My Configuration

I've been using git for over ten years. Over that time I've found a collection of configuration options that seem to work well for me. I normally configure all of my workstations with these options.

These options includes a collection of "aliases" which really make my life easier.

Configuration Options

Identity

These options set the default name, email, and PGP key used for commits. The values of the options are different on personal and work machines.

• Personal machines

  git config --global user.name "John Simpson"
  git config --global user.email "jms1@jms1.net"
  git config --global user.signingkey "0xE3F7F5F76640299C5507FBAA49B9FD3BB4422EBB"
  

• For $DAYJOB machines

  git config --global user.name "John Simpson"
  git config --global user.email "jms1@domain.xyz"
  git config --global user.signingkey "0x1234C0FFEEC0FFEEC0FFEEC0FFEEC0FFEEC0FFEE"
  

Note that I also have aliases for cases where I might need to sign a commit using my personal "identity", on a $DAYJOB workstation. Because my PGP and SSH keys are stored on Yubikeys, I can just plug the "other" Yubikey into the machine and use the correct alias.

These aliases are documented below.

For all machines

I use these configuration options on every machine.

git config --global core.editor "nano"
git config --global core.excludesfile "$HOME/.gitignore_global"
git config --global credential.helper "cache --timeout=300"
git config --global init.defaultBranch "main"
git config --global clone.defaultBranch main
git config --global log.showSignature true
git config --global push.default "simple"
git config --global pull.rebase false
git config --global gpg.ssh.allowedSignersFile "$HOME/.config/git/allowed_signers"

All of my commits and tags are signed. This is a requirement at $DAYJOB, and a good idea in general.

git config --global commit.gpgsign true
git config --global tag.gpgSign true

Commit message template

This sets up a text file which is used as a template when git uses a text editor to create or edit a commit message.

In particular, I generally use the 50/72 format format when writing commit messages. As you can see below, having the ^ marks at 50 and 72 characters makes it easier for me to stay within the limits.

• To configure the file:

  git config --global commit.template "$HOME/.stCommitMsg"
  

• The contents of the file:

  $ cat ~/.stCommitMsg
  
  
  #                                             50 ^                  72 ^
  # First line: start with ticket number(s), limit to 50 characters
  # BLANK LINE
  # Additional lines: limit to 72 characters
  $ git config --global commit.template "$HOME/.stCommitMsg"
  

Note that empty lines and lines starting with # are not included in the actual commit message.

Aliases

Aliases allow you to "make up your own git commands". For example, if you were to do this ...

git config --global alias.showfiles "show --name-only"

... then git showfiles would be the same as git show --name-only.

My Usual Aliases

These are the aliases I've built up over the years. Some of these I use dozens of times every day.

git config --global alias.log1 "log --oneline --no-show-signature --abbrev=8 '--pretty=tformat:%C(auto)%h%d %C(brightcyan)%as %C(brightgreen)%al(%G?)%C(reset) %s'"
git config --global alias.tree "log --graph --decorate"
git config --global alias.tree1 "log --date-order --decorate --graph --no-show-signature '--pretty=tformat:%C(auto)%h%d %C(brightcyan)%as %C(brightgreen)%al(%G?)%C(reset) %s'"
git config --global alias.tagdates "log --tags --simplify-by-decoration --pretty=\"format:%ai %d\" --no-show-signature"
git config --global alias.taghashes "log --tags --simplify-by-decoration --pretty=\"format:%H %d\" --no-show-signature"
git config --global alias.id "describe --always --tags --long --abbrev=8 --dirty"
git config --global alias.top "rev-parse --show-toplevel"

Changes for older git versions

Some colours and tags were added between git 2.16.5 and 2.37.0.

• %as (commit date YYYY-MM-DD) -> %ad with --date=short option
• %al (author email local part) -> %an (author name)

For older versions without these newer colour codes, I use these aliases instead.

git config --global alias.log1 "log --oneline --no-show-signature --abbrev=8 --date=short '--pretty=tformat:%C(auto)%h%d %C(cyan)%ad %C(green)%an(%G?)%C(reset) %s'"
git config --global alias.tree1 "log --date-order --decorate --graph --no-show-signature --date=short '--pretty=tformat:%C(auto)%h%d %C(cyan)%ad %C(green)%an(%G?)%C(reset) %s'"

Sign commits using specific keys

These aliases allow me to sign commits using my personal PGP key on the work machine, or vice-versa, by physically plugging the correct Yubikey into the machine. By themselves they won't be very useful to anybody else, but they could be useful as examples if you need to use different keys for different repos.

git config --global alias.commitp "commit --gpg-sign=E3F7F5F76640299C5507FBAA49B9FD3BB4422EBB --author='John Simpson <jms1@jms1.net>'"
git config --global alias.commitw "commit --gpg-sign=1234C0FFEEC0FFEEC0FFEEC0FFEEC0FFEEC0FFEE --author='John Simpson <jms1@domain.xyz>'"

Notes

Random notes relating to git

Commits signed with SSH keys

There used to be a brief explanation here, I've moved this to its own page.

⇒ Signing commits with SSH keys

Configuration scope

The git config command operates on different files, depending on which options you give it.

Changelog

2025-04-30 jms1

• Fixed a typo
• Removed info about git commits signed by SSH keys, since there's now a dedicated page for that

2024-06-20 jms1

• Created this page (from pre-existing notes)