Commit using configured git config user.email to honor GH private email security setting

[03juan]

• Version
  • release v0.12.7
• OS
  • Ubuntu 24.04 on WSL2 in Windows 11
• git version
  • 2.43.0

Issue

Testing the Git authentication on a new GB Project fails with the default "Use a Git executable" option as the commit is pushed with my GB profile's email address, instead of the one set in my global git configuration.

This is related to the GH email setting "Block command line pushes that expose my email".

Additional context

I have the gh CLI set up as a credential helper

Choosing "Use a Git credentials helper" also doesn't work

Related

#2883 (comment)_

[Byron]

Thanks a lot for reporting!

I took a quick look and it seems like we are only asking the Git configuration for user information. This is usually correct enough.

Could you help me understand how /home/juan/.config/git/config is included? My feeling is that git2 somehow doesn't see this file, maybe because it doesn't follow (conditional) includes.

[03juan]

That file is being picked up because $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is set in my environment, so git picks that up along with ~/.gitconfig as part of the global config.

FILES
By default, git config will read configuration options from multiple files:

   $(prefix)/etc/gitconfig
       System-wide configuration file.

   $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/config, ~/.gitconfig
       User-specific configuration files. When the XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable is not set or empty, $HOME/.config/ is
       used as $XDG_CONFIG_HOME.

man git-config

$ env | grep XDG
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/1000/
XDG_CONFIG_HOME=/home/juan/.config
XDG_CACHE_HOME=/home/juan/.cache
XDG_DATA_HOME=/home/juan/.local/share

As a test I also set user.name and user.email in the local config

$ git config --show-origin --show-scope --get-all user.email
global  file:/home/juan/.config/git/config      [email protected]
local   file:.git/config        [email protected]

$ git config --show-origin --show-scope --get-all user.name
global  file:/home/juan/.config/git/config      Juan P Barrios
local   file:.git/config        Juan P Barrios

But still got the error after restarting git-butler from the same command line.

STDERR:
remote: error: GH007: Your push would publish a private email address.
remote: You can make your email public or disable this protection by visiting:
remote: http://github.com/settings/emails
To https://github.com/03juan/ms_interface
! [remote rejected] a2c88c2f11902afe966ece77d4ee4042d5a1cfba -> test-push-1720023956647 (push declined due to email privacy restrictions)

[Byron]

As a test I also set user.name and user.email in the local config

That's a great idea!
And it's shocking that despite local scope the setting is still not picked up when creating a commit. Looking into this further, fortunately I think I found the culprit.

gitbutler/crates/gitbutler-core/src/virtual_branches/controller.rs

Lines 925 to 929 in 82c3987

	let user = self.users.get_user()?;
	super::integration::verify_branch(&project_repository)?;
	Ok(tokio::task::spawn_blocking(move || {
	action(&project_repository, user.as_ref())
	}))

get_user() is called whenever a commit in a virtual branch is created, and it overrides getting credentials from the configuration.

That User struct has separate name and email fields which are then used in the commit.

gitbutler/crates/gitbutler-core/src/users/user.rs

Lines 10 to 13 in de00e4f

	pub name: Option<String>,
	pub given_name: Option<String>,
	pub family_name: Option<String>,
	pub email: String,

gitbutler/crates/gitbutler-core/src/project_repository/signatures.rs

Line 12 in 462a98e

(Some(user), _, _) => try_from(user)?,

I am going to CC @krlvi here as changing it would be easy, but it's also changing something that was probably done for a reason.

[03juan]

Great news. Glad you managed to hone in on the potential culprit! 🔥