git-switcher

The git-switcher repository contains simple, no-external dependency (except for Git) Windows batch scripts that offer easy switching between different Git global user account identities, resetting the Git user's password for GitHub, GitLab, or BitBucket using two (2) options:

• Windows Credential Manager using main-wincred.bat
• A ~/.gitcredential file using main.bat

After a successful Git global account switch and password reset using main.bat, subsequent Git pull/push/fetch will prompt for the Git user password or Personal Access Token (PAT).

Tip

Subsequent Git pull/push/fetch will NOT prompt for the Git user password or Personal Access Token (PAT) if this token is provided in the .env file when using the main-wincred.bat script.

main-wincred.bat

Dependencies

1. Windows 10 OS 64-bit
2. Git Bash for Windows
   • Tested on versions 2.33.0.windows.1 and 2.42
   • Installed using default options
3. Git account
   • GitHub, Gitlab, Bitbucket
4. Windows Credential Manager
   • Installed by default in Windows machines
5. (Optional) Gpg4win [link]
   • Installing Gpg4win and signing commits with a GPG key is optional.
   • For reference, this project uses the following specs:

     KLEOPATRA
     Kleopatra v3.2.2.231170 (Gpg4win-4.3.1)
     KDE Frameworks v5.109.0
     Qt v5.15.9 (built against 5.15.9)
     
     GPG
     (Installed with Kleopatra)
     gpg (GnuPG) 2.4.5
     libgcrypt 1.10.3
     

Table of Contents

• Dependencies
• Scripts
  • main.bat
  • main-wincred.bat
• Installation
• GitBash Configuration (Windows OS only)
  • GitBash Configuration with main.bat
  • GitBash Configuration with main-wincred.bat
• Usage

Scripts

main.bat

• Windows batch script to automate git user (view, edit, and reset password) commands from a ~/.gitcredential file.

• This script only sets the global git user name and email.

• Follow the instructions for setting up Git Bash for usage with this script at GitBash Configuration with main.bat .

  WARNING: This script stores a Git user's password or Personal Access Token (PAT) in a ~/.gitcredential plain-text file, which may be unsafe. Consider using the main-wincred.bat script to ensure stricter Git account security using the Windows Credential Manager.

main-wincred.bat

• Windows batch script to automate git user (view, edit, and reset password) commands from the Windows Credential Manager.

• Aside from setting the global git user name and email, this script also has options for setting the global git GPG signing key and automatically setting the Git user's Personal Access Token (PAT) in the Windows Credential Manager from the .env file.

• Follow the instructions for setting up Git Bash for usage with this script at GitBash Configuration with main-wincred.bat.

  INFO This script requires Git user account information in a .env file. Check out the required and optional keys and structure format of the .env file in the Installation section.

Installation

1. Clone this repository.
   git clone https://github.com/weaponsforge/git-switcher.git

2. Select a Windows batch script to use: main.bat or main-wincred.bat.

   • Follow the GitBash Configuration Steps from the preceding sub-sections for a selected script.

3. Create a .env file following the pipe-delimited content format of the .env.example file to use with the main-wincred.bat. Replace its variables with actual values corresponding to Git accounts that you have access to. Create entries per line as many as needed.

   Key	Description
   GIT_PROVIDER	Online Git provider. Currently, supported providers or platforms are GitHub, GitLab, and BitBucket. Accepted values are github (for GitHub), gitlab (for GitLab), and bitbucket (for BitBucket).
   GIT_USERNAME	Git user name associated with the GIT_PROVIDER
   GIT_EMAIL	User email associated with the GIT_USERNAME
   GPG_KEY	(Optional) GPG key linked with the Git account for signing commits. If no GPG keys are set but there's a Personal Access Token (PAT), set its value to a hyphen "-". INFO: This option requires a GPG key linked and set-up with the Git account using the Gpg4win software.
   PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN	(Optional) Git account's Personal Access Token (PAT) The main-wincred.bat script will set the generic target and password in the Windows Credential Manager if this value is provided. Succeeding Git pull/push/fetch will no longer prompt for the Git user password or Personal Access Token (PAT).

   Example .env file:

   github|myaccount|[email protected]|12345|86473212
   github|mysecond|[email protected]|45678
   gitlab|worldtest
   gitlab|tester|[email protected]|-|22222222
   bitbucket|myother|[email protected]
   

4. Read the Usage section for reference on using the scripts after setting up GitBash from step # 2.

GitBash Configuration (Windows OS only)

GitBash Configuration with main.bat

Configure your GitBash first with the following settings before using the script.

WARNING: These settings remove the Windows Credential Manager process handling for Git to a text-based ".gitcredentials" file from an easy-to-access location. Proceed at your discretion.

1. Open a command prompt as an Administrator and run the command:
   git config --global credential.helper "store --file ~/.gitcredential
2. Delete your github access credentials from the Windows Credentials Manager.
   • Search for Credential Manager from the Search box.
     • Click the Windows Credentials button.
     • Find and delete the entry for Github, Gitlab, or Bitbucket
3. Run git config --list --show-origin to view updates.
   • Verify that the command created .gitconfig and .gitcredential files in C:\Users\[USER_NAME].
4. Step no.'s 1-3 have been tested for only GitBash v2.33 - v2.36. Do the following steps to ensure compatibility with GitBash versions higher than v2.36+.
5. Create a backup of the GitBash gitconfig file, usually found in the location:
   C:\Program Files\Git\etc\gitconfig
6. Edit the gitconfig file. Delete the following lines and SAVE. (You may need Administrator access to edit the file).
   

   [credential]
       helper = manager
   

   • Restore the deleted lines anytime as needed.
   • Take note the git-switcher script will not work after restoring the deleted lines.

GitBash Configuration with main-wincred.bat

1. GitBash requires no further setup when using the Windows Credential Manager for managing Git accounts.
2. Undo the GitBash setup steps from GitBash Configuration with main.bat, if these steps were previously used.

Usage

INFO: main-wincred.bat requires Git user accounts data set in a .env file.

Click to run the windows batch script file main-wincred.bat or main.bat. You may need to run it as an Administrator if there will be privilege errors.

1. Select Option [1] to View the current Git user's global user.email and user.config.
   • main-wincred.bat will also display the user.signingkey
2. Select Option [2] to Edit the current global user.email and user.config.
   You will be prompted for which Git version control provider would you like to reset the password.
   • Select sub-option [1] for GitHub.
   • Select sub-option [2] for GitLab
   • Select sub-option [3] for BitBucket
   • Select sub-option [4] to Exit
3. Select Option [3] to exit.
4. Press Ctrl + C to exit any time.

20191026