Git Bash Sets USERNAME Instead of USER

[jcburley]

• I was not able to find an open or closed issue matching what I'm seeing

Setup

• Which version of Git for Windows are you using? Is it 32-bit or 64-bit?

$ git --version --build-options
git version 2.16.0.windows.2
cpu: x86_64
built from commit: a56c4f9e2a9513d2be57dc4346e0e84887399cd9
sizeof-long: 4
$ bash --version
GNU bash, version 4.4.12(2)-release (x86_64-pc-msys)

• Which version of Windows are you running? Vista, 7, 8, 10? Is it 32-bit or 64-bit?
• Windows 7 64-bit

$ cmd.exe /c ver

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]

• What options did you set as part of the installation? Or did you choose the
  defaults?

# One of the following:
> type "C:\Program Files\Git\etc\install-options.txt"
> type "C:\Program Files (x86)\Git\etc\install-options.txt"
> type "%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Programs\Git\etc\install-options.txt"
$ cat /etc/install-options.txt
Editor Option: Nano
Path Option: BashOnly
SSH Option: OpenSSH
CURL Option: OpenSSL
CRLF Option: CRLFAlways
Bash Terminal Option: MinTTY
Performance Tweaks FSCache: Enabled
Use Credential Manager: Enabled
Enable Symlinks: Enabled

• Any other interesting things about your environment that might be related
  to the issue you're seeing?

No idea, other than I've got my own .bash_profile and similar files.

Details

• Which terminal/shell are you running Git from? e.g Bash/CMD/PowerShell/other

Bash

• What commands did you run to trigger this issue? If you can provide a
  Minimal, Complete, and Verifiable example
  this will help us understand the issue.

Pressed Windows button, typed "bash", it selected "Git Bash", hit Enter, got Git Bash window.

• What did you expect to occur after running these commands?

An environment with $USER set to my username.

• What actually happened instead?

An environment with $USERNAME set to my username.

• If the problem was occurring with a specific repository, can you provide the
  URL to that repository to help us with testing?

Unsure of source; installed this awhile back.

[jcburley]

(Note that I'm not sure this Git repo is the proper place to report Git Bash issues, as I couldn't find the Git Bash emulation code after looking around awhile....)

[PhilipOakley]

Hi @jcburley The Git for Windows bash is provided as a minimalist convenience capability to allow us to run the regular Git commands and test suite. It does not attempt to emulate a full Linux environment so only sets the most limited number of environment variables needed. (there is always WSL for a larger experience)

The bash is borrowed from MSYS2. The Git for Windows FAQ, part of our wiki, is a good place to start for some of these nuances, and maybe to add clarifications where needed. Contributions are welcome.

Also have a look at https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/wiki/Building-msys2-runtime

[dscho]

Even if it looks a little bit like Unix/Linux, Git Bash does not magically turn your Windows into a Unix. Therefore, the USERNAME environment variable is set, as is common on Windows, not the USER variable. Likewise, you will note the absence of the UID variable.

If you must have those, then you can set them yourself in ~/.bash_profile, I would think.

In any case, this is definitely not a bug or a problem in Git, so I am closing this.

[jcburley]

Okay, that makes sense, thanks! (And I do indeed work around this in my ~/.bash_profile.)

[jcburley]

(But Git Bash is fairly magical IMO. ;) )