Junio C Hamano <gitster@xxxxxxxxx> writes: > Richard Purdie <rpurdie@xxxxxxxxx> writes: > >> Looking through the manuals/code, it suggests I should be able to do: >> >> GIT_CONFIG=/dev/null git XXX >> >> and all should work happily. It doesn't though. As an example, with a >> ~/.gitconfig, "GIT_CONFIG=/dev/null git fetch --all" is clearly >> accessing the file in ~ and then acting upon it. > > If the manual says the above is expected for any value of XXX, then that > is a bug in the manual since mid 2008, I think. > > See dc87183 (Only use GIT_CONFIG in "git config", not other programs, > 2008-06-30). > > I _think_ these days a workaround to force a known config is to set HOME > to a value that has a known .gitconfig (or no such file), and decline > usage of /etc/git.config by exporting GIT_CONFIG_NOSYSTEM. Side note. Here is what dc87183 says: commit dc87183189b54441e315d35d48983d80ab085299 Author: Daniel Barkalow <barkalow@xxxxxxxxxxxx> Date: Mon Jun 30 03:37:47 2008 -0400 Only use GIT_CONFIG in "git config", not other programs For everything other than using "git config" to read or write a git-style config file that isn't the current repo's config file, GIT_CONFIG was actively detrimental. Rather than argue over which programs are important enough to have work anyway, just fix all of them at the root. Also removes GIT_LOCAL_CONFIG, which would only be useful for programs that do want to use global git-specific config, but not the repo's own git-specific config, and want to use some other, presumably git-specific config. Despite being documented, I can't find any sign that it was ever used. Signed-off-by: Daniel Barkalow <barkalow@xxxxxxxxxxxx> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@xxxxxxxxx> It clearly explains the reason why LOCAL_CONFIG was removed (the reader does not have to agree with "I can't find any sign that it was ever used", though), but I cannot read from the first paragraph the reason why it was felt necessary not to honor GIT_CONFIG in other programs, i.e. "was actively detrimental" is not backed by any example in the paragraph. I can sort of sense from "Rather than argue over..." that there may have been a discussion on the list, and reading the archive from that timeframe may reveal why many felt it was not a good idea. Daniel, do you recall the context? -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe git" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html