Is it possible to have different Git configuration for different projects?

Question

.gitconfig is usually stored in the user.home directory.

I use a different identity to work on projects for Company A and something else for Company B (primarily the name / email). How can I have two different Git configurations so that my check-ins don't go with the name / email?

Answer 1

The .git/config file in a particular clone of a repository is local to that clone. Any settings placed there will only affect actions for that particular project.

(By default, git config modifies .git/config, not ~/.gitconfig - only with --global does it modify the latter.)

Answer 2

There are 3 levels of git config; project, global and system.

• project: Project configs are only available for the current project and stored in .git/config in the project's directory.
• global: Global configs are available for all projects for the current user and stored in ~/.gitconfig.
• system: System configs are available for all the users/projects and stored in /etc/gitconfig.

Create a project specific config, you have to execute this under the project's directory:

$ git config user.name "John Doe" 

Create a global config:

$ git config --global user.name "John Doe"

Create a system config:

$ git config --system user.name "John Doe" 

And as you may guess, project overrides global and global overrides system.

Answer 3

As of git version 2.13, git supports conditional configuration includes. In this example we clone Company A's repos in ~/company_a directory, and Company B's repos in ~/company_b.

In your .gitconfig you can put something like this.

[includeIf "gitdir:~/company_a/"]
  path = .gitconfig-company_a
[includeIf "gitdir:~/company_b/"]
  path = .gitconfig-company_b

Example contents of .gitconfig-company_a

[user]
name = John Smith
email = john.smith@companya.net

Example contents of .gitconfig-company_b

[user]
name = John Smith
email = js@companyb.com

Answer 4

I am doing this for my email in the following way:

git config --global alias.hobbyprofile 'config user.email "me@example.com"'

Then when I clone a new work project, I have only to run git hobbyprofile and it will be configured to use that email.

Answer 5

You can also point the environment variable GIT_CONFIG to a file that git config should use. With GIT_CONFIG=~/.gitconfig-A git config key value the specified file gets manipulated.

Answer 6

To be explicit, you can also use --local to use current repository config file:

git config --local user.name "John Doe" 

Answer 7

Thanks @crea1

A small variant:

As it is written on https://git-scm.com/docs/git-config#_includes:

If the pattern ends with /, ** will be automatically added. For example, the pattern foo/ becomes foo/**. In other words, it matches foo and everything inside, recursively.

So I use in my case:

[user] # as default, personal needs
    email = myalias@personal-domain.fr
    name = bcag2
[includeIf "gitdir:~/workspace/"] # job needs, like workspace/* so all included projects
    path = .gitconfig-job

So If the project directory is in my ~/wokspace/, default user settings is replace with:

[user]
name = John Smith
email = js@company.com

Answer 8

I'm in the same boat. I wrote a little bash script to manage them. https://github.com/thejeffreystone/setgit

#!/bin/bash

# setgit
#
# Script to manage multiple global gitconfigs
# 
# To save your current .gitconfig to .gitconfig-this just run:
# setgit -s this
#
# To load .gitconfig-this to .gitconfig it run:
# setgit -f this
# 
# 
# 
# Author: Jeffrey Stone <thejeffreystone@gmail.com>

usage(){
  echo "$(basename $0) [-h] [-f name]" 
  echo ""
  echo "where:"
  echo " -h  Show Help Text"
  echo " -f  Load the .gitconfig file based on option passed"
  echo ""
  exit 1  
}

if [ $# -lt 1 ]
then
  usage
  exit
fi

while getopts ':hf:' option; do
  case "$option" in
      h) usage
         exit
         ;;
      f) echo "Loading .gitconfig from .gitconfig-$OPTARG"
         cat ~/.gitconfig-$OPTARG > ~/.gitconfig
         ;;
      *) printf "illegal option: '%s'\n" "$OPTARG" >&2
         echo "$usage" >&2
         exit 1
         ;;
    esac
done

Answer 9

I had an error when trying to git stash my local changes. The error from git said "Please tell me who you are" and then told me to "Run git config --global user.email "you@example.com and git config --global user.name "Your name" to set your account's default identity." However, you must Omit --global to set the identity only in your current repository.