config: allow disabling config includes#2139
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The bulletted list about environment variables is missing a '+' between some paragraphs that belong to the same bullet item. Without it, the bulletted list is rendered as two separate lists with "See also FILES." as a normal paragraph between them. Adding '+' unifies the lists. Signed-off-by: Derrick Stolee <stolee@gmail.com>
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The config keys 'include.path' and 'includeIf.*' allow users to specify config stored in a location outside of the typical list of config files (system, global, local, etc.). For example, users who accept the risk can specify helpful aliases via a file checked into the repo by pointing 'include.path' to the position of that file in the working directory. This is dangerous, but people do it. What becomes tricky is that this modifies all Git behavior, including operations that are intended to be limited in activity or sandboxed in some way. These include directives can provide surprising changes to behavior, especially when expecting a specific list of allowed file accesses. This could lead to failed builds, for instance. To allow for these user-desired features when they are running commands, add a new GIT_CONFIG_INCLUDES environment variable that disables these redirections of config when set to zero. This variable can be set by automation, such as build tooling, to avoid these strange behaviors. This could be considered a recommended option for tools executing Git commands, the same as GIT_ADVICE=0. Signed-off-by: Derrick Stolee <stolee@gmail.com>
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The previous change added a GIT_CONFIG_INCLUDES=0 override in the environment, similar to GIT_ADVICE=0. Follow the same model as --no-advice to add a --no-includes option to the top-level Git options. Signed-off-by: Derrick Stolee <stolee@gmail.com>
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Submitted as pull.2139.git.1780927027.gitgitgadget@gmail.com To fetch this version into To fetch this version to local tag |
| @@ -502,6 +502,11 @@ GIT_CONFIG:: | |||
| historical compatibility; there is generally no reason to use it | |||
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Patrick Steinhardt wrote on the Git mailing list (how to reply to this email):
On Mon, Jun 08, 2026 at 01:57:05PM +0000, Derrick Stolee via GitGitGadget wrote:
> From: Derrick Stolee <stolee@gmail.com>
>
> The config keys 'include.path' and 'includeIf.*' allow users to specify
> config stored in a location outside of the typical list of config files
> (system, global, local, etc.). For example, users who accept the risk
> can specify helpful aliases via a file checked into the repo by pointing
> 'include.path' to the position of that file in the working directory.
> This is dangerous, but people do it.
Huh, I never even considered this use case. But of course, this is
possible, even though it's quite scary.
> What becomes tricky is that this modifies all Git behavior, including
> operations that are intended to be limited in activity or sandboxed in
> some way. These include directives can provide surprising changes to
> behavior, especially when expecting a specific list of allowed file
> accesses. This could lead to failed builds, for instance.
>
> To allow for these user-desired features when they are running commands,
> add a new GIT_CONFIG_INCLUDES environment variable that disables these
> redirections of config when set to zero. This variable can be set by
> automation, such as build tooling, to avoid these strange behaviors.
> This could be considered a recommended option for tools executing Git
> commands, the same as GIT_ADVICE=0.
I don't know about this part though. I could see use cases where the
tools _should_ read the project-relative configuration. It might also be
the case that the user may want to evaluate some includes, but not all
of them.
That raises the question whether we can introduce the configuration in a
way that it allows a bit more flexibility than just "yes"/"no", like for
example an allow-list of locations that should be evaluated. But maybe
I'm overthinking this.
Patrick|
User |
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This series introduces a new way to ignore config include directives via two mechanisms:
GIT_CONFIG_INCLUDES=0in the environment.git --no-includes ...in the command line.My motivation is from a tricky situation where users want to do the risky thing and include a repo-tracked file for sharing aliases and other recommended config. They are then struggling in a later build step that is running Git commands (under a tool we don't control and can't change) that then cause filesystem accesses outside of the build system's sandbox.
While
git confighas a--no-includesoption, that doesn't impact the behavior of other Git commands. We build upon that existing logic for disabling includes, though.Having had recent luck recommending
GIT_ADVICE=0when running Git commands from third-party tools, I thought that a similar environment variable to disable this functionality would be helpful, too.One thing I do worry about is whether or not this would cause a significant break in behavior, or if this is a relatively safe thing to allow.
The three patches are organized as follows:
Thanks,
-Stolee
cc: gitster@pobox.com
cc: Patrick Steinhardt ps@pks.im