Re: [PATCH] Documentation: clarify that cache forgets credentials if the system restarts

From: brian m. carlson <sandals@crustytoothpaste.net>
Date: Dec 21, 2022, 22:09 UTC
Message-ID: <Y6OEFQs2OphhhuhB@tapette.crustytoothpaste.net>
In-Reply-To: <pull.1447.git.1671610994375.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>

On 2022-12-21 at 08:23:14, M Hickford via GitGitGadget wrote:

Show 32 quoted lines

> From: M Hickford <mirth.hickford@gmail.com>
> 
> Make it obvious to readers unfamiliar with Unix sockets.
> 
> Signed-off-by: M Hickford <mirth.hickford@gmail.com>
> ---
>     Documentation: clarify that cache forgets credentials if the system
>     restarts
>     
>     Make it obvious to readers unfamiliar with Unix sockets.
>     
>     Signed-off-by: M Hickford mirth.hickford@gmail.com
> 
> Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-1447%2Fhickford%2Fpatch-2-v1
> Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-1447/hickford/patch-2-v1
> Pull-Request: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/1447
> 
>  Documentation/git-credential-cache.txt | 3 ++-
>  1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/git-credential-cache.txt b/Documentation/git-credential-cache.txt
> index 432e159d952..83fb4d4c4dc 100644
> --- a/Documentation/git-credential-cache.txt
> +++ b/Documentation/git-credential-cache.txt
> @@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ DESCRIPTION
>  
>  This command caches credentials in memory for use by future Git
>  programs. The stored credentials never touch the disk, and are forgotten
> -after a configurable timeout.  The cache is accessible over a Unix
> +after a configurable timeout.  Credentials are forgotten sooner if you
> +log out or the system restarts.  The cache is accessible over a Unix
>  domain socket, restricted to the current user by filesystem permissions.

I don't think it's accurate to say that the credentials are forgotten sooner if you log out. That may be the case on Windows, or it may be the case if you or your distro have configured systemd to gratuitously murder all your local processes when your session exits[0], but it hasn't traditionally been the case on Unix that processes exit when your session or shell exits. For example, I don't believe that the statement is accurate on Debian, Ubuntu, or the BSDs by default, which constitute a substantial number of deployed Unix systems.

[0] Such as with KillUserProcesses=yes.

-- 
brian m. carlson (he/him or they/them)
Toronto, Ontario, CA