git-whoami

Show the name, email and signing key git will use here.

Synopsis

git whoami [options]
git-whoami [options]

Description

Git takes the author of every commit from its config, and that config comes in layers. The system file, your global ~/.gitconfig, files it includes with includeIf, and the repository's own .git/config can all set user.email, and the last one wins. The first sign of a mix-up is a work commit pushed under your personal email, and by then it is in the history.

git whoami shows what git will use in the folder you are in, and which file set each value.

• name and email, the author of your next commit
• signing, the key and format, and whether commits are signed without -S
• remote, one line per remote, with its URL

Run it in a new clone before the first commit, or after you change includeIf rules.

It only reads. It works outside a repository too, and then shows the global settings and no remotes.

It is a script named git-whoami in toolbelt's bin folder. Git runs any program named git-NAME on your PATH as git NAME.

Options

Where each value comes from

The third column names the file, from git config --show-origin --show-scope.

Git uses GIT_AUTHOR_NAME and GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL over user.name and user.email when they are set, and falls back to the EMAIL variable when no config sets an email. git whoami follows the same order.

The signing line

Turn signing on for every commit with git config --global commit.gpgsign true.

Help and the man page

git whoami -h and git-whoami --help print the help. git whoami --help makes git open the man page git-whoami(1), which toolbelt installs from this document.

Pass-through

None. git whoami runs git config --get for each key and git remote, and -v prints them.

Needs

git 2.30 or newer, from the git package on every distro. --show-scope needs git 2.26.

Examples

In a work repository

$ git whoami
name     Khadirullah                   ~/.gitconfig
email    khadirullah@work.example.com  .git/config, this repo only
signing  ssh ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub, commits are signed
remote   origin git@github.com:khadirullah/toolbelt.git

The email comes from this repository's own config, so commits here use the work address.

Outside any repository

$ cd ~
$ git whoami
name     Khadirullah              ~/.gitconfig
email    khadirullah@example.com  ~/.gitconfig
signing  none, commits are not signed

One line for a script

$ git whoami -q
Khadirullah <khadirullah@work.example.com>

The environment wins

$ GIT_AUTHOR_NAME="Build Bot" git whoami
name     Build Bot                the GIT_AUTHOR_NAME variable
email    khadirullah@example.com  ~/.gitconfig
signing  none, commits are not signed

Nothing set yet

$ git whoami
name     not set. Set it with: git config --global user.name "Your Name"
email    not set. Set it with: git config --global user.email you@example.com
signing  none, commits are not signed
git-whoami: git refuses to commit until user.name and user.email are set
$ echo $?
1

See the git commands

$ git whoami -v
+ git config --show-scope --show-origin --get user.name
+ git config --show-scope --show-origin --get user.email
name     Khadirullah                   ~/.gitconfig
email    khadirullah@work.example.com  .git/config, this repo only
+ git config --show-scope --show-origin --get gpg.format
+ git config --show-scope --show-origin --get user.signingkey
+ git config --show-scope --show-origin --get commit.gpgsign
signing  ssh ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub, commits are signed
+ git remote
remote   origin git@github.com:khadirullah/toolbelt.git

Troubleshooting

The email is my personal one in a work repository

Set it for this repository with git config user.email you@work.example.com. For every repository under one folder, add an includeIf block to ~/.gitconfig, such as [includeIf "gitdir:~/work/"] with path = ~/.gitconfig-work, and put the work email in that file.

Commits already went out with the wrong email

git whoami only shows what comes next. Fixing old commits means rewriting them, which is only safe before they are pushed. git commit --amend --reset-author fixes the last one.

commits are signed but GitHub shows them as unverified

GitHub needs the same public key under Settings, SSH and GPG keys, added as a signing key, and the email on the commit must be one of your verified emails.

git-whoami: user.name or user.email is not set, git refuses to commit

-q found no name or email. Set both with git config --global.

Exit status

See also

git-sync, git-undo, git-config(1)