What are git credentials?

What are git credentials?

Git is a distributed version control system. Because of its distributed nature, it makes multi-person collaboration more convenient. Especially when teams develop projects, the use of Git can be seen everywhere. When operating on Git, you usually need to enter a username and password or credentials. Recently, Git has added a new feature: Git Credential. So, what are Git credentials? What does it do? how to use? Answer them one by one below.

The concept of Git credentials:

Git credentials are a newly added feature of Git in version 2.11. Its function is to help users manage their credentials and avoid repeatedly entering user names and passwords. In layman's terms, it is the username and password used to manage Git. Git will store the credentials on the local disk for easy use next time.

In Git, Git credentials are divided into two types: global credentials and local credentials. Global credentials are credentials that are accessible to all Git resources, they are typically stored on the user's device and are valid for all Git repositories. Local credentials only apply to the current Git repository and are only available in the local repository. This approach avoids the risk of sharing credentials between multiple repositories and ensures security.

The role of Git credentials:

The main function of Git credentials is to simplify the Git operation process and improve work efficiency. Usually, during the operation of Git, you need to enter the user name and password, and entering the user name and password is a very tedious task, especially during the process of multiple submissions and pushes. When there are multiple code repositories that need to use Git for version control, this tedious work will become more complicated. Therefore, for the purpose of convenience and efficiency, the emergence of Git credentials solves this problem.

Use Git credentials:

Using Git credentials is very simple. You only need to add the following lines of code to the Git configuration file:

[credential]
  helper = cache --timeout 300

This line of code tells Git: " Store my credentials using the 'cache' command, with the credential storage time set to 300 seconds." After this, whenever you perform a Git operation that requires authentication, Git will automatically ask you for your username and password, and once you enter Git will save them in the cache so that they can be automatically populated in the future.

It is worth noting that this method does not apply to all Git operations, it only applies to those operations that require authentication to perform, such as push and clone. For other operations, you still need to enter your username and password. If you want to use Git credentials for all Git operations, please refer to the following lines of code:

[credential]
  helper = store

This Git configuration tells Git: "Use the 'store' command to store my credentials in a local configuration file. "Any time Git asks for your username and password, Git automatically obtains them from the configuration file and uses them.

Summary:

Git credentials are one of the powerful new features of Git. It can help users perform Git operations more conveniently and efficiently, saving unnecessary time and energy. Of course, from a security perspective, we should also pay attention to protecting our credentials to avoid the harm of leaking everything.

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