fix(osx): use console owner instead of $USER in postinstall script#2279
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fix(osx): use console owner instead of $USER in postinstall script#2279
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…nstall script Co-authored-by: marekzmyslowski <1062877+marekzmyslowski@users.noreply.github.com>
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[WIP] Add response to user in issue 1982
fix(osx): use console owner instead of $USER in postinstall script
Mar 4, 2026
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When Homebrew invokes the macOS
.pkginstaller, it explicitly clearsUSER,LOGNAME, andUSERNAMEfrom the environment. The postinstall script was using${USER}to rungit-credential-manager configureas the real user — but withUSERunset, this ran as root, causing root to take ownership of~/.gitconfig(or its symlink target). Subsequent installs then fail because the configure step can't write to the root-owned file.Changes
src/osx/Installer.Mac/scripts/postinstall: Replace${USER}with$(stat -f%Su /dev/console)to determine the logged-in console user. Unlike environment variables,/dev/consoleownership reflects the active GUI session regardless of how the process environment was sanitized.This mirrors the existing pattern in
uninstall.sh(which useslogname), butlognameon macOS also reads fromLOGNAME— also cleared by Homebrew — makingstat /dev/consolethe more robust choice for the installer context.💡 You can make Copilot smarter by setting up custom instructions, customizing its development environment and configuring Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers. Learn more Copilot coding agent tips in the docs.