What is "git config user.password"?

Question

I've seen git config user.password recommended in several Stack Overflow answers as a way to save git user credentials.

How can I save username and password in Git?

How to change my Git username in terminal?

Retyping Username and Password in Git Bash for Github access

However, I can't find any mention of user.password in the Git documentation, only user.name and user.email. None of the answers seem to link to a resource on what exactly it does or how to use it.

What is git config user.password, and how do you use it? Is it an alternative method for configuring the credential manager, or is it something different?

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 12 '21 at 04:45

4

These answers are simply wrong.

Git configuration files will let you set any old thing you like, such as:

git config user.aardvark zebra

and:

git config helicopter.rotor airplane

Since nothing consults these settings, they have no effect.

answered Oct 12 '21 at 04:45

torek

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The first two answers are highly upvoted, are you sure? – Maximillian Laumeister Oct 12 '21 at 04:48
Yep. It is, of course, possible to write *your own program* that reads the `helicopter.rotor` setting, and perhaps someone did write one that reads `user.password`, back in the long-ago past. – torek Oct 12 '21 at 04:49
(Of course the rotor setting probably should be to a pitch angle, but...) – torek Oct 12 '21 at 04:50

What is "git config user.password"?

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