Re: [credential.helper] unexpectedly save credential to multiple credential files

From: Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Date: Nov 11, 2016, 08:36 UTC
Message-ID: <20161111083649.d5newszupwyq5j6w@sigill.intra.peff.net>
In-Reply-To: <CACNr1V_fRfqvHUN=AQC8-Dj7ZAE7KXRAt+5skL3ZrcKu7SCLgA@mail.gmail.com>

On Fri, Nov 11, 2016 at 04:10:55PM +0800, Qi Nark wrote:

Show 9 quoted lines

> 1. git config --global credential.helper store
> 2. cd to a local repository directory, git config credential.helper
> store --file ./my_cred
> 3. execute some git command which need credential like git ls-remote
> 4. input my username & password, command done.
> 
> As the result, **BOTH** the ./my_cred and ~/.git-credentials will save
> the credentials I just input. But, shouldn't the local config override
> the global ones, and only the ./my_cred should save it?

No, that's the expected result. The set of credential helpers form a list, and each is run in turn. From "git help credentials":

  If there are multiple instances of the credential.helper configuration
  variable, each helper will be tried in turn, and may provide a
  username, password, or nothing. Once Git has acquired both a username
  and a password, no more helpers will be tried.

That's talking about lookup, but the same principle applies to storage. But you may also find the paragraph below helpful:

  If credential.helper is configured to the empty string, this resets
  the helper list to empty (so you may override a helper set by a
  lower-priority config file by configuring the empty-string helper,
  followed by whatever set of helpers you would like).

Note that the "reset" behavior was introduced in git v2.9.0, so you'll need at least that version.

-Peff