Git binary and configuration

yaggui runs the git program installed on your computer for every write. Preferences › Git chooses which Git that is; Preferences › Configuration edits Git’s own settings (~/.gitconfig or a repository’s .git/config) without leaving the app.

Choose the Git binary

By default yaggui runs git from your PATH. The Git binary field of the Git tab is empty (“Detected automatically”) and the line under it shows what yaggui found, for example “Git 2.47.1 · /usr/bin/git”.

To use another Git:

1. Type the full path of the binary, for example /opt/homebrew/bin/git or C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe.
2. Wait for the status line: yaggui runs <path> --version a moment after you stop typing. Nothing is saved yet.
3. Click Apply. The toast “Git path saved” confirms it, and every following Git command uses this binary.

Auto-detect clears the field and goes back to git from your PATH.

What the status line means

Status	Meaning
“Git version · path”	A working Git. Apply is enabled if the path differs from the saved one
“Git version is older than 2.30, the oldest version yaggui is tested with. Some features may not work.”	It works and can be applied, but some features may fail. Update Git if you can
“This is not a working Git: the file must exist and answer to –version.”	The file does not exist or is not Git. Apply stays disabled
“Git was not found. Install Git or enter its path.”	The field is empty and no Git was found. Install Git (git-scm.com/downloads) or enter its path

If the path stops working between the check and Apply, the save is refused and the message “”path” is not a working Git: …” shows under the field.

How Git is found

With an empty field, the status line looks for Git in this order: git (or git.exe) on the PATH, then /usr/bin/git, /usr/local/bin/git, /opt/homebrew/bin/git, C:\Program Files\Git\cmd\git.exe and C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\cmd\git.exe.

This list only feeds the status line: to run commands, yaggui uses git from the PATH when no path is saved.

Tip

On macOS, an app started from the Dock or Finder does not see the PATH of your shell. If your only Git comes from Homebrew, enter /opt/homebrew/bin/git (Apple silicon) or /usr/local/bin/git (Intel) and click Apply.

The status bar of a repository shows the Git version in use (git 2.47.1). Its tooltip warns when the version is older than 2.30, and it reads “git not found” when no Git can be started.

If a saved path stops working (Git uninstalled or moved), yaggui falls back to git from the PATH at the next start so the app still opens. Fix or clear the path in the Git tab.

Edit the Git configuration

The Configuration tab reads and writes Git’s configuration files with git config. Choose the file with Configuration file:

• Global: “Your ~/.gitconfig: applies to every repository.”
• This repository: “.git/config of repo: overrides the global configuration.” This choice exists only when the preferences were opened from a repository tab.

The tab always opens on Global. A missing ~/.gitconfig is simply shown as empty; it is created on the first change.

Common settings

Field	Values	Notes
Name (user.name)	Free text	Author name of your commits
Email (user.email)	Free text	Author e-mail of your commits
Pull strategy (pull.rebase)	Not set, false, true, merges, interactive	“true rebases local commits on pull, false merges.”
Line endings (core.autocrlf)	Not set, false, true, input	“true: CRLF in the working tree, LF committed. input: LF only.”
Default branch (init.defaultBranch)	Free text	“Name of the first branch of new repositories.”
Sign commits (commit.gpgsign)	Not set, true, false	“Needs a signing key.”
Signature format (gpg.format)	Not set, openpgp, ssh, x509
Signing key (user.signingkey)	Free text	“A GPG key id, or the path of an SSH key.”

• Text fields save when you press Enter or leave the field. Emptying a field removes the key.
• Choosing Not set in a list removes the key.
• In This repository, an unset field shows the inherited global value: as the placeholder of a text field, or as “Not set (global: value)” in a list.
• A key that is set several times in the file is read-only here; use All entries or edit the file.

The Pull strategy here is Git’s pull.rebase. yaggui also has its own Default pull strategy in Preferences › Behavior, which wins when set; see Fetch, pull and push.

All entries

All entries lists every key of the chosen file, with Filter entries to search keys and values.

• Add an entry: type the key (section.name or section.subsection.name) and the value, then click Add.
• Edit a value: click Edit on the row, change the value, press Enter to save or Esc to cancel.
• Remove a key: click Remove, then confirm with Remove on the row (or Cancel).
• A bare key without a value shows “(no value)”.

Multi-valued keys (a key set several times, such as several remote.origin.fetch lines) cannot be edited here: Edit is disabled with the tooltip “Set several times: edit the file or remove all its values.”, and the remove confirmation reads Remove all values.

What yaggui runs

Each change is one git config command, recorded in the command log:

git config --global --replace-all -- user.email [email protected]
git config --local --unset-all -- core.autocrlf

Changes to the global file are applied one at a time, and changes to a repository wait for any operation running in that repository. They take effect at once and cannot be undone from yaggui: to go back, set the old value again.

Errors

If Git refuses a change, the field goes back to its previous value and a toast “Could not change the Git configuration” shows the reason. yaggui checks the input first:

• “”key” is not a valid Git configuration key (section.name or section.subsection.name).” The section and name use letters, digits and -, the name starts with a letter, and the key is at most 200 characters.
• “The value is too long or contains a NUL character.” Values are limited to 16 KiB.

If the file cannot be read (for example a syntax error in it), the tab shows “Could not read the Git configuration.” Fix the file in an editor; git config --list in a terminal shows where Git stops.

Identity and identity profiles

Your commit identity is user.name and user.email. You can set it here, from the form that appears in the commit box when Git does not know who you are, or with identity profiles: saved name and e-mail pairs you apply to a repository in one click. See Committing for both. Changing user.name or user.email here updates the identity shown in the commit box.