Git config issue w/VSCode and Ubuntu

Question

After some trial and error I was able to change the permissions of the .gitconfig file in my local users /home/ directory. This permission change allowed me to add both user.name and user.email. I apologize if this wasted anyone's time and I do appreciate all of the help. Specifically @phd, @jD3V and @VonC

I am really banging my head against my desk with this one.

I have a remote GitHub repo that I have cloned locally to my machine and I am making edits to the playbook. When I go to commit the changes to GitHub VSCode throws an error:

*** Please tell me who you are.

Run

  git config --global user.email "you@example.com"
  git config --global user.name "Your Name"

to set your account's default identity.
Omit --global to set the identity only in this repository.

fatal: no email was given and auto-detection is disabled
[2022-04-23T18:08:35.512Z] > git config --get-all user.name [1ms]

I have run into this issue before, no big deal. This is a fresh install of Pop!_OS so I had not yet edited my git config. I enter the following -

git config --global user.name My_GitHub_Username

Followed by -

git config --global user.email My_email_name@gmail.com

When entered they both seem to run correctly as I do not get any errors thrown when entered. However when I check the git config with git config --list nothing returns in the terminal. When I run it again running as root, I see my username -

username@pop-os:~$ sudo git config --list
user.name=My_GitHub_username
user.email=My_email_name@gmail.com

Trying to commit the code again throws the same error. I have checked similar threads/solutions here, here and here, all of which have not solved my issue.

I forgot to include initially that I have tried running both as sudo and have the same results. Here is the output of `sudo nano ~/.gitconfig -

[alias]
    lg1 = log --graph --abbrev-commit --decorate --date=relative --format=format:'%C(bold blue)%h%C(reset) - %C(bold green)(%ar)%C(reset) %C(white)%s%C(reset) %C(dim white)- %an%C(reset)%C(bold yellow)%d%C(reset)' --all
    lg2 = log --graph --abbrev-commit --decorate --format=format:'%C(bold blue)%h%C(reset) - %C(bold cyan)%aD%C(reset) %C(bold green)(%ar)%C(reset)%C(bold yellow)%d%C(reset)%n''          %C(white)%s%C(reset) %C(dim white)- %an%C(reset)' --all
    lg = !"git lg1"
[color]
    ui = true
[help]
    autocorrect = 3

Would I just go ahead and add the [user] alias with the user.name and user.email options filled in?

Any ideas what I might be doing incorrectly? I am not super familiar with git but would love any and all advice.

Well first of all, you tagged the question wrong. Secondly, you have different layers of git configurations, which is why, when you use the `--list` flag as the `ROOT` user, your getting a different result, but the result your getting as `ROOT` user is irrelivent, you need to edit your `.gitconfig` configuration files directly using `nano ~/.gitconfig` (or if your using vscode, you can use `code ~/.gitconfig`. — JΛYDΞV, Apr 24 '22 at 01:19
I forgot to include that I did infact also try running the commands as sudo with the same result @Phd — FRALEWHALE, Apr 24 '22 at 11:59
@FRALEWHALE Yes, that exactly the problem. Do not use `sudo` when you do not need it (and you almost never need it) and especially when you do not understand it. — phd, Apr 24 '22 at 12:03
@phd I have also tried it without `sudo` and that did not work either, so then what would my solution be? When I run it I get without `sudo` I get an error - `warning: unable to access '/home/USERNAME/.gitconfig': Permission denied` Which is obviously a permissions issues but I am not sure how my local user does not have access to that file. Also I like to think I understand `sudo` well enough. It did strike me as odd as I have never had to run it before while making git config edits. Could you also tell me how I tagged the question wrong? Would this be more applicable in the SuperUser board? — FRALEWHALE, Apr 24 '22 at 12:11
@FRALEWHALE "*`warning: unable to access '/home/USERNAME/.gitconfig': Permission denied` Which is obviously a permissions issues but I am not sure how my local user does not have access to that file*" Very easy — you had used `sudo` before and thus changed the ownership of the file. The fix is `sudo chown USERNAME .gitconfig` or even `sudo chown -R USERNAME $HOME`, not `sudo git`. — phd, Apr 24 '22 at 12:49

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 23 '22 at 19:34

To exand on the comment, git config --global do modify ~/.gitconfig, which is /home/<you>/.gitconfig.

That differs from sudo xxx, which executes command as root.
root home folder is /root.
And /root/.gitconfig was not modified by your initial git config commands.

In general, not using root, is possible, is a sensible route to follow.

Git config issue w/VSCode and Ubuntu

1 Answers1