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ESSENTIAL GUIDE

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 * Getting started with Git
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WHERE SYSTEM, GLOBAL AND LOCAL GIT CONFIG FILES ON WINDOWS AND UBUNTU LINUX ARE

 * 

Cameron McKenzie
TechTarget
01 Jun 2020

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GIT CONFIG FILE LOCATIONS

One of the five basic Git commands beginners need to learn is git config, if for
no other reason than to perform an initial commit without the Git tool pestering
for a user.name and user.email address. But the git config command commonly used
to initialize these fields typically employs a global switch, which gets users
wondering about Git’s competing local and system scopes.



That then leads to the question about where all of these variously scoped Linux
and Windows git configuration files can be found. Here we will answer all of
those questions about Git config file locations and where the various gitconfig
files are stored.

Full list of where the Git configuration files config, gitconfig and .gitconfig
are located on Windows and Ubuntu Linux.


SYSTEM, GLOBAL AND LOCAL GIT CONFIG FILES

Listed in descending order of specificity, Git provides four standard scopes for
storing configuration data, plus a portable scope on Windows:

 1. Worktree
 2. Local
 3. Global
 4. System
 5. Portable

> Note: You will notice a ‘portable scope’ mentioned in the Windows Git config
> table above. This scope was pointed out to me by a reader after this article
> first published. The portable scope is the most general and is overridden by
> all other scopes.

The scopes are cascading with the most specific file taking precedence over the
most general. Local scope overrides global scope. Global scope overrides system
scope.



If you set up multiple Git worktrees on the same computer, you can also use the
Git worktree scope, although doing so requires this scope to be enabled.
Worktree scope is the most specific and will override local.


NAMES OF UNIX AND WINDOWS GIT CONFIG FILES

Just to make life a bit more complicated, the variously scoped Git configuration
files all have different names:

 * gitconfig – the extensionless system Git config file
 * .gitconfig – the global Git config file has no name, but is instead just an
   extension
 * config – the local Git configuration file is simply named config, and like
   the system Git config file, has no extension
 * config.worktree – the Git worktree configuration file flaunts both a name and
   an extension


WHERE ARE WINDOWS GIT CONFIG FILES LOCATED?

Here is where you will find Git configuration files on Windows:

Location of Windows Git Config Files Scope Location and Filename Filename Only
 System  <git-install-root>\mingw64\etc\gitconfig  gitconfig  Global
 C:\Users\username\.gitconfig  .gitconfig  Local  <git-repo>\.git\config  config
 Worktree  <git-repo>\.git\config.worktree  config.worktree  Portable
 C:\ProgramData\Git\config  config


WHERE ARE GIT CONFIG FILES FOR UBUNTU LINUX LOCATED?

As for the location of the Linux Git configuration files, here is where you’ll
find them on Ubuntu:

Ubuntu Linux Git Config File Locations Scope Location and Filename Filename Only
 System  ~etc/gitconfig  gitconfig  Global  ~home/<username>/.gitconfig or
~root/.gitconfig  .gitconfig  Local  <git-repo>/.git/config  config  Worktree
 <git-repo>/.git/config.worktree  config.worktree


FIND GIT CONFIG FILES ON YOUR OWN

To find the Git config file setting a given variable to a particular value, the
–list and –show-origin switches of the git command can be useful. In the
following example you can see the command indicating that the user.email
property is set in the portable, system, local and global scopes. It also states
exactly where those files Git config files are located.

Here is the git config command with list and show-origin swtiches run on
Windows:

windows@location (master)
$ git config --list --show-origin
file:"C:\\ProgramData/Git/config" user.email=portal@example.com
file:C:/_git/mingw64/etc/gitconfig user.name=Syster Sally
file:C:/_git/mingw64/etc/gitconfig user.email=system@example.com
file:C:/Users/Owner/.gitconfig user.email=global@example.com
file:.git/config user.email=local@example.com

Here is the same command run on Ubnutu where the Git user.name property is set
in three separate scopes:

linux@location (master)
$ git config --list --show-origin
file: /etc/gitconfig user.name=Syster Sally
file: /home/gme/.gitconfig user.name=Glow Ball
file: .git/config user.name=Low Cal

On StackOverflow, the following command was suggested to help developers find
the location of the Git config files:

sudo git -c core.editor=ls\ -al config --system --edit

The animated GIF below, pulled from 1998 when such things were cool, shows the
above command being run on Ubuntu 20. Note how the command above lists the home
directory as the location for the global Git config file, but when the sudo
command is used below the global Git config file is in ~root.

Git config file locations on Ubuntu Linux.


CAN’T FIND THE GLOBAL GIT CONFIG FILE .GITCONFIG?

Sometimes users go looking for the global and system Git config files and can’t
find them. If you can’t find gitconfig or .gitconfig, it’s probably because it’s
not there.

Git doesn’t actually create the gitconfig or .gitconfig files until they are
referenced for the first time. Just asking Git to edit the file will force its
creation, but until that happens, efforts to find the .gitconfig or gitconfig
file will be fruitless.

The following operation will likely require sudo rights on a Linux distribution
as you may be creating files in privileged \etc or \root directories. But when
run with elevated permissions, these commands are sufficient enough to force the
creation of global and system gitconfig and .gitconfig files:

/c/ global/windows git config files (master) 
$ sudo git config --edit --global 
$ sudo git config --edit --system

Each of these Git commands will open the corresponding Windows or Linux Git
config file in the configuration specified editor. You may edit the file if you
please, or simply close the editor immediately to force config file creation.

Figure 2. The three main locations of Windows Git configuration files.



On the topic of editors, if you’d like to switch the Git editor to Notepad++,
just issue the following command:

$ git config --global core.editor "'C:/Program Files/Notepad++/notepad++.exe' -multiInst -notabbar -nosession -noPlugin"

Always be careful editing the Git config files, because if you incorrectly edit
any of these files, you just might ruin your entire Linux or Windows Git
configuration.



BECOME A GIT POWER USER

Want to become a powerful Git user? Then take a look at the following Git
articles and tutorials:

 * How to do a Git clean up of branches and commits
 * Learn to rebase onto master and rebase from the master branch
 * Squash all Git commits on a branch down to one
 * Shelve your changes with Git stash pop and apply
 * Easily explain the  Git vs GitHub difference
 * Add a shallow git clone of depth 1 do your Jenkins jobs
 * Set up a local Git server with a bare Git repo



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