Re: 'git config --edit' unexpected behavior

From: Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Date: Apr 10, 2023, 20:18 UTC
Message-ID: <20230410201853.GD104097@coredump.intra.peff.net>
In-Reply-To: <0E8CDEA4-21CC-4CF1-809F-3FE37849ED47@mervin.works>

On Mon, Apr 10, 2023 at 03:44:26PM -0400, Mervin Guy wrote:

Show 12 quoted lines

> What did you do before the bug happened? (Steps to reproduce your issue)
> 
> - Changed my directory to a git-repo I was working on, using 'cd <directory_name>'. Then I ran 'git config --global -e'.
> 
> What did you expect to happen? (Expected behavior)
> 
> - I exepected the command to display my current-config file, with all settings included, in my editor.
> 
> What happened instead? (Actual behavior)
> 
> - My config-file was overwritten and displayed a default-setup message, the config-file was lost after this point.
>   I experimented with different ways of activating the command, but they all led to an overwrite of the file.

That's certainly unexpected. "git config --global -e" works fine for me. And Git itself won't overwrite the file; it will run your editor with the name of the file, and the editor is responsible for any writing. Which editor are you trying to use? Can you try running with:

  GIT_TRACE=1 git config --global -e

which should show the editor command that Git runs.

-Peff