You can’t use Git until you make it available on your computer. There are a couple different ways you can install Git and make it available for use. The option you choose will depend on the system you are running.
In this article, I will show you how to install Git on a MAC OS, as well as how to install Git on LINUX.
- Git for Mac Installer The easiest way to install Git on a Mac is via the stand-alone installer: Download the latest Git for Mac installer. Follow the prompts to install Git. Open a terminal and verify the installation was successful by typing git -version: $ git -version git version 2.9.2.
- How to Install Github for Linux? The following command will aid how to download and install Github for Linux: sudo apt-get install git. The above command is for Ubuntu and works for Ubuntu 16.04 to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. Unlike windows, GitHub does not specifically support GUI based desktop client for Linux, but you can opt for a few third party.
- At GitHub, we think that sharing code should be as simple as possible. That's why we created GitHub Desktop for Mac. The sync button pushes your changes to GitHub and pulls down other's changes in.
A couple of things you will want to make note of while interacting with Git.
- Even if you already have Git installed it is a good idea to update to the latest version.
- All of the commands below should work, even on the older versions of Git. They may act a little differently but should work. Git is very good at preserving backward compatibility. Any version after 2.0 should work just fine.
How To Install Git on MAC OS
There are a couple of ways to install Git on MAC OS. The easiest way to do it would probably be to install the Xcode Command Line Tools. This will work on Mavericks (10.9) or above, so it should cover you. If you are running on OS older than that I would recommend you look into upgrading that first.
Installing Cassandra on Mac OS X. GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.
If your MAC OS is good to go simply run git from the Terminal the very first time. Here is what that would look like:
If it isn’t installed you will be prompted to install. If it is installed, then the above command should output the current version installed.
If you need or want a more up-to-date version, then you can install Git on MAC OS via a binary installer. There is a MAC OS Git installer that is maintained and made available for download on the Git website, at https://git-scm.com/download/mac.
Finally, a third option of installing Git on MAC OS is to install it as part of the GitHub for MAC install.
They have a GUI Git tool that has an option to install command line tools as well. You can download this tool from the GitHub for MAC website, at https://mac.github.com.
How To Install Git on Linux
More often than not you can install Git on Linux via a binary installer through the package management tool that comes with your distribution.
If you’re on Fedora or other closely related RPM-based distribution, like RHEL or CentOS, you can use dnf:
$ sudo dnf install git-all
If you happen to be on a Debian-based distribution, like Ubuntu, try using apt:
Installation For Other Unix Distributions
Gentoo
# emerge –ask –verbose dev-vcs/git
Arch Linux
openSUSE
# zypper install git
Mageia
Nix/NixOS
# nix-env -i git
FreeBSD
Solaris 9/10/11 (OpenCSW)
# pkgutil -i git
Solaris 11 Express
OpenBSD
# pkg_add git
Alpine
Slitaz
Git On Mac
$ tazpkg get-install git
Author: Jeremy Holcombe
Growing up in Hawaii, Jeremy started his freelance writing career doing resumes, business plans, article writing, and everything in between. He now specializes in online marketing and content writing and is part of the Content Marketing Team at GreenGeeks.
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How to install Git on any OS
Git can be installed on the most common operating systems like Windows, Mac, and Linux. In fact, Git comes installed by default on most Mac and Linux machines!
Checking for Git
To see if you already have Git installed, open up your terminal application.
- If you're on a Mac, look for a command prompt application called 'Terminal'.
- If you're on a Windows machine, open the windows command prompt or 'Git Bash'.
Once you've opened your terminal application, type git version
. The output will either tell you which version of Git is installed, or it will alert you that git
is an unknown command. If it's an unknown command, read further and find out how to install Git.
Install Git Using GitHub Desktop
Installing GitHub Desktop will also install the latest version of Git if you don't already have it. With GitHub Desktop, you get a command line version of Git with a robust GUI. Regardless of if you have Git installed or not, GitHub Desktop offers a simple collaboration tool for Git. You can learn more here.
Install Git on Windows
- Navigate to the latest Git for Windows installer and download the latest version.
- Once the installer has started, follow the instructions as provided in the Git Setup wizard screen until the installation is complete.
- Open the windows command prompt (or Git Bash if you selected not to use the standard Git Windows Command Prompt during the Git installation).
- Type
git version
to verify Git was installed.
Note: git-scm
is a popular and recommended resource for downloading Git for Windows. The advantage of downloading Git from git-scm
is that your download automatically starts with the latest version of Git included with the recommended command prompt, Git Bash
. The download source is the same Git for Windows installer as referenced in the steps above.
Install Git on Mac
Most versions of MacOS will already have Git
installed, and you can activate it through the terminal with git version
. However, if you don't have Git installed for whatever reason, you can install the latest version of Git using one of several popular methods as listed below:
Install Git From an Installer
- Navigate to the latest macOS Git Installer and download the latest version.
- Once the installer has started, follow the instructions as provided until the installation is complete.
- Open the command prompt 'terminal' and type
git version
to verify Git was installed.
Note: git-scm
is a popular and recommended resource for downloading Git on a Mac. The advantage of downloading Git from git-scm
is that your download automatically starts with the latest version of Git. The download source is the same macOS Git Installer as referenced in the steps above.
Install Git from Homebrew
Homebrew is a popular package manager for macOS. If you already have Homwbrew installed, you can follow the below steps to install Git:
- Open up a terminal window and install Git using the following command:
brew install git
. - Once the command output has completed, you can verify the installation by typing:
git version
.
Install Git on Linux
Fun fact: Git was originally developed to version the Linux operating system! So, it only makes sense that it is easy to configure to run on Linux.
You can install Git
on Linux through the package management tool that comes with your distribution.
Debian/Ubuntu
- Git packages are available using
apt
. - It's a good idea to make sure you're running the latest version. To do so, Navigate to your command prompt shell and run the following command to make sure everything is up-to-date:
sudo apt-get update
. - To install Git, run the following command:
sudo apt-get install git-all
. - Once the command output has completed, you can verify the installation by typing:
git version
.
Fedora
- Git packages are available using
dnf
. - To install Git, navigate to your command prompt shell and run the following command:
sudo dnf install git-all
. - Once the command output has completed, you can verify the installation by typing:
git version
.
Note: You can download the proper Git versions and read more about how to install on specific Linux systems, like installing Git on Ubuntu or Fedora, in git-scm's documentation.
Other Methods of Installing Git
Looking to install Git via the source code? Learn more here.
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