Whenever setting up a new machine, I forget to properly configure Git. Usually it is just the base things like name and email, but there are a few other useful settings.
It is easy enough to run commands like git config --global user.name "Mega
Man" to setup Git options globally, but when setting up multiple options, it is
easiest to directly edit the settings in a file called .gitconfig. If you want
to start working with a .gitconfig file, run:
touch ~/.gitconfig
to create the file in your home directory. Go ahead and open it up in the editor
of choice. Below is what my .gitconfig looks like. I typically try to keep it
as simple as possible.
[user]
name = Your Name
email = youremail@host.com
[credential]
helper = cache
[color]
ui = true
[core]
editor = vim
excludesfile = ~/.gitignore_global
The credential setting for helper = cache defaults to a 15 minute remember
period for credentials. This is helpful for not having to continually type in a
password every time you need to push or pull.
The color setting for ui = true makes working with Git from the command line
just a little more colorful.
The core setting for editor = vim set the default editor for writing
messages in Git. You can set this to whatever editor you want.
The excludesfile setting tells Git to use the specified file as a
computer-wide .gitignore file, which is great for ignoring files like
.DS_Store. I wrote an in-depth post on using
.gitignore if you are interested in
learning more about it.
Beyond that, I keep my Git config lean and clean.