From: Delilah Ashley Wu Date: Sun, 23 Aug 2026 10:28:25 GMT Subject: [PATCH v2 0/3] config: read both home and xdg files for --global Message-ID: <20260823-fix-config-list-global-home-and-xdg-v2-0-b29cc63f017b@microsoft.com> In-Reply-To: Hi all, thanks for your patience. Here's my reroll. As reported in [1], `$HOME/.gitconfig` and `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/config` are both valid global configuration locations. However, when both files exist, `git config list --global` only reads from the former location whereas `git config list` (without `--global`) reads from both. The same issue was reported for `git config get` in [2]. This inconsistency has no good justification and contradicts the documented behaviour. Suppose that `$HOME/.gitconfig` contains: [home] config = true and `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/config` contains: [xdg] config = true Then, listing with `--global` shows only the home config: $ git config list --global --show-scope --show-origin global file:/Users/delilah/.gitconfig home.config=true and getting the XDG configuration entry with `--global` will fail: $ git config get --global xdg.config; echo $? 1 Git still reads the XDG config as part of its effective configuration, as shown by listing the configuration without `--global`: $ git config list --show-scope --show-origin global file:/Users/delilah/.config/git/config xdg.config=true global file:/Users/delilah/.gitconfig home.config=true The documentation, quoted in [1] and [2], states that `--global` should read from both files, so its output should be the same as above. Here's the relevant excerpt: > OPTIONS > --global:: > For writing options: write to global `~/.gitconfig` file > rather than the repository `.git/config`, write to > `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/config` file if this file exists and the > `~/.gitconfig` file doesn't. > > For reading options: read only from global `~/.gitconfig` and from > `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/config` rather than from all available files. To be consistent with the documentation and the behaviour without `--global`, we should read both configuration files when `--global` is passed. We do this in a few steps: - Patch 1 fixes slash normalisation on Windows paths. This is used for `--show-origin` assertions in patch 3 tests. - Patch 2 modifies error handling when reading configuration files. This is used to prevent a regression in patch 3. - Patch 3 reads both configuration files when `--global` is specified. [1]: https://lore.kernel.org/git/CAFA9we-QLQRzJdGMMCPatmfrk1oHeiUu9msMRXXk1MLE5HRxBQ@mail.gmail.com/ [2]: https://lore.kernel.org/git/CAAdFe9yhBk-WecVzCTsjQ-4Z3AZAbpP+w+B076ouM3qX6d1WAg@mail.gmail.com/ Thanks again for your time! Delilah --- Changes in v2: - Squash test-only patches into their corresponding implementation patches. - Reorder patches to prevent a regression from being introduced and then fixed in a later patch. - Narrow the scope of slash conversion to `xdg_config_home_for()` and avoid modifying `cleanup_path()`, which could've broken callers that do not expect normalised slashes. - Clarify that some tests only check the return code of a `git config` command; we do not care about the output. - Link to v1: https://patch.msgid.link/pull.1938.git.1760058849.gitgitgadget@gmail.com/ --- Delilah Ashley Wu (3): path: use forward slashes in XDG config on Windows config: let sequence require a successful file config: read global scope via config_sequence builtin/config.c | 11 +++++ config.c | 76 +++++++++++++++++++++++----------- config.h | 2 + path.c | 16 ++++--- t/t1300-config.sh | 115 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ t/t1306-xdg-files.sh | 5 ++- 6 files changed, 194 insertions(+), 31 deletions(-) Range-diff versus v1: 1: d9525d954e < -: ---------- config: read both home and xdg files for --global 2: c24ed49bac < -: ---------- cleanup_path: force forward slashes on Windows 3: 51293ee827 < -: ---------- config: test home and xdg files in `list --global` 4: 26f3c46598 < -: ---------- config: read global scope via config_sequence 5: b6ab7bfd67 < -: ---------- config: keep bailing on unreadable global files -: ---------- > 1: 2fa37d8aa7 path: use forward slashes in XDG config on Windows -: ---------- > 2: d90c9ae69f config: let sequence require a successful file -: ---------- > 3: a3b5599c8d config: read global scope via config_sequence --- base-commit: 2c78326f810173a4f3aefd8021f1e07575412481 change-id: 20260808-fix-config-list-global-home-and-xdg-9bcaac093a1b