Authentication

SmartGit supports both SSH and HTTPS authentication to Git remotes.

SSH Client Selection

The SSH options are only used if you use SSH to authenticate with remotes.

• Use system SSH client will use your existing system SSH client, and you will be responsible for managing keys on the local and remote server (e.g., as stored in the ~/.ssh folder). This is the recommended setting if you have an existing SSH setup and are comfortable with managing SSH keys and passwords. SmartGit will automatically re-use the system SSH credentials in this configuration.

On Windows, system OpenSSH password and private-key passphrase prompts appear in SmartGit’s Enter Password dialog. These values are not saved in SmartGit’s password store.

• Use SmartGit as SSH client simplifies access to remotes, as SmartGit will manage public-key and password authentication. This option is recommended if you interact exclusively with SmartGit and do not use the Git command line or other Git tooling when connecting to SSH repositories.

SmartGit Credential Helper (HTTPS)

This section manages the credentials stored by SmartGit, including HTTPS passwords and SSH passphrases.

The SmartGit Password Store

Passwords managed by SmartGit can optionally be stored in its password store. This password store is located in the password file, found in SmartGit’s settings directory (see Installation and Files).

The password store should be protected by a master password you provided, it should be changed if you have reason to believe it may become compromised.

The Known credentials table lists saved authentication details. If Load All Stored Secrets… is available, use it to unlock the password store and include its additional secrets in the table.

• Select a credential and click Show Password… to view its stored value.
• Select one or more entries and click Remove to remove them. SmartGit will request authentication details again when required.
• Remove All… clears the saved repository authentication details. To remove other stored secrets, select their entries and use Remove.
• Change Master Password… opens the dialog for changing or resetting password-store protection. With Change master password selected, leaving both new-password fields blank removes master-password protection.

Ask for master password on startup prompts for the master password when SmartGit starts. When disabled, SmartGit asks when it first needs to access the password store. The password is remembered for the current SmartGit session.