How to Use .gitconfig's includeIf

Problem

I want to have my commits to Git use the appropriate email address. I don’t want to have to remember to call  git config user.email … every time I check out a new repository.

Background

When I check out a repository hosted by the Apache Software Foundation, I check it out inside of ~/apache/. I want to commit to these repositories as my apache.org email address and signed with my GPG key for that address.

When I check out a repository hosted by work, I check it out inside of ~/src/. I want to commit to these repositories as my cloudbees.com email address and signed with my GPG key for that address.

Everything else should be committed as my Gmail email address and signed with my GPG key for that address.

Solution

Git has a wonderful directive called [includeIf]. Basically, with this directive, you can import an additional configuration file based on a condition being true.

So my ~/.gitconfig file looks something like this:

[user]
    name = Stephen Connolly
    email = [email protected]
    signingkey = 19AA78492C2E0E75929F2882826B365485623138 

...

[commit]
    gpgsign = true
[gpg]
    program = gpg
[includeIf "gitdir:~/apache/"]
    path = ~/.gitconfig-apache
[includeIf "gitdir:~/src/"]
    path = ~/.gitconfig-cloudbees

And then I have ~/.gitconfig-apache, which looks like:

[user]
    email = [email protected]
    signingkey = 042B29E928995B9DB963C636C7CA19B7B620D787 

And ~/.gitconfig-cloudbees, which looks like:

[user]
    email = [email protected]
    signingkey = 19ACC26DFF642A36072626405B1D58B53F3F7A0E 

And now, because of the way I structure checking out code, my commits reflect the correct identities.