Why do sourcetree change the global config on startup?

[Matheus Andrade]

I really don't care much about using git gui clients, but I think they're useful when you need to visualize local network graphs.

That's the only reason I installed it in my work machine. And it messed up and erased my global user (name and e-mail) config. Uninstalled it and installed it again to see if it was something I did wrong and it was not: I was forced to rebase my commits and lost time doing it.

So, my question is: why does it need to erase a previously just fine git installation? Or is it a bug?

[Ana Retamal · Accepted solution]

Hi Matheus, did you have the option 'Allow SourceTree to modify your global Git and Mercurial config files' checked? You can find it by opening SourceTree and clicking on Cog icon > Accounts > General.

Let me know if this was your case!

Cheers,

Ana

[Matheus Andrade]

Brian answered me on twitter weeks ago. It was happening despite this option unchecked, in my case.

https://twitter.com/wtfgraciano/status/850090245966180353

[Ana Retamal]

I'm glad you got a response, Matheus :) I've talked to Brian and he told me that issue has already been addressed in 2.5.1 (public Alpha). If you'd like, you can download it from https://bitbucket.org/atlassianlabs/sourcetree-betas/downloads/.

Best regards,

Ana