recursive-gitconfig

recursive-gitconfig is a Bash tool to support several .gitconfig within the same Linux session.

It can also be use to handle several dynamic Git identities.

Install

Copy the file recursive-gitconfig in your home folder and source it in your .bashrc.

cp recursive-gitconfig.sh ~/.recursive-gitconfig.sh
sed -i '1asource ~/.recursive-gitconfig.sh\n' ~/.bashrc

How it works

recursive-gitconfig.sh alias git command to look for the closest .gitconfig file in parents folders and use this one instead of the default ~/.gitconfig.

An example

Let's say your home directory is something like:

├── .gitconfig
├── personal
│   ├── .gitconfig
│   ├── project-one
│   ├── project-three
│   └── project-two
└── work
	├── client-project-one
	├── client-project-two
	└── .gitconfig

You basicaly have two main folders, personal and work and subfolders for each project.

Your main config file is ~/.gitconfig but you added two specifics files ~/work/.gitconfig and ~/personal/.gitconfig.

~/.gitconfig:

[user]
	email = pierre@arount.info
	name = Arnout Pierre

[color]
	lol = log --graph --decorate --pretty=oneline --abbrev-commit
	lola = log --graph --decorate --pretty=oneline --abbrev-commit --all

~/work/.gitconfig:

[user]
	email = pierre.arnout@company.com
	name = Arnout Pierre (Company)
[include]
	path = /home/arount/.gitconfig

~/personal/.gitconfig:

[user]
	name = Arount
[include]
	path = /home/arount/.gitconfig

From here there are three specific identities possible to have on the same session,

• Arnout Pierre / pierre@arount.info is my default identity, the fallback and will be used everywhere except ~/work and ~/personal.
• Arnout Pierre (Company) / pierre.arnout@company.com is my professional identity, only used under ~/work/.
• Arount / pierre@arount.info is my personal identity, for my personal projects, only used under ~/personal/.

Because both of my specific .gitconfig files include the default ~/.gitconfig I still access my alias from any identity.

Bugs

If you experience a bug, please check recursive-gitconfig.sh is sourced at the top of your .bashrc.

Otherwise feel free to submit an issue or PR.