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[BUG] `git clone '-c KEY=VALUE'` no longer works

From
RARan Ari-Gur <ran.arigur+git@samsara.com>
Date
Nov 24, 2025, 05:23 UTC
Message-ID
<CAN1UxBvk_GJjLWd0XexRxp8FFhYozGCNcodai0eqnjrhjKEh7Q@mail.gmail.com>
Hi,

There's a small regression in Git v2.52.0; it used to be that a command of the form

    git clone '-c KEY=VALUE' ...
or
    git clone '--config= KEY=VALUE' ...
would trim whitespace around KEY, making the command equivalent to this:
    git clone --config=KEY=VALUE ...

The relevant code was here: https://github.com/git/git/blob/v2.51.2/config.c#L649

That functionality was removed in this refactoring commit: https://github.com/git/git/commit/dcecac2580ef871186fdc4e9efc87815a4ce4c66

As a result, a command like the above will now fail, with an error such as this:
    error: invalid key:  advice.detachedHead=false
    fatal: unable to write parameters to config file
because config keys are not allowed to contain whitespace.

I believe this change was unintentional; it was not mentioned in the commit message or the release notes.

This probably isn't a common case, and the project where I ran into this issue has already fixed it on their end (they now pass -c and KEY=VALUE as separate arguments); but since Git aims to ensure backward-compatibility where possible, I figured I should report it.

Thanks in advance! -Ran

Next: D. Ben Knoble
Message 1 of 14 in “[BUG] `git clone '-c KEY=VALUE'` no longer works”
  1. Ran Ari-GurNov 24, 2025
  2. D. Ben KnobleNov 24, 2025
  3. Junio C HamanoNov 24, 2025
  4. Jeff KingNov 24, 2025
  5. Junio C HamanoNov 25, 2025
  6. Junio C HamanoNov 25, 2025
  7. Jeff KingNov 26, 2025
  8. Junio C HamanoNov 26, 2025
  9. Jeff KingNov 30, 2025
  10. Junio C HamanoNov 30, 2025
  11. Jeff KingNov 26, 2025
  12. Junio C HamanoNov 26, 2025
  13. Jeff KingNov 24, 2025
  14. Johannes SchindelinNov 25, 2025

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