github - disable git credential-osxkeychain

Question

I need to disable the credential helper for OS X: git credential-osxkeychain

It is disabled both in the global config file and in the local one, in fact it has never ben enabled. Still, it keeps memorizing my github login details.
I'm on a laptop, so I don't want automatic passwordless access to my repos.
I will use ssh keys. This is a new computer, and the whole system setup is still a work in progress.
For now I used the https repo refs, and the credential helper keeps kicking in.

These are my conf files:

---

git config --edit =>

[core]
    repositoryformatversion = 0
    filemode = true
    bare = false
    logallrefupdates = true
    ignorecase = true
    precomposeunicode = false
[remote "origin"]
    url = https://github.com/user/repo.git
    fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
[branch "master"]
    remote = origin
    merge = refs/heads/master
[branch "develop"]
    remote = origin
    merge = refs/heads/develop
[branch "deploy"]
    remote = origin
    merge = refs/heads/deploy

---

git config --global --edit =>

[user]
    email = ****************
    name = tom
[color]
    ui = true
[core]
    editor = subl -w
[github]
    user = tompave
[merge]
    conflictstyle = diff3
[push]
    default = simple

---

Also, running git config --global credential.helper returns nothing (and that's right).

However, running git config credential.helper returns osxkeychain!

How is it possible? I can't see it in the local config file, where is it set?

I tried to set it up locally to see what would happen, and it did appear in the repodir/.git/config. Then I deleted the entry... but the helper is still here and active.

I can clearly see its entry in OS X keychain.
I can delete it, and then git will ask for the password again... but as soon as I type it (let's say, for a git fetch), the entry in keychain is restored.

Answer 1

To help track down the setting, I'd try to use:

git config --local credential.helper
git config --global credential.helper
git config --system credential.helper

The first one checks the local repo config, the second is your ~/.gitconfig, and the third is based on where git is installed. Depending on which one comes back showing the credential helper, you can try using the equivalent --unset option:

git config --local --unset credential.helper
git config --global --unset credential.helper
git config --system --unset credential.helper

The last one may not work if you don't have proper permissions. So you may need to run the last one under sudo for it to work correctly. FWIW, you may have installed for the pre-built git images for Mac OS X. If you cat /usr/local/git/etc/gitconfig (or /usr/local/etc/gitconfig if you installed git via Homebrew or a building locally), you'll see that it does set up the credential helper for you. So the last command above would help fix that problem.