that a user on a different operating system has touched every single line of code when they submit an update.

Regardless of whether you collaborate with others, we recommend you update this setting since nothing will change for you either visually or with how your system operates.

Windows

To automatically align your line endings to the MacOS/Linux standard, run:

git config --global core.autocrlf true

MacOS

Since your system uses the most common setting in the programming world, there’s only one situation where you might want your line endings to convert automatically: when the project you’re contributing to is using Windows standard line endings.

To set Git to this behavior, run:

git config --global core.autocrlf input

Linux

Since your system uses the most common setting in the programming world, there’s only one situation where you might want your line endings to convert automatically: when the project you’re contributing to is using Windows standard line endings.

To set Git to this behavior, run:

git config --global core.autocrlf input

Only Ever Fast-Forward (GitHub)

As you progress in your Git journey, you’ll find yourself syncing (pulling) your code changes with the ones on remote, cloud-based Git repositories—either while collaborating with others or for your own personal backup. Git has different ways to manage this process, each with its own pros and cons.

To help avoid accidental changes from using the wrong method, we recommend you update the pull command to “Only ever fast-forward”. This change will force you to make an explicit choice when needed rather than defaulting to a method that might not be desirable.

Although updating this setting will primarily impact your use of GitHub and other remote, cloud-based Git services, we recommend doing so early in your Git journey.

Run the following in your terminal:

git config --global pull.ff only

Adding Custom Shorthands for Commands

Git aliases allow you to create your own shorthands for commands (and flags!) you use frequently. This allows you to type less and get the same result, saving you time and effort. Creating a new alias can be useful when you:

• find yourself typing the same thing over and over
• need to look up some commands or flags frequently

For example, many Git users (and the FujoGuide team!) recommend reviewing Git’s history with the command git log --all --decorate --oneline --graph to get a more visual and easier-to-read history of changes. However, that’s quite a lot to type and remember, which makes this a good candidate for your first alias.

To create the git adog command alias (adog standing for --all, --decorate, --oneline, and --graph), run the following command in your terminal:

git config --global alias.adog 'log --all --decorate --oneline --graph'

Now, you can simply run git adog to review Git’s history.

We encourage you to make your own aliases with time as you find new favorites.

TL;DR: One-Command Settings Setup

If you haven’t followed along or want to make sure everything is set up correctly, you can use the following tool to set your git configuration to our suggested settings! Just make sure to change your username and email to your desired values.

Your settings

Choose your Git settings then run the command in your terminal to apply them!

Name Email

Platform

Windows

MacOS /Linux

git config --global user.name "Boba-tan" && `
  git config --global user.email "boba-tan@fujocoded.com" && `
  git config --global init.defaultBranch main && `
  git config --global core.autocrlf true && `
  git config --global pull.ff only && `
  git config --global alias.adog 'log --all --decorate --oneline --graph'

Git editor default

Since the editor setting is a personal preference, it’s not included in the above. See Setting Your Editor for help if you really want to change this setting.