If you use Git to manage your code, you might have noticed that sometimes it also tracks changes in file permissions, or the executable bit. This can be annoying and confusing, especially if you work on different platforms or environments. For example, you might have a file that is executable on Linux, but not on Windows. Or you might have a file that you accidentally changed the permissions of, and now Git thinks you modified it.

You don't want these changes to show up in your Git history, because they are not related to your code. They can also cause conflicts and errors when you merge or pull from other branches. So how can you tell Git to ignore file permissions and only focus on the content of your files?

The answer is to use the core.fileMode option in your Git configuration. This option tells Git to ignore the executable bit of files and not change it when cloning or checking out. This way, you can avoid unwanted file permission changes in your Git history and keep it clean and consistent.

You can set this option either globally or locally. The global option applies to all the repositories on your system, while the local option applies only to the current repository. To set the option globally, you can run this command:

git config --global core.fileMode false

To set the option locally, you can run this command:

git config core.fileMode false

You can also edit the .git/config file of your repository and add this line under the [core] section:

fileMode = false

By using this option, you can make Git ignore file permissions and only track code changes. However, remember that this option does not affect the actual file permissions on your system, so you still need to make sure that they are correct for your files and folders.