# Querying Git for the path to the system config file 3 messages from 2015-05-20 to 2015-05-20. Participants: Sebastian Schuberth, Jeff King. Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/39387 ## Sebastian Schuberth, 2015-05-20 20:23 Subject: Querying Git for the path to the system config file Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAHGBnuPCZCBsBXqGo26E-pcuZXZBxL8GwAehW4UziDpB2V8Npw%40mail.gmail.com ``` Hi, I was in need to find out the path to the system-wide config file that Git is using. I need to do this in a platform-independent way (Linux, Mac OS X, Windows). What I came up with is $ GIT_EDITOR=echo git config --system --edit to trick Git into printing the path instead of opening the file in an editor. Just wondering, is there a less hacky way to do that? -- Sebastian Schuberth ``` ## Jeff King, 2015-05-20 21:01 Subject: Re: Querying Git for the path to the system config file Message-ID: <20150520210143.GC8421@peff.net> URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/20150520210143.GC8421%40peff.net In-Reply-To: ``` On Wed, May 20, 2015 at 10:23:55PM +0200, Sebastian Schuberth wrote: > I was in need to find out the path to the system-wide config file that > Git is using. I need to do this in a platform-independent way (Linux, > Mac OS X, Windows). What I came up with is > > $ GIT_EDITOR=echo git config --system --edit > > to trick Git into printing the path instead of opening the file in an editor. > > Just wondering, is there a less hacky way to do that? No, there isn't. It's baked in at compile-time, so something similar to "git --exec-path" might make sense (but if we are going to start exposing a lot of build flags, it might be nice to come up with some organized system rather than haphazardly adding options). Of course adding a new option probably won't help you, as it will take some time before it can be used reliably. I think the hack you came up with is pretty reasonable in the meantime. -Peff ``` ## Sebastian Schuberth, 2015-05-20 21:22 Subject: Re: Querying Git for the path to the system config file Message-ID: URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAHGBnuOP_pZzZz_jJSG5YzhPp%2B%3DTEmy2n83YiH_uA3s56GWt-g%40mail.gmail.com In-Reply-To: <20150520210143.GC8421@peff.net> ``` On Wed, May 20, 2015 at 11:01 PM, Jeff King wrote: > Of course adding a new option probably won't help you, as it will take > some time before it can be used reliably. I think the hack you came up > with is pretty reasonable in the meantime. Right, so I'll keep using that hack, thanks! -- Sebastian Schuberth ```