SSH option in gitconfig

[cgimenes]

Github recommends to use SSH over HTTPS, and some people like me uses only SSH to clone repos.
So, it would be good to have a setting in the .gitconfig to avoid adding -p on all clone commands.

[DrumRobot]

By setting the pushInsteadOf option in git config, you can automatically redirect git push commands that target a specific URL to an alternative URL. This option is particularly useful when you want to convert HTTPS URLs to SSH URLs, allowing you to push through SSH instead of HTTPS.

For example, with the following configuration:

[url "ssh://[email protected]/"]
    pushInsteadOf = https://github.com/

Git will attempt to push to ssh://[email protected]/ whenever you push to a URL starting with https://github.com/. This means:

• Even if you clone the repository using HTTPS, Git will push using SSH.
• You can thus use SSH authentication for git push without manually adjusting the URL.

With this setup, you no longer need to use commands like ghq -p. The ghq -p option normally forces ghq to clone a repository with an ssh URL instead of https, but by configuring pushInsteadOf, you can clone with HTTPS and still push with SSH automatically.

[cgimenes]

By setting the pushInsteadOf option in git config, you can automatically redirect git push commands that target a specific URL to an alternative URL. This option is particularly useful when you want to convert HTTPS URLs to SSH URLs, allowing you to push through SSH instead of HTTPS.

For example, with the following configuration:

[url "ssh://[email protected]/"]
    pushInsteadOf = https://github.com/

Git will attempt to push to ssh://[email protected]/ whenever you push to a URL starting with https://github.com/. This means:

• Even if you clone the repository using HTTPS, Git will push using SSH.
• You can thus use SSH authentication for git push without manually adjusting the URL.

With this setup, you no longer need to use commands like ghq -p. The ghq -p option normally forces ghq to clone a repository with an ssh URL instead of https, but by configuring pushInsteadOf, you can clone with HTTPS and still push with SSH automatically.

Thanks, but my main point is cloning through SSH; I don't want to authenticate using HTTPS. And, using your solution I would have to authenticate through both protocols while working on private repos.

[DrumRobot]

HTTPS authentication entirely, you can configure Git to always use SSH for both cloning and pushing. This ensures that all Git operations use SSH, preventing the need for HTTPS authentication on private repositories. Here’s how to do it.

Solution: Set insteadOf to Force SSH for All GitHub Operations

Using the insteadOf option, you can tell Git to automatically replace https://github.com/ with ssh://[email protected]/ for both cloning and pushing.

Add both insteadOf and pushInsteadOf configuration:

git config --global url."ssh://[email protected]/".insteadOf "https://github.com/"
git config --global url."ssh://[email protected]/".pushInsteadOf "https://github.com/"

The changed configuration:

[url "ssh://[email protected]/"]
    insteadOf = https://github.com/
    pushInsteadOf = https://github.com/

This setting tells Git to use the SSH URL for any GitHub operation originally specified with an HTTPS URL, so:

• You can clone, pull, and push without HTTPS authentication.
• No need for ghq -p or HTTPS credentials; everything goes through SSH.

Now, anytime you run a command with an HTTPS GitHub URL, Git will automatically substitute it with the SSH URL instead. This way, you can manage all GitHub repositories via SSH authentication only.