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[PATCH 0/5] [RFC] Make 'git config list --type=' parse and filter types

From
Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
Date
Feb 10, 2026, 04:42 UTC
Message-ID
<pull.2044.git.1770698579.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
I started down this road based on feedback on my 'git config-batch' RFC [1].

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/git/pull.2033.git.1770214803.gitgitgadget@gmail.com/

I had described my intention to use 'git config-batch' as a single process to load multiple config values one-by-one. Brian mentioned that 'git config list -z' would probably suffice, so I started experimenting in that direction [2].

[2] https://github.com/git-ecosystem/git-credential-manager/compare/main...derrickstolee:config-list

However, I ran into a problem: the most critical performance bottleneck is related to path-formatted config values that are queried with 'git config get --type=path -z'. It wasn't hard to update things to lazily load the full list of config values by type [3], but I then noticed a big problem!

[3] https://github.com/git-ecosystem/git-credential-manager/commit/d403c8e24ce6f37da920cce23842dd5a6cf6481d

Problem: 'git config list' doesn't respect --type=<X>!

This boils down to the fact that the iterator function show_all_config() doesn't call format_config(), which includes the type-parsing code.

This wasn't super trivial to update:
 1. format_config() uses git_config_parse_*() methods, which die() on a bad
    parse.
 2. The path parsing code didn't have a gentle version.
 3. The two paths ('git config list' and 'git config --list') needed to
    standardize their display options to work with format_config().
 4. Finally, we need to filter out key-value pairs that don't match the
    given type.

This is marked as an RFC because I need to add some more tests and because this is a behavior change! If there are any tools currently passing the --type=<X> argument to git config list then they will have a change of behavior with this series. It's an easy workaround: drop the --type argument or add --no-type to go back to the previous behavior.

Thanks for any and all feedback, -Stolee
Derrick Stolee (5):
  config: move show_all_config()
  parse: add git_parse_maybe_pathname()
  config: allow format_config() to filter
  config: create special init for list mode
  config: make 'git config list --type=<X>' work
 Documentation/git-config.adoc |   3 +
 builtin/config.c              | 130 ++++++++++++++++++++++++----------
 config.c                      |  14 +---
 parse.c                       |  24 +++++++
 parse.h                       |   2 +
 t/t1300-config.sh             |  26 ++++++-
 6 files changed, 147 insertions(+), 52 deletions(-)
base-commit: 67ad42147a7acc2af6074753ebd03d904476118f
Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-2044%2Fderrickstolee%2Fconfig-list-type-v1
Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-2044/derrickstolee/config-list-type-v1
Pull-Request: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/2044
-- 
gitgitgadget
Next: Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget
Message 1 of 58 in “[RFC] Make 'git config list --type=' parse and filter types”
  1. 0/5 [RFC] Make 'git config list --type=' parse and filter typesDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 10, 2026
  2. 1/5 config: move show_all_config()Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 10, 2026
  3. 2/5 parse: add git_parse_maybe_pathname()Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 10, 2026
  4. Patrick SteinhardtFeb 11, 2026
  5. 3/5 config: allow format_config() to filterDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 10, 2026
  6. Junio C HamanoFeb 10, 2026
  7. Derrick StoleeFeb 10, 2026
  8. 4/5 config: create special init for list modeDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 10, 2026
  9. 5/5 config: make 'git config list --type=<X>' workDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 10, 2026
  10. Patrick SteinhardtFeb 11, 2026
  11. Derrick StoleeFeb 11, 2026
  12. Patrick SteinhardtFeb 12, 2026
  13. Junio C HamanoFeb 10, 2026
  14. Derrick StoleeFeb 10, 2026
  15. Patrick SteinhardtFeb 11, 2026
  16. 00/13 Make 'git config list --type=' parse and filter typesDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 13, 2026
  17. 01/13 config: move show_all_config()Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 13, 2026
  18. 02/13 config: add 'gently' parameter to format_config()Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 13, 2026
  19. Patrick SteinhardtFeb 17, 2026
  20. 03/13 config: make 'git config list --type=<X>' workDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 13, 2026
  21. Patrick SteinhardtFeb 17, 2026
  22. Junio C HamanoFeb 17, 2026
  23. Patrick SteinhardtFeb 17, 2026
  24. 04/13 config: format int64s gentlyDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 13, 2026
  25. Junio C HamanoFeb 14, 2026
  26. Patrick SteinhardtFeb 17, 2026
  27. Derrick StoleeFeb 23, 2026
  28. 05/13 config: format bools gentlyDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 13, 2026
  29. 06/13 config: format bools or ints gentlyDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 13, 2026
  30. Patrick SteinhardtFeb 17, 2026
  31. Derrick StoleeFeb 23, 2026
  32. 07/13 config: format bools or strings in helperDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 13, 2026
  33. 08/13 parse: add git_parse_maybe_pathname()Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 13, 2026
  34. 09/13 config: format paths gentlyDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 13, 2026
  35. Patrick SteinhardtFeb 17, 2026
  36. 10/13 config: format expiry dates gentlyDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 13, 2026
  37. 11/13 color: add color_parse_gently()Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 13, 2026
  38. Patrick SteinhardtFeb 17, 2026
  39. Junio C HamanoFeb 17, 2026
  40. Derrick StoleeFeb 23, 2026
  41. Junio C HamanoFeb 23, 2026
  42. 12/13 config: format colors gentlyDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 13, 2026
  43. 13/13 config: restructure format_config()Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 13, 2026
  44. Patrick SteinhardtFeb 17, 2026
  45. 00/13 Make 'git config list --type=' parse and filter typesDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 23, 2026
  46. 01/13 config: move show_all_config()Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 23, 2026
  47. 02/13 config: add 'gently' parameter to format_config()Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 23, 2026
  48. 03/13 config: make 'git config list --type=<X>' workDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 23, 2026
  49. 04/13 config: format int64s gentlyDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 23, 2026
  50. 05/13 config: format bools gentlyDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 23, 2026
  51. 06/13 config: format bools or ints gentlyDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 23, 2026
  52. 07/13 config: format bools or strings in helperDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 23, 2026
  53. 08/13 config: format paths gentlyDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 23, 2026
  54. 09/13 config: format expiry dates quietlyDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 23, 2026
  55. 10/13 color: add color_parse_quietly()Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 23, 2026
  56. 11/13 config: format colors quietlyDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 23, 2026
  57. 12/13 config: restructure format_config()Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 23, 2026
  58. 13/13 config: use an enum for typeDerrick Stolee via GitGitGadget, Feb 23, 2026

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