How to configure Git username and email address

New users, before making a first commit to a repository, should configure a username and email address in git.

You can configure this data globally or per repository.

Global username/email configuration

If you have git installed locally you can open a terminal and run these two commands:

Set the username:

git config --global user.name "FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME"

Set the email address:

git config --glo]bal user.email "MY_NAME@example.com"

Verify your configuration. Usually git stores these settings in a .gitconfig file in your home directory:

cat ~/.gitconfig

If you do not have git installed, you can create a .gitconfig file in your home directory. The snippets below create one if it does not exist.

username := 'FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME'.
email := 'MY_NAME@example.com'.
  

configFile := FileLocator home / '.gitconfig'.
configFile exists ifFalse: [
	configFile writeStreamDo: [ :aStream |
		aStream nextPutAll: ('[user]
	name = {1}
	email = {2}' format: { username . email }) ] ]
  

In case the file exists, or to check its content, you can directly inspect it.

FileLocator home / '.gitconfig'.
  

Checking the configuration

In case you have a git repository already created, the snippets below verifies if the email and username are set correctly.

repositoryName := 'YOUR_REPOSITORY'.
  

repository := IceRepository registry 
	detect: [ :aRepository | aRepository name = repositoryName ].
[ repository repositoryHandle defaultSignature ]
	on: LGit_GIT_ENOTFOUND, LGit_GIT_ERROR
	do: [ :e | 'Username or email address not configured!' ]
  

Repository-specific username/email configuration

If you have git installed locally you can open a terminal, go to the repository directory and run the following commands:

git config user.name "FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME"

git config user.email "MY_NAME@example.com"

To verify:

cat .git/config