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authorDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-04-07 14:47:53 +0000
committerDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-04-07 14:47:53 +0000
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Adding upstream version 1:2.39.2.upstream/1%2.39.2upstream
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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. Some remotes accept
+a personal access token or OAuth access token as a password. 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. Alternatively, a
+credential-generating helper might generate credentials for certain servers via
+some API.
+
+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. However, you may use wildcards in
+the domain name and other pattern matching techniques as with the `http.<URL>.*`
+options.
+
+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.
+
+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 in the configuration
+variable `credential.helper` (and others, see linkgit:git-config[1]).
+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"
+[credential]
+ helper = foo
+
+# same as above, but pass an argument to the helper
+[credential]
+ helper = "foo --bar=baz"
+
+# the arguments are parsed by the shell, so use shell
+# quoting if necessary
+[credential]
+ helper = "foo --bar='whitespace arg'"
+
+# you can also use an absolute path, which will not use the git wrapper
+[credential]
+ helper = "/path/to/my/helper --with-arguments"
+
+# or you can specify your own shell snippet
+[credential "https://example.com"]
+ username = your_user
+ helper = "!f() { test \"$1\" = get && echo \"password=$(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 exact format is the same as the input/output format of the
+`git credential` plumbing command (see the section `INPUT/OUTPUT
+FORMAT` in linkgit:git-credential[1] for a detailed specification).
+
+For a `get` operation, the helper should produce a list of attributes on
+stdout in the same format (see linkgit:git-credential[1] for common
+attributes). 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's credential subsystem.
+Unrecognised attributes are silently discarded.
+
+While it is possible to override all attributes, well behaving helpers
+should refrain from doing so for any attribute other than username and
+password.
+
+If a helper outputs a `quit` attribute with a value of `true` or `1`,
+no further helpers will be consulted, nor will the user be prompted
+(if no credential has been provided, the operation will then fail).
+
+Similarly, no more helpers will be consulted once both username and
+password had been provided.
+
+For a `store` or `erase` operation, the helper's output is ignored.
+
+If a helper fails to perform the requested operation or needs to notify
+the user of a potential issue, it may write to stderr.
+
+If it does not support the requested operation (e.g., a read-only store
+or generator), 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).
+
+GIT
+---
+Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite