threads / discuss / 59572

'git config --edit' unexpected behavior

Subject: 'git config --edit' unexpected behavior

## tl;dr

2 messages between Apr 10, 2023 and Apr 10, 2023.

replies: 1people: 2as markdown or json

Mervin Guy· Apr 10, 2023, 19:44 UTC · lore

What did you do before the bug happened? (Steps to reproduce your issue)

- Changed my directory to a git-repo I was working on, using 'cd <directory_name>'. Then I ran 'git config --global -e'.

What did you expect to happen? (Expected behavior)

- I exepected the command to display my current-config file, with all settings included, in my editor.

What happened instead? (Actual behavior)

- My config-file was overwritten and displayed a default-setup message, the config-file was lost after this point.
  I experimented with different ways of activating the command, but they all led to an overwrite of the file.

What's different between what you expected and what actually happened?

- The config-file should've displayed as-was, and no overwrite should've occurred unless explicitly commanded.

Anything else you want to add:

- It should be noted that I've been updating my config-file manually, up until this point. When updating it, I used
 '[subsection] component' rather than 'subsection.component'.

[System Info] git version: 2.40.0 cpu: i686 sizeof-long: 4 sizeof-size_t: 4 shell-path: /bin/sh compiler info: gnuc: 12.2 libc info: no libc information available $SHELL (typically, interactive shell): /bin/ash

Jeff King· Apr 10, 2023, 20:18 UTC · re: Mervin Guy · lore

Re: 'git config --edit' unexpected behavior

On Mon, Apr 10, 2023 at 03:44:26PM -0400, Mervin Guy wrote:

Show 12 quoted lines

> What did you do before the bug happened? (Steps to reproduce your issue)
> 
> - Changed my directory to a git-repo I was working on, using 'cd <directory_name>'. Then I ran 'git config --global -e'.
> 
> What did you expect to happen? (Expected behavior)
> 
> - I exepected the command to display my current-config file, with all settings included, in my editor.
> 
> What happened instead? (Actual behavior)
> 
> - My config-file was overwritten and displayed a default-setup message, the config-file was lost after this point.
>   I experimented with different ways of activating the command, but they all led to an overwrite of the file.

That's certainly unexpected. "git config --global -e" works fine for me. And Git itself won't overwrite the file; it will run your editor with the name of the file, and the editor is responsible for any writing. Which editor are you trying to use? Can you try running with:

  GIT_TRACE=1 git config --global -e

which should show the editor command that Git runs.

-Peff